Submitted by KBMNEGA
Guest Post by Simon Black
In 1958, Leonard E. Read wrote the book I, Pencil.
As the book’s title suggests, this is the story about a pencil, told from the pencil’s perspective.
The pencil traces his beginnings – from the cedar forests of Northern California and Oregon – to the mill in San Leandro, California, where specialized equipment cuts the logs into pencil-length slats.
Next, the newly-cut slats move to the pencil factory, where machinery cuts eight grooves into each slat and inserts graphite.
Read goes on to further describe each part of the pencil manufacturing process.
His point: Even something as simple as manufacturing a pencil is a highly complex process. Yet left to the free market, profit incentives allow individuals and companies to efficiently combine raw materials and produce any in-demand product.
No committee of central planners is required anytime during the manufacturing process.
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