- Meet Larry. Larry is a farmer. He produces food.
- Meet Barry. Barry is a builder. He builds houses and barns.
- Now meet Mary. Mary is a seamstress. She makes clothing.
Let's take a regular Monday in the early days, just after Geitnerville was founded. On these calm summer mornings Larry would awaken to the familiar call of the rooster, don his overalls and boots, and walk across the yard to his tiny chicken cage. It was a small and rickety old structure, and occupied with as many chickens as it could house. There he would feed and water the fluttering birds and gather all the eggs, placing them carefully into a straw basket cushioned by tufts of hay. As the sun would just begin to illuminate the purple clouds Larry would walk over to Mary's house. He usually had, oh, from about 6 to 8 eggs.
The dirt path to Mary's place wound over some hills, through some woods, and right past the property of our builder, Barry. Barry was a gruff, disagreeable man, with "No Trespassing" signs posted all along the outskirts of his land. Larry would usually see Barry hammering nails into some building during these morning excursions, and the two rarely spoke. Barry was always building something. One day, Barry was working on the tall wooden fence that buttressed the side of the dirt path, perched a few yards high. He didn't notice that Larry had approached. He was standing almost directly beneath him when he shouted a greeting:
"Good morning to you Barry!"
Barry looked down at Larry for a moment with iron nails sticking out of his mouth. He mumbled something, and then resumed his hammering. Larry continued...
"Say, Barry, I've got a couple extra eggs this morning. Would you like them?"
Larry wasn't sure if Barry heard him over the pounding of nails, and was about to repeat himself when he saw the hammer bounce off a post and fall to the ground. Barry grunted, and looked down for a moment, reaching to the side of his tool belt for his extra hammer. Larry noticed two hammers sat on the ground next to each other. "Oh, he must have dropped both his hammers," thought Larry, and saving Barry the trip down from the fence, decided he would be helpful and hand them up.
Seeing Larry reach for one of the hammers, Barry jumped off the fence and landed hard on the ground, tumbling a bit. It was quite a distance. He rose to his feet and snatched the hammer from Larry's hand.
"Just what do you think you're doing, Mr., um, what's your name again?"
"Larry. I'm the farmer who lives down the path over the hill."
"Oh, right, well, you can keep your hands off of my property, Larry. I'll do just fine by myself, thank you."
"I was only trying to help. So, will you take these two extra eggs? If you don't want them they will go to waste."
"Ya," said Barry, "sure am hungry."
Larry handed a gift of the smallest two eggs to Barry, who took them and walked back to his house without saying a word. Larry had never met so gruff a man, but was glad his two extra eggs didn't go to waste.
Larry continued on his journey to Mary's place, which was down a slope in the heart of the river valley. When he got there, Mary and Larry ate breakfast together. In return for his eggs, Mary gave Larry all kinds of clothes...hats, scarves, shirts, and gloves. Mary was the best seamstress around, so Larry preferred to exchanged his eggs for the clothes Mary made. On this particular morning, Larry received some work gloves, as his had almost worn out.
Larry could never stay long at Mary's place. There was a lot of work to do back at the farm. That day, on the way back from Mary's, Larry saw Barry again working on the fence. Larry waved at Barry on his way past and Barry seemed to ignore him. Then, after Larry had passed by, the pounding of nails stopped for a moment and Barry hollered:
"Hey, Larry, you got any more of those eggs!?"
Larry turned around and walked back to where Barry was sitting way up on the fence.
"Sorry, Larry, I'm all out today. But most days I have one or two extra. Would you like me to bring you some tomorrow again on my way to Mary's place?"
Barry, raised his hand to his chin, thinking for a moment.
"Those eggs were tasty. Larry, tell me, do you need anything built on your farm?"
Larry was surprised as he looked up at Barry, who had always been quite uncharitable and a bit of a recluse. Larry had, in fact, been planning to build a new chicken coop himself, but never had the time. There were simply too many other things to do on the farm.
"Well, Barry, I do need a larger chicken coop. I could sure use your help sometime if you're not too busy."
"I will build it for you myself, Larry, if you promise to give me two eggs every morning. I'll build it just like the one I built for Henry."
Larry knew a chicken coop like Henry's was exactly what he needed. With it, he could raise many more chickens in the future and assure himself many extra eggs. But, he would need to get by with very little while it was being built. He looked at Barry, arms folded, waiting for his response. Everyone knew that Barry was a good builder, and a man who kept his word. He thought about how many eggs he could spare. It wasn't very many, but there was no harm in offering them.
"I can spare two eggs a day for the next 60 days if you will build me a chicken coop like Henry's."
Barry extended his hand and Larry shook it, wincing at the extremely firm grasp. Then, Barry nodded earnestly, turned around, and dutifully walked back to his fence. Larry continued on his journey back to his farm and spent the rest of the day finishing his chores. There was a full day of work ahead of him, as usual, and no time to lose as he skillfully worked his fields.
As Larry dug his hoe into the rich soil he pondered the seemingly magical quality of his agreement. He, of course, always took good care to understand every aspect of his activities, and knew this promise with Barry included some undeniable risks. He thought about all the many possibilities:
- Would the chickens lay enough eggs?
- Would Barry build it well and in a reasonable amount of time?
- What if Barry got hurt somehow or the chickens died of disease?
- Or, what if any number of unexpected things happened?
Yet, if he did deliver the eggs, his prediction would come true, and Barry would see that not only was he a farmer, but a person capable of foretelling the future. This seemed like a risky, but thrilling proposition, and Larry was far from a coward. "Why not," he thought. After all, he depended on his own predictions all the time. Without them he could not live. He always predicted that...
- The snow would melt in the spring. It always did.
- The rain would water his fields. It (almost) always did.
- The seeds would grow into plants. Yes.
- The plants would bear food for him to eat. Yes.
"Wouldn't it be great," Larry thought, "if it was a fact that predictions could be made about other people? That would mean wonderful things."
He realized that if Barry could transform 60 days worth of eggs into a chicken coop, from Barry's point of view, Larry would transform some time and labor into delicious eggs. This had wonderous implications. That meant that one day, perhaps, eggs could be transformed into other things too...even a new barn. After all, his new chicken coop would mean more eggs.
Larry knew it was a risk, but it was a risk he was willing to take, because of the many years he had spent making good predictions for himself. Still, he was a bit nervous about this new idea, and was willing to go hungry if he needed to to make sure Barry got those eggs. If he could prove this new talent of his...making predictions...he could accomplish many things never before possible.
The next morning Larry awoke from his restless slumber at the usual time, but, something was different. Along side the rooster, Larry heard the sounds of sawing and hammering. Startled, he hurriedly stood up from his bed and rushed to the window. To his astonishment, there was Barry, already hard at work building the new chicken coop!
Larry got dressed, walked across the yard, and gathered the eggs for himself and Mary as the pounding and sawing continued. As he walked by Barry, he shouted:
"I left two eggs for you in the old coop. There's a frying pan in the kitchen. The door's open."
Barry looked up from the wood he was sawing long enough to nod, then continued to concentrate on his work. Larry made due with one egg for breakfast that day, and every day for the rest of the week, making sure Barry got the two he was promised. Even if he was a bit hungry, this new idea was working far better than expected. By Friday, the new coop was finished, and Larry moved his chickens.
Larry was amazed at how fast Barry completed the project, and how soon he was able to begin expanding his flock. But, he was still very hungry, not having enough eggs for himself. At first he questioned whether he made the right decision, not realizing that his supply of eggs would be stressed so much. But, as the weeks and months passed, Larry was able to triple the number of chickens, and eventually he could count on enough eggs for both Barry and himself, as well as the ones he needed to trade to Mary for her clothing.
Barry was quite satisfied with Larry, and received his eggs every day for the full 60 days. He learned that Larry was good for his word, and continued to build additional projects for Larry in exchange for an even greater quantity of eggs, which were now available in abundance.
This was the routine in Geitnerville for many years.
Finally, one day, Larry decided he was tired of walking over to Mary's place all the time. And, he now had even more eggs than Barry needed. So, he gave Ziggy one egg each morning to carry the other eggs to Barry and Mary and bring back the clothes from Mary. Ziggy delivered all sorts of things to and from all three, and was able to live comfortably on the eggs, clothes, and even a small hut built by Barry in return for his delivery services. With every new project and agreement, it became more certain that his predictions could be trusted, and that they were beneficial to everyone involved.
But, there was a problem.
Barry learned that he also liked ham with his eggs.
Hearing this, and liking ham himself, Larry decided that he would raise hogs in addition to chickens, so that one day he could afford to ask Barry to build him a barn. Barry agreed that he would build the barn, so long as he had ham every morning with his eggs for 100 days. They signed the agreement that Barry would begin work after the first three weeks of ham and egg breakfasts.
By now Larry had several extra chickens, and traded 6 for a hog. (He learned that things were just as easily traded for other things as they were for time and labor.)
But, one hog was enough for many, many breakfasts. This was a conundrum. Larry wondered how he could provide Barry with ham every morning when meat only lasted a day before it went bad. He certainly couldn't butcher one hog every day and waste almost all of it...he would be out of chickens to trade in days. So, Larry told Ziggy to deliver a hog to Baxter the butcher so the meat could be smoked and preserved. Baxter, who lived in town, agreed to preserve the meat, but, the preserved meat only lasted a week and there was enough to feed one man months of breakfasts.
Baxter had a solution.
"I will give you 8 pieces of silver in order to keep the extra ham."
Larry found this ridiculous. He responded,
"What will I do with silly pieces of metal?"
Baxter explained that Larry could use the silver to help acquire another hog. "In fact, Jim, the man who raises hogs will give you a hog for 12 pieces of silver," said Baxter, "you can exchange the 8 pieces of silver and two chickens to get your next hog, rather than trading a full 6 chickens as you did before."
Larry had never seen or touched silver in his life. He didn't see how the tiny pieces of shiny metal could be exchanged for things, but he knew he could trust Baxter. If it was true, that he could take the silver to Jim in return for a very cheap hog (only 2 chickens!), he would be able to maintain a steady supply of ham for Barry's breakfasts. This meant all he had to do was tell Ziggy, once a week, to deliver the hog to Baxter, bring back the 8 pieces of silver and the week's worth of preserved ham, then, tell Ziggy to take two chickens and the silver to Jim, and bring back another hog. He knew he was depending on his predictions, but he had learned to trust Ziggy and Barry, and had no reason to assume he couldn't also trust Baxter. Besides, this is what it would take in order for Barry to build his barn. Barry would not build the barn without ham. Larry knew that once he had a barn, he could raise hogs himself, and wouldn't have to trade chickens or silver for them at all!
And, he had a little known secret he kept all to himself...he knew that even if Ziggy and Baxter let him down, he still had enough eggs to survive under the power of his own hard work. After much thought, this was the final reason he decided to proceed on the quest for his barn.
On the first day of this grand experiment everything went according to plan. Ziggy brought the hog to town where Baxter exchanged it for a week's worth of smoked ham and 8 pieces of silver. Ziggy carried the ham and silver to back to Larry. Larry grabbed two chickens and the silver, and headed over to Jim's place to trade it for another hog while Ziggy carried ham and eggs to Barry, who was busy drafting up a barn design, and eggs to Mary. Mary had a shirt to trade for the eggs. So, Ziggy carried the shirt back to Larry's farm, and arrived about the same time as Larry returned from Jim's place with the new hog. But, to Larry's delight, the hog only required 6 pieces of silver instead of 8 because his chickens were extra plump. So, Larry hid one extra silver piece under his mattress, and gave the other extra one to Ziggy. Other people around Geitnerville were trying to get Ziggy to carry things around, and Larry wanted to be sure Ziggy would continue to work for him.
Everyone was benefiting from this arrangement, even Baxter, who happened to acquire his silver by selling the extra smoked ham to travelers and other town folk. In fact, pieces of silver became quite popular indeed. While Larry was able to farm and continue to offer eggs and ham to Barry, he was also able to save 1 silver piece a week. At the same time, visitors from far away lands would sell farming tools that made Larry's job easier. In fact, when Larry had saved enough silver he purchased a steel plow and an ox. This allowed him to grow more corn, which allowed him to feed more chickens and hogs. Before long, Baxter had so much delicious smoked ham that he lowered the price in order to sell it all before it went bad. As a result, people traveled from far and wide to purchase it.
One day, Larry asked Barry if he would accept silver as payment instead of ham and eggs. Barry thought that was a great idea. Then, he asked Mary if she would take silver as payment instead of eggs. Mary also agreed. It turns out everyone liked silver for the same reason Larry did. Barry traded the silver for building tools and Mary traded her silver for finest, most durable fabric. With the extra tools, Barry was able to finish Larry's barn well ahead of schedule, and Mary's work gloves and overalls were lasting Larry twice as long as before. This allowed Larry to save even more of his silver, Mary to charge a bit more for her clothes, and Barry to finish the barn early and get started with other projects.
In fact, one day Barry met with Ziggy and Baxter. The three of them decided to build a market in the middle of town. Barry and his builders would build the market. Ziggy and his helpers would bring food to the market from Larry's farm, and other farms. Baxter would smoke and prepare the food for purchase. Before long, Larry didn't have to bring food to anyone himself. And, he no longer needed to acquire hogs from Jim now that he raised his own in the barn Barry built for him. Ziggy's helpers brought all the food to market, and everyone simply went to the market to purchase his food.
One day, Ziggy came to Larry's farm and handed Larry the bag of silver from Baxter. Larry reached in, handed Ziggy his payment of 4 silver pieces, and placed the rest in his pocket. Ziggy took the silver piece, dropped it in his own bag, and emptied his own collection of silver pieces into his hand. Larry was amazed. Ziggy had saved a large handful of silver.
"I would like to purchase one hog and two dozen eggs from you, Larry. I will pay you 50 silver pieces for it."
Larry was surprised. He had only sold his hogs to Baxter. Ziggy was just the delivery man.
"If I sell the hog and eggs to you, I won't have any for Baxter," said Larry.
"I know, but you will have the same amount of silver. Besides, I intend to sell the hog and eggs to Baxter. This way, you do not need to pay me a delivery fee, as I will keep the extra silver from the transaction."
Larry rubbed his chin, and after some discussion, finally agreed to take the 50 pieces of silver for a hog and 2 dozen eggs. He realized that Ziggy's 50 pieces of silver was just as good as anyone's.
So, in other words, instead of collecting silver in exchange for food and delivering it back to Larry, Ziggy was actually purchasing the eggs and ham directly from Barry with silver, and then selling it to Baxter at the market for a bit more silver than he gave to Larry for the food. When everybody first learned that he was doing this, they did not like it.
One day, as Ziggy was carrying food from Larry's farm to the market, Mary approached Ziggy. She told Ziggy she knew what he was doing. She said:
"I know you gave Larry 50 silver pieces for those ham and eggs. And, I also know that Baxter will pay you 55 silver pieces for those exact same ham and eggs when you get to the market. How can the same food be worth 50 silver pieces at Larry's farm and 55 silver pieces at the market? What do you have to say for yourself?"
"I never really saw it that way," said Ziggy. "I am only saving Larry the trouble of waiting for his payment. You see, I once carried all those ham and eggs to you and Barry and others each morning and then returned the next day to give Larry the silver you paid him for his food. Then, he would give me a portion of that silver for delivering those goods. Before long, I brought back 55 pieces of silver on every trip and he paid me 4 pieces for the fast and safe delivery. Well, one day, when I had saved enough silver, I offered to take the food and pay him 50 pieces on the spot. Larry was amazed that I would buy it all. He asked why I would do such a thing. I told him that I was going to sell all the food to Baxter for 55 pieces of silver and keep those 5 pieces instead of the 4 he would have otherwise paid me. Larry thought about it. He decided he liked receiving the silver right away. It allowed him to buy more hogs that particular day. So he agreed to accept 50 pieces instead of the 51 he would have received the next morning (after paying me 4 pieces). Then, Baxter paid me the same 55 pieces as before and I could afford to purchase more food from Larry the next day and do the same thing. Do you see, Mary? I'm just doing what anybody could do. You can be sure that if anyone else offered Larry more than 50 pieces of silver for this food he would sell it to them instead of me. Also, if Baxter could buy the food for less than 55 pieces from anyone else, he certainly would. So, in order to make my small profit, I must pay a specific amount to Larry, and sell at a specific price to Baxter."
Mary was impressed with Ziggy's explanation, and understood that there was nothing at all wrong with Ziggy's plan. She understood that he was simply earning an honest living by hauling food from one place to another, and that both Larry and Barry approved of the arrangement. Then, she looked down at the pile of shirts in her arm...
"Say, I was expecting to walk all the way to the market and spend all day selling these shirts. I would much rather go back to my house so I can spend that time making more shirts. I was expecting to trade them for 20 pieces of silver. I will sell them to you right now for 18 pieces."
Ziggy thought about the extra weight the shirts would add to the cart he was pulling. He thought about how busy the market would be, and what he would do with the shirts if they didn't sell. He figured he could sell them at a later time if they didn't sell right away. Then, he looked down at his tattered shirt, smiled, and made his decision.
"Yes, Mary, I would be glad to purchase your shirts. In fact, I will wear one myself to show everyone at the market how comfortable and stylish your clothes are."
Mary handed the shirts to Ziggy and Ziggy dropped 18 pieces of silver into Mary's hand. Mary smiled broadly and they both cordially bowed their heads and went on their way. Secretly, Mary knew that she would have gladly accepted as few as 15 pieces of silver for those shirts. At the same time, Ziggy knew that not only did he need a new shirt, but that he would be able to sell the others for at least 25 pieces of silver, which he later did. Both Ziggy and Mary could have received more silver from the transaction, but neither complained.
About this time Larry was getting enough silver from Ziggy to pay helpers to plant and harvest the corn and raise the chickens and hogs. Barry had enough silver to pay fellow builders to help him with his construction projects. Mary had enough silver to pay seamstresses to help her make more clothes. So many people came to Geitnerville to sell their products that many decided to move there permanently. The new residents all traded their silver for food, houses, and clothes, and Larry, Barry, and Mary were always very busy.
Larry was so busy that he stopped farming altogether, and spent all of his time managing his helpers and dealing with his large collection of silver. By now, Larry had a whole dresser drawer filled with silver. This pile of metal wasn't doing him much good just sitting there, so he hired Barry to build a grainery. Barry was already too busy building houses, so Barry's partner, Terry, built it instead. Then, Larry decided he needed new clothes, because all of his farm clothes were worn out. He hired Mary and her helpers to sew him a new wardrobe. Ziggy also had so much silver that he was able to buy a large carriage and Baxter now had an enormous market in the middle of town.
Baxter was selling so much ham that he offered Larry much silver for many more hogs. In order to raise the hogs Larry invited many more helpers, which he paid with silver. Ziggy paid his own army of helpers a portion of his silver, and Barry paid his many builders a portion of his, as did Mary, who now had a bustling clothing store. Larry, Barry, Mary, and Ziggy needed so much help that the tiny village quickly expanded to a township and then a city.
One evening, as Larry was relaxing, reading a newspaper, he heard a knock at the door. He opened the door to find a visitor he had never met before.
"Greetings, Larry, my name is Timothy Geitner. I am here to relieve you of your silver."
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me."
Larry looked behind Mr. Geitner and saw five men with rifles pointed directly at him.
"But Mr. Geitner, this is not my silver. These are simply pieces of metal that represent the hogs and chickens I am obligated to deliver to my customers. They are simply placeholders for time and labor of the people I have made agreements with. I must ask you to leave these pieces of metal alone for the sake of, well, everyone in town."
"I'm sorry, but this is my silver now. I have renamed the city 'Geitnerville,' and now lay claim to all of your money."
The city had been named something else up until that point. No one today remembers what it was.
Then, Timothy and the men with guns entered Larry's house and loaded his silver into wheelbarrows, then emptied it onto their large cart along with all the other silver in town and carried it away.
The next day everyone in town gathered on Larry's farm wondering what to do. Larry reminded everyone how he and Barry and Marry and Ziggy were all able to get along just fine before any of them had even seen a piece of silver. He told them the story of how years ago he carried eggs to Barry in return for his new chicken coop, and how it was the trust and hard work between Larry and Barry that allowed them to succeed. He reminded them that all trades are nothing more than a bond of trust between two or more people, and that silver is only as valuable as the trust behind it.
Now that we know a character like Timothy Geitner can simply haul away this means of exchange, it is no longer backed by trust anyway, and is completely worthless. Therefore, citizens of Geitnerville, I ask you to follow the example of Barry, Mary, Ziggy, Baxter, Jim, and myself, who will be writing signed contracts with each other for all of our trades. When you see our signature, you will honor it as well as you honor our word.
Most of all, look around you. Look at the good people you have worked with for so many years. These are honest, hard-working, trustworthy people, and you know as well as I that their promise is worth more silver that all the piles in Mr. Geitner's grand estate.
Alright folks, you get it. Let's get back to work. There's no shortage of that...
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