“I want everything I touch to turn to gold,” King Midas told the satyr.

The old story got one thing wrong.

King Midas lived to regret his wish. The modern Midas does not.

He calls it progress. He calls it efficiency. He calls it innovation. He calls it winning.

With every touch, his kingdom becomes richer on paper. Forests become assets. Rivers become commodities. Schools and prisons become investments. Truth becomes branding. Government becomes a business opportunity.

The numbers climb.

The King applauds.

The kingdom is divided.

He may never discover what some already knew: Wealth and value are not the same thing.

You cannot drink gold. You cannot eat gold. You cannot breathe gold. You cannot love gold. You cannot build a community from gold.

The curse was never that Midas loved wealth.

The curse was that he forgot not everything of value has a price.

And once everything has a price, nothing remains priceless.

Perhaps that is why the oldest stories never really become old.

They simply wait for new kings.

Or new billionaires.