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I, Pencil
Foundation For Economic Education ^ | 1958 | Leonard Read

Posted on 07/19/2011 12:27:03 AM PDT by Absolutely Nobama

I am a lead pencil—the ordinary wooden pencil familiar to all boys and girls and adults who can read and write.

Writing is both my vocation and my avocation; that’s all I do.

You may wonder why I should write a genealogy. Well, to begin with, my story is interesting. And, next, I am a mystery —more so than a tree or a sunset or even a flash of lightning. But, sadly, I am taken for granted by those who use me, as if I were a mere incident and without background. This supercilious attitude relegates me to the level of the commonplace. This is a species of the grievous error in which mankind cannot too long persist without peril. For, the wise G. K. Chesterton observed, “We are perishing for want of wonder, not for want of wonders.”

(Excerpt) Read more at fee.org ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy
KEYWORDS: capitalism; economics; freemarket
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Isn't funny how the Congress Critters and Chairman Obama want to tell us how smart they are and how to live our lives, yet not one of them can tell us how a pencil is made ?

This may be old hat for some, but for those who you who have never read it, please make sure to read it. It will change the way you look at free market economics.

1 posted on 07/19/2011 12:27:04 AM PDT by Absolutely Nobama
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To: shibumi; RonBush; MestaMachine; LucyT; dixiechick2000

Ping!


2 posted on 07/19/2011 12:28:38 AM PDT by Absolutely Nobama (A Movement that does not move cannot call itself a Movement.)
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To: Absolutely Nobama

Well made wood pencils are a joy — as long as a good quality sharpener is kept handy.

It was when I discovered the existence of the mechanical pencil in circa 1975 that my eraser chewing days were over.


3 posted on 07/19/2011 12:53:56 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (There's gonna be a Redneck Revolution)
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To: Absolutely Nobama

Thank you for posting this simple but profound essay.

It made me take a few pencils out of my desk drawer to look at and marvel over them.

There’s a reason I like using wooden rather than mechanical pencils. (Not to say that the manufacture of a mechanical pencil is any less complicated or any less illustrative of the hand of the free market at work.)


4 posted on 07/19/2011 12:56:40 AM PDT by thecodont
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To: Absolutely Nobama
There was a cedar mill in my area(actually lots of lumber mills at one time)that made only pencil stock. That's all they did cut up cedar into certain sizes and ship them out to pencil manufacturers. However, the greenies mounted a campaign against all the lumber mills in our area(Spotted owl don't you know)and the pencil mill was the first to shut down. 50 or so jobs that paid well, had good insurance and a good pension and had supplied these jobs since about 1940 or so, gone forever due to PC and idiotic judges.

I don't know where the pencil makers get their stock now but someone must be making it.

5 posted on 07/19/2011 1:03:46 AM PDT by calex59
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To: HiTech RedNeck

Look at that pencil in your drawer and marvel at the fact that it took the labor of countless people to make it.


6 posted on 07/19/2011 1:10:18 AM PDT by Absolutely Nobama (A Movement that does not move cannot call itself a Movement.)
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To: calex59

Sad isn’t it ? The moron greenies weren’t just harming your town, but countless other people.


7 posted on 07/19/2011 1:12:13 AM PDT by Absolutely Nobama (A Movement that does not move cannot call itself a Movement.)
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To: thecodont

It’s a classic.

This essay had a profound impact on Milton Friedman, AKA The Smartest Economist To Ever Walk The Earth.


8 posted on 07/19/2011 1:14:30 AM PDT by Absolutely Nobama (A Movement that does not move cannot call itself a Movement.)
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To: Absolutely Nobama
Yes, I always wondered what happened to the cedar after it left the mill but now I know. It is too bad that somehow we all let the greenies kill of many thousands of jobs in this country.

I worked at another lumber mill in this area for 35 years and when the cedar mill went down we knew our days were numbered. It took a few years but eventually we went down also. That mill had 600 men and women working with good wages, good insurance and a good pension also and there has been nothing to replace it except a mall and some fast food restaurants. In fact in this county since the mills went down, all the car dealers have gone out of business except for two used car dealers.

This is in Northern CA.

9 posted on 07/19/2011 1:19:34 AM PDT by calex59
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To: HiTech RedNeck

Same here.... The simplicity of the pencil was telling when NASA did all the research an funding to support the fisher space pen.

Russians brought a pencil. .....economically sound choice.

In the service I carried 2 big flat carpenter pencils ... Even now I have one in my pocket.

Flat ones don’t roll off the edge of the earth...:o)

Stay Safe ...


10 posted on 07/19/2011 3:41:07 AM PDT by Squantos (Be polite. Be professional. But have a plan to kill everyone you meet)
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To: Absolutely Nobama

Always wondered where my screen name came from. Now I know, thanks.


11 posted on 07/19/2011 4:32:14 AM PDT by leadpencil1 (jam as often as you can)
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To: Absolutely Nobama

I posted the essay on my Facebook page a few weeks ago. I think it should be required reading in every middle school and/or high school.

Too bad our over-educated President and all the Democrats and RINOs in Congress never read it.


12 posted on 07/19/2011 4:52:03 AM PDT by Maceman (Obama: As American as nasei goreng)
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To: Squantos
Stay safe.

That goes for the good old fashioned light bulb.

Environmentalists are ruining the world by being 'green'.

13 posted on 07/19/2011 4:54:36 AM PDT by stars & stripes forever ( Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.)
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To: calex59
I don't know where the pencil makers get their stock now but someone must be making it.

Someone in another country most likely.

The destruction of the logging industry in Oregon and Northern California is one of the great untold economic crimes of the last century. And now, the left is trying to kill Central California with the same tactics.

14 posted on 07/19/2011 4:57:48 AM PDT by BfloGuy (Keynes said, "In the long run, we are all dead." It was the only thing he ever got right.)
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To: Absolutely Nobama
Leonard Read, author of “I Pencil” also wrote an excellent short book titled “Anything That's Peaceful”. In this age of ever increasing regulation, where limited government is becoming unlimited government, Leonard Read's writings have with stood the test of time.
Highly Recommended author, and founder of The Foundation For Economic Education.
15 posted on 07/19/2011 5:17:05 AM PDT by pattern-of-freedom ("The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men, gang aft agley.")
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To: Absolutely Nobama
Leonard Read, author of “I Pencil” also wrote an excellent short book titled “Anything That's Peaceful”. In this age of ever increasing regulation, where limited government is becoming unlimited government, Leonard Read's writings have with stood the test of time.
Highly Recommended author, and founder of The Foundation For Economic Education.
16 posted on 07/19/2011 5:17:14 AM PDT by pattern-of-freedom ("The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men, gang aft agley.")
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To: stars & stripes forever

I agree .....


17 posted on 07/19/2011 7:58:47 AM PDT by Squantos (Be polite. Be professional. But have a plan to kill everyone you meet)
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To: calex59

It’s terrifying how much power the greenies an their “government” allies have.


18 posted on 07/19/2011 8:16:23 AM PDT by Absolutely Nobama (A Movement that does not move cannot call itself a Movement.)
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To: pattern-of-freedom

I will definitely check it out.


19 posted on 07/19/2011 8:18:26 AM PDT by Absolutely Nobama (A Movement that does not move cannot call itself a Movement.)
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To: leadpencil1
Mine came from Chairman Obama himself. In an '08 Democrat Party Primary debate, all of the candidates not named Obama were treated like Republicans by CNN's Wolf Blitzer. Obama got this softball question, paraphrased: "The McCain camp and the Republicans are going to paint you as a classic tax and spend liberal. Are you ready to handle that kind of assault ?" Our future Fuhrer responded, "Absolutely." (You can find a more detailed account of this incident in Ann Coulter's book Guilty.)
20 posted on 07/19/2011 8:26:57 AM PDT by Absolutely Nobama (A Movement that does not move cannot call itself a Movement.)
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