L4K Best of 2009 - Lemonade Stand Chronicles

By far the most popular posts - based on emails - have been the five Lemonade Stand stories. If you missed them the first time, you can read them all here:

http://liberty4kids.blogspot.com/search/label/lemonade%20stand

Trick or Treat?

The L4K Lemonade Stand Chronicles:

Trick or Treat?

“Trick or treat, trick or treat,” Little Timmy was yelling as he skipped down the sidewalk. (Yes, Little Timmy skipped. Surprised?)

“Will you shut up!” demanded Barry.

Barry and Timmy were making plans for Halloween. It was always a day the boys looked forward to. They had closed the lemonade stand a month earlier so they now had more time for other activities. And nothing was more fun than pretending to be someone else and getting free candy.

But who would they be this year? And who would give the best candy and who would get their windows soaped or their trees TPed?

Timmy always liked pretending to be an economist. He had dressed up like an old English economist named John Maynard Keynes for the past three years. He also liked John Kenneth Galbraith. Barry always made fun of him for dressing like two “free market” economists. He had suggested a few more "progressive" economists to Timmy but Timmy’s dad wouldn’t allow him to dress like those guys. He had said something about no one would know Larry, Moe, and Curly these days. Barry hadn’t decided who he would be this year. He was toying with dressing up like Two Face, The Riddler, or pretending to be professional basketball player.

As the boys ran to meet up with the gang, Timmy suddenly took a detour around the old theater. Barry yelled at him to stop, but it took a block before he did.

“What is wrong?” Barry asked.

"I don’t like walking by the theater with that poster out front," Timmy confided.

“What poster? Oh, you mean the poster of that old horror movie It’s Alive!” said Barry.

“Yes,” Timmy said, “it gives me the creeps . . . what with that claw sticking out from the baby carriage.”

“It is just a movie, you chicken,” said Barry, “I have an idea. The only thing you have to fear is fear itself . . . or something like that. Let’s sneak in to the movie. You won’t be afraid when you see how cheesy it is.”

“I don’t know, Barry, the last time I saw a really scary movie I wet my pants,” admitted Timmy. But he trusted Barry so he went along.

They mistakenly sneaked into theater number two where a public announcement was being shown live. As they set down a very scary woman came on to make an announcement. She announced that the government would be making all the decisions now. She said with delight, “When health care is controlled by us, we will have the justification to do WHATEVER we want because health is an even bigger ace card than that stupid commerce clause we have been relying upon for years as justification for ignoring the Constitutional limits on governmental power. Food, manufacturing, pre-natal testing, end of life, it all will fall under our control."

She laughed as zombies stood behind her nodding in agreement as if they were under some mind control. Timmy became scared and, well, let’s just say he ran home to change.

Barry got excited too. So excited and so hopeful that he too had to run home too. As he ran home he kept yelling, “It’s alive, it’s alive!”

Post Script

I hope no children got too scared reading this story. It is after all just a story. Isn’t it?

Cash for Old Lemonade Cups

The L4K Lemonade Stand Chronicles: Cash for Old Lemonade Cups

The summer rush was over. The demand for lemonade was not what it once was. Some lemonade stands were closing. How could Barry and the boys convince people to buy more lemonade when they didn’t really want to? As usual, Barry had an idea. He would convince the city council to subsidize the sale of lemonade. But he didn’t want it to be so obvious that he and his lemonade stand would benefit so he would convince the city council that old lemonade cups were hurting the environment because they were made out of plastic containing BPA and new plastic cups were so much better for the environment. These cups would come with “free” lemonade. The city council would reimburse the lemonade stands for the “free” lemonade.

The city council, having a reputation of passing laws regardless of the merits, would be more than eager to go along. The council members would be seen as being concerned about the environment and they would help some of their more dependent voters, uh, I mean citizens. What could go wrong with this plan?

Little Timmy and Larry were getting excited. But then, Barry broke out in a loud laugh. He laughed so hard he had to bend over because his side hurt. The other boys were looking at Barry and wondering what was so funny. When Barry finally stopped laughing he said, “I was just joking. No government would ever go along with an idea that stupid.”

If only that were true, Barry, if only.

LemonAID

The L4K Lemonade Stand Chronicles: LemonAID

Ever since it had turned hot, the boy’s lemonade stand had been very busy; so much so they had to hire some of their friends to work the stand. As the demand for the lemonade went up, the boys raised their price to cover the additional cost of hiring workers. The increase in the price of a cup of lemonade had not deterred too many people from buying their cold refreshing lemonade since the heat had made it more popular.

In response, some parents decided to buy pre-paid cards to give to their children as part of their allowances. These parents were able to get a good deal from the lemonade stands since they were buying so many cups in advance. Unfortunately, by having lemonade pre-paid, these children rarely tried to find the best deal among the town’s four lemonade stands.

There were, however, two groups who were especially sensitive to the increase in the price of lemonade: the elderly who were living on a fixed income and the children from the poor part of town.

The elderly thought it would be a good idea if they didn’t have to pay the full cost of a cup of lemonade so they showed up at the next town hall meeting to ask that other lemonade drinkers help to pay for their lemonade purchases. And since the elderly typically vote in large numbers, the town’s mayor and council members were more than eager to help their elderly voters, uh, I mean citizens.

The town council decided it would require all operators of lemonade stands to collect a fee on each cup sold. The lemonade stand operators would send the money collected to the town council who would in turn send a check to the elderly to help cover the cost of their lemonade purchases. Since the elderly tend to drink more lemonade than younger people, the fee wasn’t enough to pay for all the cups of lemonade they consumed. So the town council decided to set a lower price that it would pay for a cup of lemonade sold to the elderly and require lemonade stand operators to serve all elderly persons.

The elderly’s access to lemonade was fixed, but what about the kids from the poor part of town? The town council decided to buy these voters, uh, I mean help the poor by passing a law requiring all persons who shows up at a lemonade stand thirsty be given a cup of lemonade even if they can’t pay.

The only kids who had to pay more for lemonade were the ones who were not given an allowance but had to work for their lemonade money. Some mowed lawns, some baby sat, and some delivered newspapers. They did not have access to pre-paid cards and didn’t live in the poor part of town so they cold not get free lemonade. The lemonade stands simply increased the price to these kids to cover their costs which were not being paid for by the elderly and the poor kids.

When word got out that the town’s lemonade stands had to serve cups of lemonade even if you didn’t have money to pay for it, boys from surrounding towns would ride their bikes to this town just to get free lemonade. Even after a few of the town’s citizens complained about that, the town council passed an ordinance prohibiting the lemonade stand operators from even asking about where a kid lives.

The once thriving lemonade stands in this town were no longer healthy. Needless to say the system was broke. The free enterprise system had failed. Something had to be done.

And Barry had an idea.



To be continued (but not right away as the summer is for family not blogging).

Sonia the Umpire

The L4K Lemonade Stand Chronicles:

Sonia the Umpire

by www.liberty4kids.blogspot.com

One day as Barry and Little Timmy were "working" at the Lemonade Stand a couple of the neighborhood boys came by to see if Barry and Little Timmy would like to play some baseball. While Barry was quite good at basketball (just ask him), he wasn't particularly good at baseball. Little Timmy was even worse as he was very clumsy and, therefore, couldn't hit or catch. But Barry was very persuasive and talked Little Timmy into playing.

The neighborhood boys said they would get Ole Mr. Madison to be the umpire but Barry didn’t like that idea. He told them he would ask his friend Sonia.

“Are you sure she has even read the rule book?” the boys asked.

“I, um, think so. But I am sure she will, um, make the correct calls,” Barry assured them.

The boys didn’t think Sonia was a good choice, but they didn’t put up much of a fight. They told Barry and Little Timmy to meet them at the playground in one hour. The boys ran off to tell the other neighborhood kids.

Barry and Little Timmy went over to Sonia's house and knocked on the door. Sonia opened the door. She was wearing a "Che" shirt. Barry said, "Cool shirt, Sonia."

Sonia replied, "What? This old thing? I have two more just like it."

"Yeah, so do I," Barry said proudly.

He explained to Sonia that they needed an umpire for the baseball game. She eagerly agreed to be the umpire.

As Barry and Little Timmy were leaving, Little Timmy asked Barry, "Are you sure Sonia likes me, Barry?"

"Of course, why do you ask?” replied Barry.

"You know," said Little Timmy. And Barry did know.

The children chose teams. Barry chose all his friends regardless of how good they were at baseball. The other team had all the best baseball players from the neighborhood plus a few other players who Barry didn’t like.

Just then Sonia showed up. She was dressed in black just like a real umpire. She yelled, “Play ball!”

And the boys and girls ran on to the field.

.

.

.

It had been a close game. Sonia had made a few bad calls which had led to a few arguments among the teams. One in particular led to a shoving match. It was the bottom of the 6th inning and Little Ricci was on second base when a long center field drive sent him around third and headed to home base. Barry was the catcher. As Little Ricci ran past third base, he was being cheered by his teammates and even some of the other team’s players.

You see, Little Ricci had been born with a physical disability which prevented him from walking until he was almost four years old. But through hard and many weekends at an expensive clinic, he had been able to not only walk but to run (though he could not run as fast as most of his classmates).

Sonia did not like Ricci though. She always felt he had certain privileges because his father was a successful storekeeper. As Little Ricci slid into home plate, Barry just missed him by a few inches. Sonia called him out. Even Little Timmy had the look of disbelief on his face. Barry jumped in celebration and almost high fived Sonia. And Sonia winked at Barry.

It really doesn’t matter who won the game that day. Lessons were learned by all. Barry learned that it feels good to be cheered. Little Timmy learned that Barry would support him regardless of how poorly he does. Sonia learned that she can use her power for good (and “good” was whatever she said it was). The players learned that it does not matter how good they are because someone in power can arbitrarily pick and choose the winner. (What a horrible lesson to have learned!)

But Little Ricci learned an even more important lesson. He learned that he must never give in to injustice. Even though some will arbitrarily try to use their power to promote their agenda, he vowed to never allow this to happen to him again.

And the neighborhood boys learned that they had better speak up when someone wants to pick an umpire who does not know the rule book or is unwilling to apply the rules fairly. Or did they learn that? We will see.

Barry, Larry, and Li'l Timmy Run (or is it ruin?) a Lemonade Stand

Very often as I mull over an idea for a post someone beats me to the punch. I have on occassion used the lemonade stand as a way to teach an economic concept to my children. I was thinking about doing a whole series of posts called The Lemonade Stand Chronicles. I even asked my youngest daughter to draw a picture of a lemonade stand for the graphic for the series. Well, while I procrastinated, an interesting lemonade stand story was posted as a comment over on Vox Popoli by a Tom. So I thought I would repost it here (heavily edited by me).

Barry, Larry, and Li’l Timmy Run a Lemonade Stand

Larry and Li’l Timmy had lived in the neighborhood for their whole lives. One day, a new kid moved in across the street from them. He was different, but cool. His name was Barry.

“Uh, hi, my name is Barry. Um, do you want to be friends?” asked Barry the first time he came over.

“Sure!” said Timmy and Larry. “What are you into?"

“I like organizing kids in my community to do, um, nothing, mostly,” smiled Barry.

"Sounds like fun, Barry, we have never done anything ourselves but we do enjoy telling others how to do stuff," replied the two boys.

Barry, Larry, and Li’l Timmy became fast friends. They took over a lemonade stand from some of the older kids in the neighborhood who had listened to Li'l Timmy's older brother and ran it into the ground. It hadn’t been doing so well the last few summers, and the older kids had just given away a bunch of the supplies for free to some other kids down the street.

But, Barry was sure they could “right the ship.”

Only a few days later, Barry and Larry were sitting behind the stand looking sad. On the table sat a pitcher of unsold lemonade. It wouldn’t be so bad, except they’d borrowed the money for the supplies from Hu Jintao down the street and he was sounding like he actually wanted to be paid back.

Paula Kruggers came skipping along the sidewalk. She looked at their long faces. “What’s wrong guys? Why are you sad, Barry? Can I do anything to help?” Paula had a crush on Barry even though she told everybody she didn’t like boys.

“I don’t know, Paula. Ummm, uh, we aren’t selling any, uh, lemonade from our lemonade stand. I hear you’re smart, didn’t you get some, uh, award at school?” Barry looked at Paula hopefully.

Paula snorted a nervous laugh and pushed her glasses back up her nose. “Yeah, they gave me a medal for being smart! You know what you guys should do? You should buy more lemons right now. Or maybe some more sugar. Or a new table or sign. It doesn’t really matter what you buy, but you should just buy, buy, buy!”

Paula kicked into a serious snorter of a laugh at this point.

“Why should we do that?” asked Li’l Timmy with the puzzled look that never seemed far from his face.

"Its simple, silly!" squealed Paula as she got really excited (she liked the way Barry was smiling).

“If you spend more money, it will make everybody feel better. If they feel better, they’ll want to buy your lemonade! Besides, look at the REAL world. The more you spend, the more stuff you have!”

“Let's do it!” shouted Barry, Larry, and Li’l Timmy together.

“Lets go get some money from our kid brothers and sisters! They’ve got fat piggy banks!” Barry was really excited now.

Li’l Timmy brightened up, “My mom leaves her purse sitting out sometimes. I bet she’s got a bunch of money in there! And my mom is expecting and my parents have set aside a college fund for him. We could take that money too.”

“Yeah, let’s spend a bunch of money!” agreed Larry.

“You know Paula,” said Larry, “I wasn’t sure girls really could be smart, but you showed me! You can do math with the best of them!”

The three boys ran off to replenish their resources none to soon for Paula. She had been worried they might smell something soon. She had gotten so excited when Barry was shouting, she’d wet her pants.