License and Registration

In China, certain license plate numbers are fetching big bucks.

Communism was never able to quash superstition, and now, the more 8's you have in your license plate or phone number, the more valuable it is. Combine that superstition with the rush of status-symbol vanity among the world's newest crop of pseudocapitalists, and you have plates going at government auction for $10,000 (and, supposedly, in the secondary market, some being offered at $100,000).

A recent WSJ article mentioned a marriage boom-bust cycle going on in China right now related to lucky and unlucky years, so the media is really trying to drill home this point. They're superstitious, okay? List your business contact address as 444 4th St., or incorporate in the Year of the Rooster, and you won't be able to sell a gat-damn thing in China. Got it?

Of course, in America the number 4 is the best number. Well, it is when you hold down the shift key on your keyboard and press it...