I asked last time, “Left to your own skill and only what Mother Nature provides (no tools you don’t make yourself), is there a single thing you use today that you’d be able to make on your own?” My answer is simple: No. I could not make my car, let alone the rear view mirror. I could not make my clothes, let alone the thread to stitch fabric together. I could not make my oven, let alone the cast iron used to fry my eggs this morning. Thinking of Friedman’s pencil, it’s likely

Think of a pin. Walmart sells 1,000 for $11, or 1.1¢ per pin. In your current or former line of work, how long would it take you to earn 1.1¢? At the Wisconsin minimum wage of $7.25, it would take about 6 seconds. Now imagine you had to make a pin on your own. From mining ore, to refining the metal, shaping it, cutting it, sharpening it, forming the plastic head, and combining them. Would that take you more or less than 6 seconds? (Yes, it’s a rhetorical question). This is no

My next read will be a segment of Adam Smith’s An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Smith shares the following example in his introduction. Thinking chiefly of the native tribes in North America prior to the American founding, he writes that “every individual who is able to work is more or less employed in useful labour, and endeavours to provide, as well as he can, the necessaries and conveniencies of life, for himself, and such of his family or tr