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Monopoly

Today I read an article in the Wall Street Journal titled Elizabeth Warren’s Comic-Book Economics1 written by Matthew Hennessey... who's bio states that he "believed the U.S. was an immoral, imperial colossus... until September 11 changed everything"2

I mention it because I was also somewhat distrusting of others who've had an epiphany like my former pastor who said he found god while high on LSD and then proceeded to migrate from church to church. But that's not what it actually got me thinking about. Sure the article has some decent points and yes, someone has made Warren into a comic book hero. But let's not downplay the seriousness of comics as a high art. I mean... they are the basis of the majority of the highest grossing films. And since I don't have enough education to talk economics, so I'll just focus on monopoly.

I once made my mother-in-law cry over a game of Monopoly. I'm sure that family fights are a common outcome of Monopoly. Our family used to go late into the evening on rounds of monopoly inventing our financing rules and writing out IOUs with interest rates on em with no clear winner. We played a good bit, so I got good at it. It's just math really. There's some quirks like the fact that players have to restart at certain squares and the odds are raised of any twelve spaces from those.

It's just a game... and like most everyone else, I play to win. I do it with tennis too. I'll find a single weakness and exploit it over and over until the other player is debilitated. Ruthless: Monopoly's Secret History3 is a documentary I saw some years ago that explains how the game was actually meant to be a critique on capitalism.

There are countless academic and long form essays on the ills of socialism and capitalism. It's at the heart of a lot of the cultural wars of today. I've also written several essays trying to explain my middle of the road stance on it, but none of them really sum it up as easily as referencing the game of Monopoly because I think it most simply reflects the current U.S. administration's approach. I mean ole' dumpy was a 'real estate developer' by trade so it matches up pretty well especially as it seems he has a 'monopoly' world view given his recent rhetoric on Greenland and South America.

It's no coincidence that father of that actual creator of the game of Monopoly was a founding member of the republican party. She was a bit of a performance artist4. Her creation of The Landlord game was just espoused Georgism5 where all taxes paid to the treasury are used for public improvements. I'm glad the fact that she got out hustled on a bastardized version of her game isn't lost.

Mostly I just want to defend Warren here. The essay was likely just a response to what a speach she gave yesterday pointing fingers at the monopolist6. The economics of Elizabeth Warren are not cartoon'ish. It's more akin to the mom settling the fight breaking out with the kids after dinner of the monopoly board by busting out some snacks for everyone before reminding them to go to bed. Even though I can run the board, I'd prefer a snack and a good nights rest for everyone.



Footnotes​

  1. Elizabeth Warren’s Comic-Book Economics - https://www.wsj.com/opinion/free-expression/elizabeth-warrens-comic-book-economics-547827ab ↩

  2. Matthew Hennessey - https://opinion.wsj.com/wsj_author/matthew-hennessey ↩

  3. Ruthless: Monopoly's Secret History - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAsj9TvK_eI ↩

  4. Lizzie Magie - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lizzie_Magie ↩

  5. Georgism - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgism ↩

  6. Sen. Warren on Democratic Party Being Called "Too Progressive" - https://www.c-span.org/clip/public-affairs-event/sen-warren-on-democratic-party-being-called-too-progressive/5188399 ↩