Why HYIP'S ?

I have been doing some research on hyip's in the last couple of weeks.
Hyip stands for high yield investment programs. These programs provide investors with a very high return on investments, upto 5%-10% a month! Hyip's require you to invest money for a certain period of time (eg; 50 days) and at the end of expiry you receive your money and a high percentage of profit. Now heres reality.. if they can provide all customers 10% a month, why would we need banks? These programs would be the next revolution! Sadly 99.5% of them are scams.
Of the research i have done i found that 99.5% of the hyip programs on the internet have begun their business in 2008. I only found 2 programs out there that have been running from over 2 years but the reviews were average..
I also found that some companies pay people to write good reviews about their programs in forums.
I was really close to investing in a couple of programs myself. I came to think of how the programs would make so much money if they provide the investors 10% a month??
I came across a few articles saying that these programs pay the older investors with money provided by the new investors.. So someone will lose money sooner or later.
Thats exactly why these programs dont last very long. Im sure every year a couple thousand hyip programs spring up on the internet and vanish in a span of one year.
This goes for paid autosurf programs too. They work on the same principle.
I would rather put my hard earned money in mutual funds or stocks at the moment looking at the current global situation. It doesn't look like it can get worse than this.
I would advise all to stay away from hyip's and paid autosurf programs. You may receive your principal amount and returns a few times after expiry of the lock in period but sooner or later this system will break down and you will lose your money.
I will continue to research hyip's in the future and if i ever find a program thats legitimate this will be the first place i will post.