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Title: Living in a Monopoly
Author: Collective Action
Date: September 15, 2016
Language: en
Topics: capitalism, games
Source: Retrieved on January 18, 2021 from https://web.archive.org/web/20210118080822/http://www.collectiveaction.org.au/2016/09/15/living-in-a-monopoly/
Notes: By Jacqui. Published in The Platform Issue 4 — Winter 2016.

Collective Action

Living in a Monopoly

In 1903 Lizzie Magie patented the ‘Landlords Game’ – originally intended

as an anti-capitalist critique of monopolistic corporate greed. “It is a

practical demonstration of the present system of land-grabbing with all

its usual outcomes and consequences,” Magie wrote in a political

magazine. “It might well have been called the ‘Game of Life’, as it

contains all the elements of success and failure in the real world, and

the object is the same as the human race in general seem[s] to have, ie.

the accumulation of wealth.”

The game was popular among left-wing progressives and at university

campuses, until some thirty years later when Charles Darrow and his wife

played it a dinner party. At the time the game wasn’t often bought in a

box; rather, it was copied and shared between friends, known as ‘the

monopoly game’. Darrow was taken with the game and asked his host to

make him a set, along with a copy of the more advanced rules. In 1935,

he copied and sold the game, now known as Monopoly, to Parker Brothers

along with the myth of its creation.

The object is to become the wealthiest player through buying, renting

and selling of a single commodity – property. The game of Monopoly is

one of accumulation and power that enables each player the chance to

compete. Magie invented the game to reveal the current economic system

and the greed of those monopolising it; though it was over a hundred

years ago and many alterations have been made, parallels between playing

a game of Monopoly and life under capitalism still exist today.

When you begin a game of Monopoly players are given equal odds for

success: you each receive $1500, the board is open, and everyone has the

potential to expand an empire. You go around the board like this for a

while, buying properties, building houses and hotels, and just having a

good ol’ time accumulating wealth. Until all of a sudden the game gets

really serious. You land on Park Lane, it has a red hotel perched upon

it and you realise you’re fucked. You count out your paper money,

mortgage half your properties and pay the astronomical fee for landing

on this spot, but you know it’s all over. There’s a sickening feeling of

anger in your gut as you paste a smile on your face and say, “It’s just

a game!” But everyone knows what happens next. The leading player gets

wealthier and wealthier, accumulating properties as the others are

forced to retire – all the while remembering why they hate Monopoly.

The tendency towards monopoly is deeply rooted in the nature of the

capitalist economic system, and unlike the game of Monopoly we don’t all

start on an equal footing. Capitalism is characterised by gross

inequalities in power, wealth and access to resources, and in our

society these inequalities are only getting worse. The game of monopoly

is well afoot in the Australian housing market, and those of us who

weren’t born lucky enough to inherit the metaphorical $1500 are finding

it increasingly difficult to maintain secure access to housing.

In 1982, the ABS Survey of Income and Housing revealed that 168,000 or

10% of home buyers spent more than 30% of their gross household income

on housing costs. Nearly 30 years later in 2011 these numbers had soared

to 640,000, equivalent to 21% of all home buyers. The trend in housing

cost burdens reflect rising real house prices; property market booms

escalate real house prices to higher levels than they peaked in the

previous boom. But with each peak in house prices, household incomes

fall continuously behind. According to the same ABS data source,

households in 1990 on average valued their homes at four times their

average household income, by 2011 this multiple had climbed to nearly

six times average household income.

The problem is not one of a shortage of housing, but an inefficient and

unequal distribution of the stock housing. There are an estimated 84,000

vacant residential properties in Melbourne, the majority owned by

property investors and speculators. At the same time, the public housing

waiting list has blown out to ten years as 34,000 people wait for a

place to live. This is both obscene, and the logical consequence of an

economic system in which housing is not a human right, but rather a

commodity to be bought, sold and speculated on for private profit.

The Australian government has done everything it can to support the

rampant cycle of property speculation which is driving housing

inaffordability across Australia. The combination of “negative gearing”

and a concessionary rates of capital gains tax on residential real

estate have amounted to a massive transfer of capital to those

wealthiest enough to engage in property speculation. Negative gearing

means that individuals with high incomes can lower their income tax

liabilities by borrowing to buy investment properties. When these

speculators cash out, they avoid tax again, thanks to the Capital Gains

Tax concessions. The result is that $11.7 billion dollars a year that

might have been collected in tax revenue is instead funneled into the

pockets of the wealthiest, and this occurs in a process that drives up

property prices and rents, and progressively locks large sections of the

working class out of the housing market.

Unfortunately for us, capitalism is an adaptable system, capable of

evolving and transforming over time. Since Magie invented the ‘Landlords

Game’ in 1903 we have seen a major merger movement for industry, greater

concentration of capital, advanced selling power through advertising,

and a mass expansion for the market through globalization and

imperialism. Just like the outcome of the game, the monopolisation of

capital results in the most powerful minorities dividing all the profits

whilst the greater part of humanity suffers from ever increasing

poverty. The standard of living for the wealthy is based on the extreme

oppression of the working class.

So whilst there are clear parallels between a game of Monopoly and the

conditions of life in a capitalist society, it is also clear that the

conditions of our lives are unequal and the outcomes far worse for most.

You don’t start on ‘GO’ at the same time as everyone else, you’re

certainly not given the same amount of wealth to begin with, all of the

properties, utilities and businesses are already owned, and it seems

like your dice only roll ones and twos. It’s also really hard to find

free parking. The truth is most of us go around the board year in and

year out trying to pass ‘GO’ for our measly wage, hoping we can scrape

together enough money to pay our rent and survive. If you can’t pay your

rent you don’t get to stop playing, you have to keep rolling your shitty

dice, trying to make it back to ‘GO’ or dying in the process. Meanwhile

the minority who monopolise the board don’t ever really begin the game,

certain players just pass their piece on, accompanied by their

ever-growing pile of notes, properties, and little red hotels.