RELIGION or POLITICS ??? Rules for Economic Recovery ......

Ah yes my friends, here we all are after a good weekend and ready to get smarter for having visited this site today and for the rest of the week, at least.  This blog is about the Economic Recovery that has not recovered yet and is a long way from doing so. But here are the rules of the game involved as this admin fumbles and bumbles along.    Let's pray some sensible heads will persevere and get this country turned to the right direction.

This content was taken from a licture at Hellsdale College by Amity Shlaes, syndicated columnist for Bloomberg. and a senior fellow in economic history at the Council on Foreign Relations.   So here we go.


THE RULES OF THE GAME AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY----

       The Monopoly board game originated during the Great Depression.   At firts its inventor, Charles Darrow, could not interest manufacturers.   Parker Brothers turned the game down, citing "52 design errors".   But Darrow produced his own copies of the game, and Parker Brothers finally bought Monopoly.   By 1935, the New York Times was reporting that "leading al other board games...is the season's craze, 'Monopoly, the game of real estate.

       Most of us are familiar with the object of Monopoly:  the accumulation of property on which one places houses and hotels, and from which one receives revenue.   Many of us have a favorite token.   Perennially popular is the top hat, which symbolizes the sort of wealth to which Americans who work hard can aspire.   The top hat is a token that has remained in the game, even while others have changed over the decades.

       One's willingness to play Monopoly depends on a few conditions -- for instance, a predictable number of "Pay Income Tax" cards.   These cards are manageable when you know in advance the amount of money printed on them and how many of them and how many of them are in the deck.   It helps, too, that there are a limited and predictable number of "Go To Jail" cards.   This is what Frank Knight of the University of Chicago would call a knowable risk, as opposed to uncertainty.   Likewise, there must be a limited and predictable number of "Chance" cards.   In other words, there has to be some certainty that property rights are secure and that the risks to property are few in number and can be managed.

       The bank must be dependable, too.   There is a fixed supply on Monopoly money and the bank is supposed follow the rules of the game, exercising little or no independent discretion.   If players sit down at the Monoploy board only to discover a bank that overreaches or is too unpredictable or discretionary, we all know what happens.   They will walk away from the board.   There is no game.

I wil stop at this point, as you ae so alert to notice, and continue this presentation on Wednesday, which will be on The Relevance to the 1930s.   For all of you who are not familiar with earlier history of America, and maybe its not your fault, as in modern education in schools, but if your concern is for good old USA, then you should  enjoy "the rest of the story".   You, you, and you will participate in Amercia's economical future so get into the basics here and be able to interpret what is happing today and/or as it progresses or regresses into the weeks and years ahead.   Cheers    CJ