I. Pencil.

Leonard E. Read in "I, Pencil" talks about how a pencil is made in great details and how it can be a lesson to us. What I found interesting about this piece is that a pencil is such a simple products of mankind yet it is a complicated product made from so many people across the globe. Who would have thought that a simple pencil. Comes from such a complex origin? The point is, no one, and that's the point. The pencil comes from the hands of many people across the world, but does the people around the world who were part of the process in making this pencil actually know what they are contributing? People have absolutely no idea what their actions will lead to, yet a pencil can be made from the clueless action of mankind. It goes to the other more complicated stuff that mankind has ever made, like cars, rocket, etc. Then, why should economics be left out from this logic? There shouldn't be any forms of interference from any forms of authority in the market as well; the market will somehow just be okay.

However, what I think is that Leonard E. Read does not bring in the idea of third party into his writing. What is the role of the authority then if the free market brings into a negative effect, like pollution (the third party) into the system? I understand that in a capitalism system market system is based on solely demand and cost but we couldn't ignore the fact that sometimes third party is involved as well.The authority has certain responsibility to stop or reduce these negative effects.

I also wonder about how free is the free market free? How much freedom can a person have in the market? If the authority has to be completely free from the market then it also means that the bubbles that free market create, the corruption and patent issues will not be regulated by the authority. All these problem will need to be solved by the market itself. Can we really trust the market to solve these problems by itself?

With the intrinsic value rules that there is actually no real value to everything in this world, what would happen if everyone knows what's their action will lead to? Since people work for incentives, would those people, who have worked throughout the process of making the pencil, realize their actions consequences, will the price of the pencil go up? Will consumers pay it for a higher price or a lower price? After all, human acts with purpose.