As promised, to take one of my previous posts (see: Funny Money) a little further, I would like to create an extended metaphor for the U.S. economy under the current administration and our Federal Reserve Bank's (FRB's) new policies. The metaphor I choose is the game of Monopoly. Here are the updated rules for the "Chicago-style" version of this old favorite:
- The name of the game has been changed to "Big Government Monopoly."
- The amount of cash in the "bank" (now called the FRB) has been tripled as has the amount of paper money each player gets at game start.
- The railroads have been replaced with government-funded high-speed monorails to entertainment destinations.
- The color of hotels has been changed from red to green.
- Passing GO now gets a player a government hand-out of $1000, but he/she must kick-back 20% to the SEIU.
- Any and all Wall-Street bankers who land on "Go to Jail" are exempted from this fate.
- "Free Parking" exists only for Chevy Volts, Toyota Priuses and other "green" cars ... the "free" refers to electricity plug-in stations. Gas-guzzling cars landing on "Free Parking" are crushed.
- The utilities (now just solar and wind powered) can no longer be purchased by players. They are now government-owned and landing on them requires players to tithe to the FRB.
- Players can mortgage their properties for as much as 200% of assessed value. After four turns around the board, the mortgages are forgiven by the FRB.
- Players wanting to build houses or hotels on their properties must first pass stringent environmental-impact muster.
- An onerous Luxury Tax is charged to only those players who look like they are winning.
... and so it goes ...
1 comment:
- If you find that your game piece is the tophat or the gold bar, you have inherited five get.out.of.jail.free cards, an additional $100,000 to start, and your game path starts at free parking.
- Three of the avenues -- Connecticutt, Virginia, and Tennesee -- are casinos. When you land on them, you roll the dice and then lose that fraction of your cash.
- Luxury tax liability is 18% of the first $200,000 and 2% for anything above that
- Instead of hotel, you can build a huge private residence.When anyone lands on it, they go to jail for trespassing.
:-)
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