If J.P. Morgan was Mr. Monopoly, Jeff Bezos is Mr. Monopsony

The Georgist roots of a beloved family pastime.

The game Monopoly was first marketed by Parker Brothers in 1936, but an earlier version was patented as the “Landlord’s Game” in 1904 by a left-wing activist named Lizzie Magie. Magie intended the game to be a teaching tool to spread Henry George’s gospel about the evils of private land ownership. George advocated a 100 percent tax on land ownership (and zero taxes on any improvements made to the land). In a 1902 issue of the Single Tax Review, Magie explained that her game was

a practical demonstration of the present system of land-grabbing with all its usual outcomes and consequences. 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 to have, i.e., the accumulation of wealth.

The Monopoly game’s mascot was a top-hatted portly old gent with a mustache who came to be known as Mr. Monopoly. Mr. Monopoly was modeled on J.P. Morgan, pictured above. In my latest New Republic piece I propose that Hasbro, the game’s current marketer, issue a new game called Monopsony, with a new mascot called Mr. Monopsony who should be modeled on Jeff Bezos. I explain how the game would be played, and also how Bezos plays it against Amazon’s warehouse employees. You can read it here.