Scene 6 – What Makes Good Money?
The river trail was brighter today—early sun burning off the last of the mist. Lucas and Thomas walked side by side, coffees in hand, the gravel crunching rhythmically underfoot.
“So,” Thomas said, breaking the quiet. “Now that you know what money is—a tool to move value across space and time—let’s talk about what makes bad money.”
Lucas raised an eyebrow. “Bad money?”
Thomas grinned. “Yeah. Sometimes it’s easier to spot what doesn’t work first.”
He took a sip of coffee. “Remember that three-eyed fish we joked about?”
Lucas chuckled. “Yeah. That seems like a pretty bad form of money.”
“Right. Why is that? Why don’t people use fish as money?”
Lucas thought aloud. “Well... it would be disgusting to carry around.”
“Exactly. And impractical. Money needs to be easily transferable. You should be able to move it anywhere—across town, across the world—without needing an ice chest.”
Lucas laughed. “Yeah, not great for Amazon checkout.”
They walked on.
“What else?” Thomas prompted.
Lucas considered. “It would rot. A dead fish doesn’t last long.”
Thomas smiled. “True. Durability’s key. Good money has to survive over time. It can’t decay, spoil, or fall apart.”
“And?” Thomas pressed.
Lucas glanced at his coffee. “It should be divisible. I need to pay for small things, like this coffee, and big things, like a car. If you can't split it and combine it easily, it’s not much use.”
“Right. Money needs to scale—up and down—with no friction.”
Lucas nodded. “And it should be recognizable too. If you had to DNA-test every fish to buy a coffee, no one would bother.”
Thomas smiled again. “Exactly. Fast, easy, trusted. That’s what recognizability gives you.”
Lucas ticked the traits off in his mind: transferable, durable, divisible, recognizable.
Thomas slowed his pace slightly.
"Now," he said, "think about the dollar for a second. Most of it isn’t even paper—it’s just digital. Entries on a bank ledger."
Lucas nodded.
“Digital dollars are very useful as money. They’re easy to transfer—a few taps and you can send money around the globe. They’re extremely durable. They don’t rot or corrode. They’re easily divisible—from billions down to pennies. And they’re highly recognizable, even outside the U.S."
Thomas sipped his coffee.
"That all sounds pretty good, right?"
Lucas frowned slightly. “Okay... so if dollars have all that going for them, why does it still feel like something’s off?”
Thomas smiled again, like he’d been waiting for the question.
"Because there’s one more thing to consider."