The last time I spoke at the Mises Circle in Houston, which has been held every January for a good many years now, the subject of my talk was “Keynesian Predictions vs. American History.” I happened to make brief mention of life in eastern Europe during the years of Soviet domination. Last week I received this note:
My wife and I have just watched your speech “Keynesian Predictions vs. American History.” We found a part of your speech (on Paul Samuelson’s textbook) very familiar for us. We have lived in Poland for some 40 or 50 years and we still remember those miserable 80’s. When one tries to explain to the young people the reality of this bygone (we hope) era, he fails — so bizarre it was.
But a few days ago we finally found an effective way to do this: a board game, called “The Queue,” that was published by our Institute of National Remembrance. There is even an English print-and-play version of the game.
Playing this game is better than any textbook — believe me.
What’s the game about? The description reads: “The Queue is a board game that tells a story of everyday life in Poland at the tail-end of the communist era. At first glance, the task of the 2 to 5 players appears quite simple: They have to send out their family, which consists of 5 pawns, to various stores on the game board to buy all the items on their randomly drawn shopping list. The problem is, however, that the shelves in the five neighborhood shops are empty….”
This is rather a long lead-in to my invitation to LRC readers to attend this year’s Mises Circle in Houston this Saturday. I’ve been added to the roster at the last minute to fill in for a great man; also speaking at the event are Bob Murphy, Tom DiLorenzo, and Doug French. Hope you can join us! Click on the link to find out how you can watch live even if you’re too far away to attend.
(This month I’ll also be speaking near Des Moines, Iowa, and in Cedar City, Utah.)
1:56 am on January 12, 2012
