Do Not Pass Go (2022)

Throughline

NPR

Society & Culture, History, Documentary

4.7 • 15K Ratings

🗓️ 12 January 2023

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

There's more to Monopoly than you might think. It's one of the best-selling board games in history — despite huge economic instability, sales actually went up during the pandemic — and it's been an iconic part of American life at other pivotal moments: a cheap pastime during the Great Depression; a reminder of home for soldiers during WWII; and an American export during its rise as a global superpower. It endured even as it reflected some of the ongoing inequities in American society, from segregation and redlining, to capitalism run rampant. That's because Monopoly is also built on powerful American lore – the idea that anyone, with just a little bit of cash, can rise from rags to riches. Writer Mary Pilon, the author of The Monopolists: Obsession, Fury, and the Scandal Behind the World's Favorite Board Game, describes Monopoly as "the Great American Dream in a board game – or, nightmare."This week: how a critique of capitalism grew from a seed of an idea in a rebellious young woman's mind into a game legendary for its celebration of wealth at all costs. And behind that legend — there's a lie.

Transcript

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0:00.0	My family played at Christmas Eve. That was our tradition growing up.
0:10.6	9, 10, just visiting. No, go to jail.
0:16.1	I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, so it was cold and rainy. We had a lot of time to
0:19.1	stay inside and play games and nostalgia. You know, my grandmother and my parents, I played
0:24.3	with my brother. You know, it was one of the rare things that really brought all the
0:30.8	generations of my family together. And I remember as a kid, it's really exciting. I get to trade
0:35.8	property. I get to spend money. I get to have power. I'm the youngest of my family. So
0:39.2	the idea that I had even remotely equal footing was really exciting.
0:44.2	This is Mary Poulan. She's a journalist who writes about sports and business.
0:49.1	The monopoly was not on my list at all. And who would think to question the monopoly?
0:56.1	OK, the name of the game is monopoly. Do you all know how to play the game? No, no.
1:01.1	What? I think that we should review for free. I know the game, no.
1:06.1	I tried playing with my nephews recently. Hello, I'm Ali. I'm Jade. I'm Daha.
1:11.1	And they had a lot of questions. We can steal. What do they mean by mortgage? I don't know.
1:16.1	You can't steal. How much is the rent? Questions that feel much bigger than a board game.
1:21.1	This past year, questions like how much is the rent took on a new urgency.
1:27.1	Inflation Nation, the consumer price index rose 8.6% in May to a new 40 year high.
1:34.1	No matter who you are, no matter where you live, no matter how much you make, you're impacted by it.
1:40.1	8.6%. That's really a tough number to swallow here.
1:44.1	You have to go back to 2009, 13 years ago, to find a time when these economic numbers are as bad as they are today.
1:52.1	In 2009, I was working at the Wall Street Journal.
1:55.1	It was the great recession, the worst economic collapse since 1929.
	...

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