SIA - Socialism in Action

Tonight I played Monopoly - the beloved pasttime of the American capitalist - with a French seven-year-old. I will recount for you how this went and leave it up to you to decide whether her behavior was a product of the French economic and social system or just a little kid not wanting to lose.

Me: Oh man, I love Monopoly! We used to play this all the time when I was growing up.
Kid: Oh good, you know how to play. Ok so here's your money. I go first.
[We play for a while and I buy a bunch of property, clearly. I explain to her how it works if you get a monopoly. We play some more.]
Kid: Oh, I'm running low on money now. I need to go to the bank.
Me: ...?
[Kid takes a few bills out of the bank tray.]
Me: Um, can you do that?
Kid: Yeah, I was almost out of money so I just got some from the bank.
Me: Oh. Um. Ok, that's just not how we play at my house.
Kid: Well that's how you're supposed to play. It's in the rules.
Me: So how do you win? Isn't someone supposed to run out of money?
Kid: No, no one wins. You just play until you're tired of it.
[Her dad walks in.]
Kid: Hey Dad, in Monopoly when you're almost out of money, you just take some out of the bank, right?
Dad: Of course.

Insert "government" where you see "bank" in that exchange and there's France for you. In fact, if you're unemployed (un chomeur), the government gives you a pretty legit annual income to make sure you can still eat and have a home and everything. They treat their citizens really well. America, are you taking notes?