You lived in a upper-middle class neighborhood and Bob, the neighbor, was living well: kids well provided for, unstressful job, eat out and vacation regularly, good clothes, new cars, manicured yards, well cleaned house, nice pets. Not that you didn’t live as well, but they seemed to be just a quarter notch better.
All on borrowed money.
You knew that because you lent Bob money several times. He owed you about a month’s of your pay. You knew that Bob also borrowed from pretty much everyone in the neighborhood. You shook your heads every time they went out for a nice family dinner, worrying on your loan in the back of your mind.
One night, Bob came to borrow money again. He was flat broke and must declare bankruptcy in a week and possibly move out, since he had been delinquent on rents too. He asked for about twice the amount he owed you just to “get over this hump.” “How are you going to pay me back?” “I will try to make more money.” “Are you going to eat out less?” “Absolutely not! My family did no wrong. They should not suffer from this.”
“Wait!” Bob suddenly proclaimed. “I have a collection of precious coins. I will pay you back with them.”
“Really?” (How long have you had those coins?) “How much are they worth?”
“I don’t really know,” Bob said. “I have this old mint in the basement. I can make as many as I need.”
“Are they made of gold, silver, or copper?” You grew a bit suspicious.
“Oh, that does not matter. Right?” Said Bob. “They are rare coins. I am the only one who makes them. I can name my price. For now, I will sell them to you at $1 a piece.”
“Bob, what you are saying is that whenever you need more money, you will just mint more coins and exchange them for dollars.”
“Yep. Brilliant of me!” Bob was all smiling. “In fact, I will pay you back all my debts tomorrow in coins. How stupid of me to have forgotten the mint in the basement.”
Next day, you found a bag of clay coins with a note from Bob that he considered all debts paid. That night, Bob drove away in his nice car, loaded with bags of coins, for a nice celebratory dinner in town. Clearly, all his financial problems were gone.
You remembered that you also lent Steve, another neighbor, some money.