Uncertainty in Washington Is Creating Confusion for Investors Trying to Minimize Their Tax Burden. Here’s What You Need to Know—and Do. By Laura Saunders – Wall Street Journal There are plenty of reasons for taxpayers to scream. Here it is, year-end tax-planning time, when investors must decide whether to take gains or harvest losses and [...]

By Jon Coupal This fall has been especially frightening. There have been the little monsters at our doors on Halloween, the monstrous politicians invading our homes through the television, and there has been that property tax bill in the mail box. Fortunately, as a direct result of Proposition 13, which limits increases in a property’s [...]

The Monopoly board game originated during the Great Depression. At first its inventor, Charles Darrow, could not interest manufacturers. Parker Brothers turned the game down, citing “52 design errors.” But Darrow produced his own copies of the game, and Parker Brothers finally bought Monopoly. By 1935, the New York Times was reporting that “leading all other board games … is the season’s craze, ‘Monopoly,’ the game of real estate.”
Most of us are familiar with the object of Monopoly: the accumulation of property on which one places houses and hotels, and from which one receives revenue. Many of us have a favorite token. Perennially popular is the top hat, which symbolizes the sort of wealth to which Americans who work hard can aspire. The top hat is a token that has remained in the game, even while others have changed over the decades.
One’s willingness to play Monopoly depends on a few conditions—for instance, a predictable number of “Pay Income Tax” cards.