Monopoly - corporate style

Monopoly: mo·nop·o·ly (mə-nŏp'ə-lē) pronunciation
n., pl. -lies.

1. Exclusive control by one group of the means of producing or selling a commodity or service: “Monopoly frequently arises from government support or from collusive agreements among individuals (Milton Friedman).
2. Law. A right granted by a government giving exclusive control over a specified commercial activity to a single party.

I bet when you were playing that game when you were a kid, you never really thought about the consequences of winning or that these sort of things just MAY happen in the real world. Funny, how that game seems to be not so much of a game. Remember the water company, and the electric company and they always seemed to get a nice fair share of your money. Interesting that you have to pay for your services isn't it?

Privatization just seems to be accepted somehow. If it isn't accepted than perhaps you are a bit socialist or one of the other instant negators like terrorist, witch, communist, traitor, etc. But think about services this way, if you have to choose between water, heat and eating what kind of world do we live in? Why do we pay for water? Isn't water something natural that no one owns? In Bolivia the campesinos fought back and shut down all of La Paz when the government tried to privatize the water industry. There was a total siege. Usually people just let the multinationals walk all over them. However, they fought back in Bolivia.

Anyway back to Monopoly. Remember how you loved winning the game, what a thrill it was? Kids probably never think that there really are losers out there and it isn't a joke when they lose all their money to the people who have Boardwalk and Park Place. I never thought of it before, but the game really does teach children to be good little capitalists, doesn't it? That's a whole new world for me to explore with propaganda. Before I looked just at textbooks, media, news...Now games, that is VERY clever... To take a new look at the game of Monopoly by Jim Monroe click here.