The Magic Coin

Chapter 8

JUST MONEY

Lily found herself where she started: the sidewalk outside the candy store. Newton was back to his original size, and he looked like a regular silver coin.

Lily realized she had never seen the other side of the coin. Now she turned it over in her hand, revealing a beautiful engraving of a scale.

She immediately understood the significance: sound money is based on weight. When irresponsible banks and the government print up a bunch of paper notes, they devalue the money because there’s way more paper than gold and silver.

But then she realized something else: the balanced scale doesn’t just refer to weight, but it also represents justice. People started using money because it helped them trade with one another. All the chaos started with trickery. The banks tricked people into thinking that their money was safe in the bank, and the government tricked people into using official-looking paper instead of real money.

Lily still wanted that piece of candy, but she only had a penny and a silver coin. She certainly didn’t want to spend the silver coin—she intended to keep it as a souvenir of her fun adventure through the history of money.

She walked into the candy store and saw the owner behind the counter. “Hello! I saw that your candy is twenty-five cents now, but I only have a penny.”

The owner frowned and said, “Yeah, sorry about that. It seems everybody has more money to spend these days, and also my costs have gone up.”

Lily looked around and then she asked, “HOW MUCH CANDY CAN I GET FOR A SHOE?”

The owner looked bewildered at first and then laughed. “You know what? Here.” He handed her a lollipop. “This one’s on me. Thanks for the laugh!”