on the why of wizard money

[Allison]

No: HPFGUIDX 22426

Random question that just popped into my head the other day: Why do 
wizards even need money?  If you need new robes, why can't you just 
transfigure old ones?  Can't you just charm food?  (Molly Weasley has 
a book called "1 Minute Feasts: It's Magic!" - the title, to me 
anyway, suggests little cooking or work or ingredients are 
involved.)  Can't books you already own be transfigured into books 
you need to buy for school?

I can see how things like wands or brooms, the making of which both 
involve a craft, would need to be purchased.  But most other things, 
I think, don't.

I realize that nowhere in the books does anyone just conjure 
something out of thin air (I think).  But you *can* transfigure 
something into something new.  

Basically, that way, things like wealth would be obsolete, which, in 
turn, would give people like the Malfoys fewer things to lord over 
people like the Weasleys.  It just seems like there would be fewer 
problems if there was no money or very little of it. 

Any thoughts?  And here's to hoping it sounds as good on-screen as it 
did in my head.

Allison, who thinks she just discovered the secret to world peace ;)

________________________

"Harry, just go down to the lake tomorrow, right, stick your head in, 
yell at the merpeople to give back whatever they've nicked, and see 
if they chuck it out.  Best you can do, mate."

     - Ron, GoF