By Shawn Williams, KERA Commentator
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-813262.mp3
Dallas, TX –
Last month, my 7-year-old son bought his first piece of commercial real estate. He had just received a "Star Wars Clone Wars" Monopoly set for his birthday, and he paid 400 Republic credits for Jabba's Palace.
Since the "Star Wars" version of Monopoly was set in a galaxy far, far away, things were a little different than the game that my wife and I grew up playing as kids. The shoe and thimble were replaced with characters like General Grievous and Obi Won Kenobi. Instead of dollars, Republic credits were the currency of the day. And instead of motels and houses, we acquired settlements and cities. After a couple of turns around the board, we reverted back to a more Earth-friendly nomenclature.
Lately, we've seen too many financial institutions treating money as if they were playing a game. Many companies have relied on tools like credit default swaps, naked short selling and energy derivatives, which are about as risky as rolling the dice. The rules of Monopoly are printed on the box and easy to understand. But these financial concepts are so complex, the executives betting our retirement funds and college savings on them couldn't possibly know how they all work.
In Monopoly, cash rules the day, and you can't buy anything unless you have the money for it. But in the real world that's not always the case. The Federal Reserve can print money when times get tough with the click of a mouse. The Monopoly equivalent would be taking out a pencil and paper to draw up new money as your funds get low.
Throughout the game, we told our son about mortgages and how and why people pay rent. We discussed the importance of looking toward the future and how quickly things can take a turn for the worst. And we encouraged him to hold a little money back, just in case he encountered problems along the way.
Plenty of computer games can teach these same lessons. The thought of spending three or four hours playing a game with your children may not appeal to everyone as it does to my wife and me. But on this day, we enjoyed one another's company, used our brains and reflected on a some of life's lessons in the process. Like when it comes to finances, it's not how you start but how you finish. And for at least one Sunday, I took down the "do not disturb" sign plastered on my forehead during Cowboy games.
The next time my son played Monopoly, he sent five adults, including me, to the poor house. At the end of the game, he owned all of the real estate and all of the money. I can only hope that bank and auto executives learn their lesson as fast.
Shawn Williams is Publisher of dallassouthblog.com.
If you have opinions or rebuttals about this commentary, call (214) 740-9338 or email us.