Start Small

If the Obama administration wants to manage the US auto industry, perhaps they should start with something smaller and simpler, like the pencil industry. Todd Zywicki cited this essay "I, Pencil" in a post on the Frolic-with-Volokh Conspiracy today.

On second thought, after reading the essay, maybe they should just leave both alone.

"My family tree begins with what in fact is a tree, a cedar of straight grain that grows in Northern California and Oregon. Now contemplate all the saws and trucks and rope and the countless other gear used in harvesting and carting the cedar logs to the railroad siding. Think of all the persons and the numberless skills that went into their fabrication: the mining of ore, the making of steel and its refinement into saws, axes, motors; the growing of hemp and bringing it through all the stages to heavy and strong rope; the logging camps with their beds and mess halls, the cookery and the raising of all the foods. Why, untold thousands of persons had a hand in every cup of coffee the loggers drink!"

And this is just one small part. Read the whole thing.