In 1958, Leonard wrote “I, Pencil” to write a version of Hayek’s “Using Knowledge in Society” for a larger audience. (It doesn’t cover all the points of Hayek, but it’s pretty good considering its short length.)
Many economists use short articles from Read in their classes to get a lot of work. It knows a lot to me when Milton Friedman used it in his PBS TV series “Free Choice.”
One interesting thing I came up with is that when laying out the various elements of pencils that come from other countries, the reading material doesn’t talk about tariff rats. It was not academics that there was free trade. In fact, when Reading wrote it, tariff rates around the world were pretty high. In fact, as I wrote two months ago, Trump has reverted on his own many of the progress the world has made in trade since the 1940s. So, when Leonard Reed wrote, the tariff rate was very high.
Still, I think it’s interesting to take four countries from the total input and take note of the tariff rates currently allocated under Trump’s new highest (non-reciprocal) tariff system.
So here are four sentences, each with its tariff rate. Don’t forget what ✏️ is talking about. Hockey? Certainly, but that works. Many of my 30s military officer Studonts loved it.
“My ‘lead’ itself – it contains no lead at all – is complicated. Graphite is mined in Ceylon [Sri Lanka]. Customs tariff rate: 44%.
“To increase its strength and smoothness, the leads are treated with a high temperature mixture containing Mexican candelilla wax, paraffin wax and hydrogenated natural fats.” Tariff rate: 25%.
What is erased from “facttization” in “As Materials”? This is a rubber-like product made by reacting rapeseed oil from Dutch Yeast Indies [Indonesia] Sulfur chloride. “Price: 32%.
“Pumice comes from Italy, and the pigment that gives it the “plug” is its color cadmium sulfide. “Tax rate: Unspecified. Interestingly, in a Newsweek article listing Trump tariffs, it does not mention country by country or Italy.
