Monopoly on Sale ONLY 46 cents!

Am I an economist, no.
Am I a realist, yes.

If current numbers are correct and of course, they’re not, they’re never current and they’re never correct in a positive way unless we are balancing our own very real checkbooks.

46 cents of every dollar is being borrowed (it’s not June yet) so the 46 cents is guesstimate, oh hell..let say 50 cents – half of every dollar is not real money.It’s made up money to be spent and squandered. It’s easy to squander funny money, it’s a big game of Monopoly and if you are Congress (the banker), the President (with a get out of jail free card every time he passes ‘Go’ or a newspaper stand) that leaves the rest of us drawing a Chance or a Community Chest card.

We all remember, that these cards were always going to cost us big funny money bucks. Even if you had the good fortune to draw one of the cards that paid, you just knew you were going to end up giving back the money. We all knew that the next draw of either card was going to be pay back – it was only a matter of time and how long your luck could hold out. In the end, there was only one winner, no matter what we owned or how much money we had accumulated. Was Uncle Pennybags really Uncle Sam? Since this game came out while we were still in a depression, it’s all the more possible that the game designer also saw the government and their cronies taking more than their fair share.
I have not played with funny money since I was a child, I can’t be sure about current fines and taxes, but what I can be sure of are the ‘changes’ in the Chance Cards and ‘changes’ in the Community Cards are no longer Monopoly Funny Money and the Game of Monopoly is now being played with our real money and no matter what we believe we have in front of us, it’s only worth half.

For your amusement each one is worthy of commentary (Note: List from Wikipedia)

Changes in the Chance cards in the U.S. editions include:

* Parking Fine: $15 (now omitted)
* Pay Poor Tax: $12 (now $15)
* Pay School Tax: $150 (moved to Community Chest)
* You Are Assessed for Street Repairs (moved to Community Chest)
* Your Xmas Fund Matures: Collect $100 (moved to Community Chest)
* Bank Pays You Dividend of $50 (illustration change from 1936; since 2004, Uncle Pennybags no longer smokes a cigar on this card).

The following cards were introduced by Parker Brothers in 1936:

* Advance Token to the Nearest Railroad (2x)
* Advance Token to the Nearest Utility
* Elected Chairman of the Board: Pay Each Player $50

Cards in the U.S. Standard Edition (the “Atlantic City Edition”)

* Advance token to the nearest utility. If unowned you may buy it from bank. If owned, throw dice and pay owner a total ten times the amount thrown.
* Advance token to the nearest Railroad and pay owner Twice the Rental to which he is otherwise entitled. If Railroad is unowned, you may buy it from the Bank. [Two such cards in the U.S. version]
* Pay poor tax of $15
* You have been elected chairman of the board. Pay each player $50

Changes in the Community Chest cards in the U.S. editions include:

* Everyone Must Donate 10% of His Holdings to You in Cash (one edition only, 1936)
* Go Back to Baltic Avenue (four editions, omitted in U.S. editions since 1936)
* Go to Income Tax or Jail (Darrow edition, 1934 only)
* Advance Token to the Nearest Railroad (2x, later moved to Chance)
* We’re Off the Gold Standard, Collect $50 (1935-1936 only, now omitted)
* Pay Your Insurance Premium: $50 (omitted in U.S. editions since 1935)
* Pay a $10 fine or take a Chance (omitted in U.S. editions since 1936)

Certain cards were also moved from the Chance cards deck:

* Pay School Tax $150
* You are Assessed for Street Repairs
* Your Xmas Fund Matures

Cards in the U.S. Standard Edition (the “Atlantic City Edition”)

* Grand opera Night – collect $50 from every player for opening night seats
* Life Insurance Matures – collect $100
* Pay School tax of $150
* Receive for services $25
* You are assessed for street repairs – $40 per house, $115 per hotel

I think it’s a great idea, but as for me, I haven’t come up with anything worthy of sending to Book…

For one, I’ve got my own axes to grind, and they’re often different from Book’s. I’m extremely harsh on Bush and the current GOP Congress. They lost their spine and their faith in true conservatism. They cannot stand up for conservatism, because they no longer believe in it; they can only hope that it is right. You cannot effectively defend what you no longer believe in.

If you were religious and in a severe spiritual crisis, would you go to a priest who you knew had already lost his faith? What’s the use in that? We need a new GOP. New leaders with faith and confidence in themselves. Who can articulate the message, and have fire in the belly. Who care and are committed.

In a post from today (Sunday), Book quoted the first part of a Mark Steyn article and suggested you read the second part, concerning the state of the GOP. I’d recommend reading the second part as well. Dang, there I go again, grinding my own axe. I’d have quoted the second part as the most important; Book quotes the first. That’s an example of how submitting my own post would I think dilute Book’s original and highly welcome voice!

And she lets us go off into our own diversions here in the comment section, which is incredibly gracious of her!

Once I find an axe to grind that I think is in agreement with Book’s ideas – and I can write it with her incredible succinctness clarity, I guess I’ll just keep submitting my own personal outrages here in the comment section. I’m just more comfortable that way!

2 oz. bitter kvetch

???

Once the entire meal is complete, a complimentary offering of extra-maximum-strength Listerine is to be offered to cleanse the palate.

All that’s needed is a Whine List and we’re set.

I’ll start:

Bill Ayers Stew

1 cup Winnetka upbringing

2 tbsps guilty rich parents

1/2 cup pulled fly wings

2 oz. bitter vetch

Dash of nitroglycerine

3 oz. regret over rejection by big-breasted Samantha Detwiler

2 tsps shame over small, uh, endowment

1 Bill Ayers limb, lightly sauteed; beady eyeballs optional

Brown the fly wings in Winnetka, gradually mixing in parental guilt. When mixture reaches a seething boil, add bitter vetch and nitro. Simmer for 45 minutes, then add endowment shame and Detwiler regret.

Simmer another 10 minutes, then add previously sauteed limb.

Remove from stove and let stand in dance hall or large public space.

Add optional eyeballs when serving.

Feeds up to 200.

CAUTION: Although recipe gives off whimpers, it can explode. Best served with warrants or handcuffs.

I was just reading some comment on another blog about David Letterman. The writer said that Letterman was way past his pull date, but that she’d never forget when a much younger Letterman had Don King on his show and the first question he blurted out was, “What’s the deal with your hair?”