WITH THE OBJECTIVE OF GENERATING LIVELY DISCUSSIONS ABOUT OUR COUNTRY’S FUTURE

THE UNITED STATES OF ENTITLEMENT A GAME OF POLITICS, FINANCE, AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS

THE GAME

• What determines success in life- luck, knowledge, shrewd decisions, emotional intelligence, or the political system in which you live?

• In the game The United States of Entitlement you will explore these possibilities on a board game of 4 to 8 players with player progress tracked by computer.

• This is a game designed for the post election season in which everyone from average citizens to political junkies will debate the role of government and entitlement systems in our national life.

THE OBJECTIVE

• After selecting an entitlement system in which to live (hard left to hard right-see next chart), players make financial and personal decisions in an effort to achieve financial security and contentment as they progress from conception to retirement.

• Each player’s goal is to achieve the highest financial security and the highest contentment score. – If no single player can achieve this outright victory, the player with the

best balance of financial security and contentment is declared the winner by acclamation of the other players.

• The real objective of the game however is to generate lively discussions about our country’s political future.

HARD LEFT FREE TUITION FREE HEALTHCARE INCOME SAFETY NET FOUR INCOME TAX RATES (20%-40%) CAPITAL GAINS TAX OF 40% CENTER LEFT

NO FREE TUITION FREE HEALTHCARE INCOME SAFETY NET THREE INCOME TAX RATES (20%-35%) CAPITAL GAINS TAX OF 30%

CENTER RIGHT NO FREE TUITION NO FREE HEALTHCARE INCOME SAFETY NET TWO INCOME TAX RATES (20%-30%) CAPITAL GAINS TAX OF 15%

HARD RIGHT NO FREE TUITION NO FREE HEALTHCARE NO INCOME SAFETY NET ONE INCOME TAX RATE (20%) NO CAPITAL GAINS TAX

STATES OF ENTITLEMENT

GAME FLOW

Players choose the entitlement system under which to live

Players roll the dice to determine their inheritance

Players select a career for which they can afford the tuition

Players answer career related questions to determine their financial success

Players hold an election to determine if one entitlement system should apply to all

Players decide on the portion of their net worth to invest and roll the dice to determine if they beat the market

Players select a marriage partner, divide their assets, and demonstrate their emotional intelligence

Players pay for health care during retirement based on the entitlement system in which they live and a roll of the dice

The winner declared based on a life well lived

HARD CENTER CENTER HARD LEFT LEFT RIGHT RIGHT

STATE OF ENTITLEMENT

• Players select their State of Entitlement. – This choice will be based on players’ cherished beliefs

– As the game progresses these beliefs will be put to the test

• Note that this state is selected before players know whether they will be conceived in poverty or wealth. – It’s easy to be on the right when you’re wealthy

– It’s easy to be on the left when you’re poor

– In this game you must pick an political system before you know your financial start in life

• This choice, and all future progress against financial and contentment goals, is tracked by a downloadable app.

CONCEPTION

• Each player rolls the dice to determine the inherited net worth with which they will start the game.

DICE ROLL 2-4 5-8 9-11 12

INHERITENCE($) 50K 300K 600K 3M

PLAYERS SELECT A CAREER (FOR WHICH THEY CAN AFFORD THE TUITION)

PROFESSION TUITION ($)

DOCTOR 2M

ENGINEER 600K

ACTOR 50K

TEACHER 100K

FARMER 0 K

SPORTS 100K

BANKER 1M

GOVERNMENT 200K

All tuitions are free for players living in the hard left states

FINANCIAL SUCCESS

• The appropriate tuition for their career choice is deducted from each player’s inherited net worth and their financial life begins

• Players answer career related questions to determine their financial success

• Salary increases with the number of questions answered correctly

• Income taxes are paid on players’ salary based on the state of entitlement they selected. An income subsidy is added to players who have a net worth 30 times less than the richest player and who do not live in the hard right political system

• At the end of this round every player has a net worth based on inheritance (luck), cost of tuition for their chosen career (shrewd decisions), 30 years of salary based on the number of correct answers to career questions (knowledge), and taxes paid (political system they have chosen)

• All calculations are tracked by the downloaded app and preformatted pie charts show the financial demographics of the player population.

ELECTION

• At the start of this phase all players know one another’s net worth and jealousy and selfishness will seep into the game banter.

• In this phase players’ political skills will be brought to bear as players jockey to impose a single political system on all players.

• If a player can cajole a simple majority of the players to vote for a single entitlement system, than that system will be imposed on all players and taxes will be readjusted retroactively.

– All future game outcomes will be governed under this system.

– If no player can command the 2/3 majority all players will continue to operate under their chosen system.

• The game app seamlessly accounts for all related financial calculations based on the outcome of the election.

INVESTMENT

• During this phase players invest in their future and the future of the country.

• Each player selects a percentage of their net worth to invest. – The ratio of the total amount invested by all the players and the total

net worth of all the players determines the average country wide interest rate players can expect.

– The more invested by the country the higher the country’s average return.

• Players roll dice to determine if their return is above average, average, below average, or in the case of a roll of 2, 3, or 4- negative. – Capital gains taxes are applied to investment income based on the

entitlement state in which each player resides.

MARRIGE

• Players select a marriage partner, divide their assets, and demonstrate their emotional intelligence

• Players must select a “significant other” of either gender for this round of the game. The selection must be mutual and for the purposes of this game will constitute a marriage.

• Each couple will split their finances and earn contentment scores on the basis of their ability to identify the other’s values. – Before the round starts players will select three values they cherish from a wide ranging

list of 15 values. These will be privately written down. – A starting player will consider marriage prospects with other players starting to the left

and proceeding counterclockwise around the board in a mating circle. He or she will either pass over a marriage prospect or ask for a player’s hand in marriage. The first player that accepts becomes the starting player’s spouse.

• Contentment points will be awarded on the basis of how many values they were able to correctly predict as being important to their partner. The player to the left of the starting player (if not yet married) repeats this marriage proposal process. The process continues until all players are married.

RETIREMENT

• Players pay for health care during retirement based on the entitlement system in which they live and a roll of the dice – Players who selected the hard left or center left states of entitlement

have no health costs during retirement

– Players who selected the hard right or center right states of entitlement must fund their health care

• The higher the roll the higher the financial penalty

A LIFE WELL LIVED

• A game application has seamlessly tracked all financial and contentment status throughout the game – This data has been visible to all players throughout the game through

clearly marked pie charts

• In this phase the winner is declared

• Outright winner is the player with the highest contentment score and the highest net worth – If no player has the highest score in both domains a winner is declared

by acclamation of the other players for a life well lived

• Now would be a good time to open another bottle of wine