Twenty-first century
Monopoly is not played on Main Street
12 August 2009
Volume 11, Issue 32
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Back when I was in
elementary school, many summer days were passed playing Monopoly. Most games
were over in an afternoon; some took a couple of days. One that I remember
dragged on for a week, for we were all so rich and the wealth so equally divided
that no one ever gained enough of a strategic advantage to defeat the others.
Eventually we just called it a draw and went out and rode our bikes.
The game of Monopoly was
invented in 1935 by Charles Darrow during the real Great Depression, and uses
simulated property and imitation money, by which each player attempts to amass
all the imitation wealth and thus win the game.
If you pause for a moment
and think about it seriously, the cause of this deep recession was a lot a
people playing a global monopoly game, using simulated property and imitation
money in an attempt to amass all the imitation wealth and win the game. The
problem is that the global level game goes on, and nobody anywhere, except
those living within local enterprise Main Street seem to understand the
illusionary nature of the pursuit.
None of this twenty-first
century Monopoly relates to the real world, where people are trying to get by
with what is left of real money, no longer trying to get ahead, but just
holding on until hopefully better times will again give them true hope for a
better life.
For the last month or so the
global Monopoly players have been encouraging each other that the recession has
at least bottomed out and it is time for the depression to give way to active trading
in the hopes that reality will soon catch up. The concept of buy low and sell
high is tempered with the knowledge you can at least sell short. Just in the
last century Monopoly game. you have to buy when the opportunity presents
itself, or else you will be left behind, and never make up the difference.
This week with the two-day
meeting of the FED, as well as other economic data from the United States and
around the world, that enthusiasm has been tempered awaiting a real world
reality check. As of this writing it seems that all the optimism may have been
a bit premature and that the recovery when it comes will be long and slow.
The problem is that because
of the recent consumerism financed by excessive debt, followed by meltdowns,
bailouts, economic stimulus plans by government deficit spending, and massive
increases in the money supply by the FED, finding a true reality in all the
mess is going to be quite difficult. Furthermore under current definitions,
long and slow is defined in weeks, perhaps months, but definitely not years.
Patience is something long exiled to a distant land, called in economic terms,
Main Street.
Perhaps the greatest
Monopoly optimism thus far, other than the hope that we have successfully
bailed out the financial institutions, is the price of oil. As oil climbed last
year to over $140 per barrel, many said that it was just the market at work;
demand or potential demand was pushing up the price. A few, including here at
Wonder Springs, said that it was primarily speculation, coupled with collusion
between the oil companies and the oil producers.
Earlier this year the
SaudiÕs announced that the price of crude was soon going to go to $70 per
barrel and shortly it did. Last week optimistic trading raised the price
briefly to over $76, but with this weekÕs reality check it has fallen to
slightly less than the $70 figure.
So the question becomes,
ÒWhat is the real free market price of anything?Ó
In the real Monopoly game,
everything had a price and a rental or usage fee. Even though the property and
the money were both illusionary, the game still functioned well, because the
rules made the game work, and if there were any questions, the game came with
rule documentation.
So what are the rules in the
twenty-first century Monopoly game?
It would be easy to say that
there are no rules, but that would be overly simplistic, for simulated property
and imitation money would not exist, except for some set of rules somewhere.
The old golden rule of he who has the gold makes the rules, doesnÕt fit either
for none of the money anywhere in the world is based upon gold. The only true
concept of national rule making stems from the national central banks, but they
are somewhat focused upon national sovereignty and prosperity, and only in the
broader sense to they cooperate for the human good. In the pithy sense the
rules are made up by the players, as they believe it will be to their
advantage, which is just another way to say chaos rules.
In our July 22nd
post on ÒCapitalismÕs CancerÓ we poised three types of capitalistic cancer in
the United States. Those three were: Wall Street, Healthcare, and Energy. As it
was a few weeks ago, the center of this cancer is still focusing on healthcare,
or as it is becoming known ObamaCare.
I agree with the President
on two points. 1. Healthcare is the most serious problem facing the economic
viability of the United States. 2. The current system of laissez faire
healthcare is too expensive and rations services to those who basically do not
have corporate or government jobs.
What Obama is learning is
that over 60%, the currently covered, are quite happy with their coverage and
they donÕt want anyone, especially the government messing with their coverage.
The President still doesnÕt seem to understand, that when he says, ÒYes, we
canÓ a substantial majority are responding, ÒNo, He canÕt,Ó or perhaps the
ÒAudacity of Hope,Ó has been turned into the ÒAudacity of Hype.Ó
However, the ÒAudacity of
Reality,Ó says you need to treat the disease not just talk about the cure. The
disease is that free market capitalism really only exists on Main Street in the
United States. What passes for the market economy in the United States, has
free expunged from the equation. To adapt a thought of Adam Smith, when free is
eliminated from a capitalistic market economy, the Invisible Hand that creates
true wealth does not function.
Replacing that Invisible
Hand is a bunch of faux rule makers in government, education, and the private
sector that make and enforce the rules that favor them, individually and
communally. When challenged, as we have seen in recent town hall meetings, they
donÕt understand why people donÕt accept these rules and the protestors do
really attempt to challenge the faux rule makerÕs personal divinity.
The problem with America is
not with Main Street and small business; the problem is with these Monopoly
players that treat the rest of the world as a game, in which they believe
reality emulates from their enlightened efforts, as the following Main Street example
clearly shows:
After cashing in on the
recent ÒCash for Clunkers,Ó you stop into your favorite restaurant to celebrate
your unexpected windfall. ÒI
havenÕt had a good piece of red meat for a long time, I sure am hankering for a
12 oz Prime Rib with all the fixings.Ó
As you are seated at your
favorite table and open the menu, you see that the price for your favorite
Prime Rib has doubled to $40. At first you are angry when you read in italic
print at the bottom of the page:
To our valued customers:
As you can see the price
of beef on our menu has risen dramatically. Due to increase demand for beef and
holy cows in China and India respectfully, the market price of beef as
increased and we have decided to pass those spot prices on to you, our loyal customers.
Furthermore in addition
to now pricing our menu to world spot prices of individual commodities, we have
had to add a 10% surcharge as our contribution to the national Cap and Trade
energy policy, which both China and India respectfully do not observe.
We hope you understand
that these policies are required so that we can retain our excellent help, and
continue to pay them their year-end bonuses of one thousand times their base
minimum wage, the tips just arenÕt the same as they used to be. But be assured
as an economy move we have canceled our corporate healthcare plan, and our
excellent staff needs the bonuses to pay the taxes on governmentÕs new single
payer health plan.
Seen through this
illustration the Wall Street, Healthcare, and Energy, policies of the new
century Monopoly game have a much different application down on Main Street.
While designed to be amusing, the above focuses forcefully on leadership out of
touch with their Main Street constituents.
One thing forgotten in
ÒChange you can believe in,Ó is an older more relevant axiom, ÒThe more things
change the more things remain the same.Ó The original Monopoly game was
developed with simulated property and imitation money simply because all the
real property and real money were controlled by President RooseveltÕs New Deal.
During the Great Depression there simply were no real opportunities for normal
folks to do anything related to the American Dream other than practice playing
Monopoly.
In that same vein, all of
President ObamaÕs big government and business too big to fail has had the same
effect of making any real property and real money unavailable to Main Street,
unless it is able to play by the twenty-first century international Monopoly
rules.
President Roosevelt, through
his fireside chat and other communications, was able to convince the American
people, that he was doing all he could to fix a severe monetary and cultural
problem. We now know that the New Deal government programs really prolonged the
Great Depression perhaps for a decade longer than it would have lasted if the
short term monetary contraction was promptly fixed and business allowed to
create new wealth rather than relying on government programs.
It seems that President
Obama, perhaps reading from the same Roosevelt playbook, is trying to reuse the
same communications tools to achieve a better and longer lasting New Deal. He
is finding that the United States has not functioned under Chicago liberal
political machines for a long time now, if it ever did, even during the Great
Depression.
The Great Depression ended
when the American people were called upon to fight a greater tyranny than a
bloated national government. The greatest generation proved that fascism was an
abomination to free people everywhere. Fascism of that era was destroyed.
While still not of that
magnitude, twenty-first century Monopoly can develop as a similar restraint on
individual freedom, not just in the United States, but also around the world.
So far the world has shown more restraint than the American federal government.
However the American people are beginning to understand the ramifications of
their pending future, and ÒNo, He canÕt,Ó will become ÒNo, he wonÕtÓ and ÒYes,
we canÓ will become the facilitator of traditional American values again
finding there rightful role in the American landscape.
Monopoly is a game, it needs
to be put back in the box and played by elementary school children during their
summer vacations. Monopoly, especially the twenty-first century variety should
not be allowed as the prime business model in the world, for simulated property
and imitation money, should be the tools of fantasy and education, not lasting
economic development.
This fantasy economic
religion has become the major belief system of much of our self-chosen elite.
When confronted with the real thing, it cannot survive the test of character.
Beyond any other criteria this economic recession should be a call to
Christianity in general and the American church specifically to understand as C.
S. Lewis proclaimed in the ÒChronicles of Narnia,Ó Òthe deep magic, from before
the beginning of time.Ó Church again needs to become immersed in the deep
truths of historic orthodox Christianity, and quit giving lip service to all
Monopoly players as icons of success.
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