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... The board game Monopoly has always taught some important economic lessons: The benefits of owning real estate. The profit potential of railroad mergers. The value of a get-out-of-jail-free card.
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Now a special edition of the board game is teaching a new lesson"about how hard it is to make things in the USA.

The game is being marketed by the WS Game Company, which produces most of its high-end board games in China, just like almost every other toy maker.

After getting hit with a seven-figure tariff bill last year, CEO Jonathan Silva decided to see if it was possible to produce a profitable board game in the United States.

He opted for a custom version of Monopoly, pegged to the country's 250th birthday. But the experiment almost didn't pass go. One big problem: No dice.

"We turned over every single leaf trying to find someone who would make 10,000 dice for us in the U.S.," Silva says. "It requires special machinery. It requires investment. And that type of stuff just can't happen on a random Tuesday and be ready in a couple of months."

Silva ultimately had to settle for imported dice.

He was able to find the rest of what he needed domestically, but it wasn't easy. A former Hasbro factory in Massachusetts prints the Monopoly board. A company called Pioneer Packaging makes the tray that holds the Monopoly money. And a small business in Indiana cranked out custom metal game tokens, in all-American shapes like a cowboy hat, a covered wagon and an apple pie.

Just assembling all those different players took more than a year, so Silva missed the first half of the 250th birthday selling season. And the cost to manufacture the games -- which retail for $80 -- was at least double what it would have been in China. ...

More from the article ...

... U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams accused Trump of having manipulated the court system when he sued a federal agency under his control, bypassing a requirement that parties in a lawsuit must have adverse interests and laying the groundwork for a settlement last spring that granted him immunity from tax audits and created a fund to compensate allies of the president who say they were unjustly persecuted.

Though the practical impacts of the ruling may be limited given the administration's public pronouncements that the so-called $1.776 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund has been abandoned, the judge's ruling nonetheless amounts to a scathing rebuke of the Trump administration and resurfaces a politically damaging storyline for Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche just as he prepares to face the Senate Judiciary Committee for his confirmation hearing on Wednesday. ...

More from the article ...

... More than a quarter of working-age adults who relied on credit cards to buy groceries were either unable to pay their balance in full or missed their minimum payment, according to the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan think tank. About one in 10 adults relied on so-called "buy now, pay later" loans to cover their groceries -- of those, about a third missed a payment last year, the analysis found.

About 20% of working-age adults said they had tapped long-term savings that weren't intended for everyday expenses, such as an emergency fund, at least once in the last 12 months to pay for groceries, the researchers said.

"Families still need to eat. They will still need to pay for their basic needs," Kassandra Martinchek, a co-author of the study and public policy expert at the Urban Institute, told CBS News. "Now they have the additional burden of also needing to repay debt -- it could constrain their ability to meet their basic needs in the future and get back on their financial feet."

Over the past five years, grocery prices have jumped 32%, making food affordability a top concern for many Americans, the Urban Institute said. The group's findings are based on a December survey of 7,500 adults ages 18-64.

The findings underscore the growing affordability pinch that many households are experiencing after five years of elevated inflation. In 2026, price increases have reaccelerated due to the Iran war, which has driven up energy costs and pushed consumer prices to their highest level in more than three years.

In a May CBS News poll, more than three-quarters of Americans said their incomes aren't keeping up with inflation. ...

@#2 ... Ummmmm they've turned literally everything into investor return over any true purpose or rationale. ...

Similar to turning healthcare from "healthcare for patients" into "healthcare for profits," this seems to be doing a similar thing to youth sports.

Going from "youth sports for participants" to "youth sports for profit."

More from the article ...

... Rep. Burgess Owens, R-Utah, a former professional football player, expressed concern that private investment in youth sports could lead to a focus on investor return rather than youth opportunity. ...

Lawmakers from both political parties expressed alarm at the trend, while appearing to look for solutions to avoid price hikes to youth participation in sports.

"In some markets, consolidation is driving up costs for families while limiting access to more affordable, community-based options," said Rep. Kevin Kiley, chair of the House Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education subcommittee. "The consequences are clear: A widening participation gap."

"The simple reality is that too many children are being priced out. It's not that they lack talent or determination; it's that their families simply cannot afford the rising costs," said Kiley, an independent from California who caucuses with Republicans. ...

@#3

Not in my view.

Especially when Pres Trump started asking for billions of dollars to fund it and no apparent transparency of where the money would be going.

@#16 ... Depends on who you ask. ...

So, no one really seems to know. That's what I figured.

... Yes, it's called infrastucture and every company has operational costs. ...

Yes, every company has operational costs. Duh.

But, and it is a big Trump-sized but... the operational costs of AI are quite significant. Starting with electrical and water usage costs.

Again, will the revenue be able to catch up? I'll say again, I cannot predict the future.

@#101 ... Then you should except the possibility Obama actually said it. ...

I only indicated that it was "unproven" that he said it.

I have never denied that he might have said it.

Do try harder.

It seems as if Pres Trump's war is stuck in a Schrödinger's cat type of place.

We don't know if it is a full-out war or a cease-fire.

Update ...

@#14 ... Cost of AI token is NOT the cost per transaction. ...

The AI token is what is being used to charge companies for their usage. Maybe it is a single transaction, maybe it is a request. Regardless, rising token costs have emerged as a major pain point for businesses and put a strain on AI budgets, leading some CEOs to question whether or not the use of AI is worth it.

The question in my mind currently is...

Will AI's huge CapEx debt ever be recovered?

And then, debt aside, there are things like ...

@#3 ... 5th on in 6 months. ...

I have one physical exam per year.

Is there some ongoing condition that requires Pres Trump to have so many physicals?

thx for the correction on the other thread.

@#4 ... BWAHAHA. Bankrupt every one of these -------- ...

I doubt if the amount will bankrupt Mr Byrne.

More significant to me is that he did not even seem to be able to, or want to, present a defense.

Makes one wonder just how many other lies he may have been propagating?

@#4 ... he paid his child support five years ago ...

Oops, my error. It was three years ago...

As your current trolling alias was informed in the other instance of this thread, he paid his child support five years ago.

This link is already up ...

@#12 ... They are not necessarily losing money on every transaction because defining "transaction" in AI is very complex and involves many different, non-uniform costs. ...

The cost of AI tokens (cost per transaction) has risen significantly.

Palo Alto CEO Arora says AI pricing needs to fall 90% as token costs skyrocket
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/09/palo-alto-ceo-arora-ai-pricing.html

... Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora told CNBC on Thursday that high token costs need to come down as much as 90% to promote enterprise adoption ...

Rising token costs have emerged as a major pain point for businesses and put a strain on AI budgets. The current pricing, he said, makes AI tools increasingly difficult for businesses to implement. ...

... also, related ...

@#3 ... Article is a good read.. ...

That site usually runs quite well on court proceedings and decisions.

@#95 ... Makes no difference to me. ...

Quelle surprise.

I guess I prefer to keep more of an open mind ...

:)

@#92

I still go with snopes.com's assessment, that the statement is unproven.

That aside...

I think the phrase "Biden's gaffe-prone nature" in the January 2020 Politico article makes a difference. Especially in the context of the rest of the article which seems to be describing a hectic period before the Iowa caucuses.

Will the revenue generated by AI catch up to the CapEx for the hyperscalers?

They currently seem to be losing money on every transaction, but hope to make up for it with volume ...

Meanwhile, back at the Kennedy Center...