STATES Act reintroduced in Congress

Gardner re-introduces the STATES Act - Boulder Weekly - Paul Danish:

April 11, 2019 - "Last week Colorado Republican Senator Cory Gardner, Massachusetts Democratic Senator and presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren, and eight other Senators re-introduced the legislation the two co-sponsored last year to allow states to legalize marijuana without federal interference.... The bill is called the STATES Act, for 'Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States'... .”

"[A]n identical bill, also called the STATES Act, was introduced in the House of Representatives with 26 cosponsors — half Democrats and half Republicans. The lead sponsors in the House are Oregon Democratic Representative Earl Blumenauer and Ohio Republican Representative David Joyce....

"According to ... Warren’s office, the STATES Act is supported by the ACLU, the American Bankers Association, Americans for Prosperity (the Koch brothers funded political interest group), Americans for Tax Reform, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the Cooperative Credit Union Association, the Credit Union National Association, the National Conference of State Legislatures, and a number of Indian tribes."
Read more: https://www.boulderweekly.com/features/cannabis-corner/gardner-re-introduces-the-states-act/

1 Big Reason Why U.S. Marijuana Legalization Might Actually Happen This Year - Keith Speights, The Motley Fool:

April 9, 2019 - "Gardner ... held up President Trump's judicial nominees after Jeff Sessions, then Secretary of the U.S. Department of Justice, overturned Obama administration policies about not intervening in states that had legalized marijuana [which] ultimately led to a deal with President Trump to keep the DOJ from taking any actions against Colorado or other states that allowed legal marijuana....

"There will be 22 Republican seats up for election [in 2020].... One of those seats ... is held by ... Cory Gardner. If Gardner can campaign on success in keeping Colorado's marijuana industry safe from federal intervention, it could mean the difference between victory and defeat.... Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, R.-Ky. ... knows that Gardner would be less vulnerable if the STATES Act is at least brought up for a vote. There's a reasonable chance that he will work behind the scenes to help Gardner....

"Democrats control the House by 36 seats. The STATES Act is virtually assured of sailing through committee review and is likely to win a solid majority vote in the full House. Passage of the bill in the House also could increase the chances that it isn't blocked in the Senate....

"There is one final hurdle if the STATES Act passes both the House and the Senate: President Trump must sign the bill into law. However, Sen. Gardner doesn't think that will be a problem. Gardner stated to Roll Call, 'The president has been very clear to me that he supports our legislation.'"
Read more: https://www.fool.com/investing/2019/04/09/1-big-reason-why-us-marijuana-legalization-might-a.aspx

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DC think tank warns of climate action costs

CEI warns lawmakers that a 'Green New Deal' would risk a humanitarian crisis - John Siciliano, Washington Examiner:

January 8, 2019 - "A prominent libertarian think tank is warning Congress that a real humanitarian crisis, in the U.S. and abroad, would follow if lawmakers move forward with proposals like the progressive-backed 'Green New Deal' that would restrict access to fossil fuels and thus raise the cost of living.

"The Competitive Enterprise Institute on Tuesday released its wish list of recommendations for the new 116th Congress, calling on the leadership in the House and Senate to apply a 'do no harm' principle before moving forward with climate legislation.... The group challenges the renewable energy mandate of the Green New Deal, which is being pushed in the House by left-leaning freshmen....

"CEI ... had been subpoenaed as part of an investigation launched by Democratic attorneys general in recent years into whether ExxonMobil had suppressed climate data from its own scientists. The attorneys general wanted documentation on how the think tank advised energy firms like Exxon on climate change. CEI fought the subpoena requests in court, arguing that it infringed on the organization's constitutional speech protections.

"The Green New Deal calls for ... a phase-out of fossil fuels, transitioning to renewable energy in order to cut greenhouse gas emissions and combat climate change. Such a plan would drive up prices for low-income households, while raising 'serious humanitarian concerns,' says the group.... The result would be that low-income households would have to cut back on spending on food, medicine, education, and more.

"The recommendations also say that moving ahead with the goals of the Paris climate change accord — limiting global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius — cannot be achieved without painful cuts in developing countries’ use of fossil fuels like gasoline, coal, and oil. Likewise, the cuts in fossil energy use would make developing nations more dependent on expensive renewable energy, affecting the health and well-being of people across the globe, according to CEI.

"The group ... wants lawmakers to ... hobble EPA’s authority by making changes to the Clean Air Act, which. .. would make it harder for the agency to revisit climate regulations in the future.... The group also wants Congress to ... pass legislation that freezes and then sunsets the nation’s ethanol mandate and biofuel program, known as the Renewable Fuel Standard, in 2022."

Read more: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/energy/cei-warns-lawmakers-that-a-green-new-deal-would-risk-a-humanitarian-crisis
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5 great books on politics and policy from 2016

5 Great Books on Politics and Public Policy from 2016 | Competitive Enterprise Institute - Richard Morrison:

December 21, 2016 - "A lot of interesting books on politics, economics, and public policy were published over the last twelve months. It can be difficult, though, finding the gems among the extremely large number of books about public affairs that hit bookstore (and Amazon warehouse) shelves each year. For every volume as eagerly anticipated as Deirdre McCloskey’s Bourgeois Equality, engaged readers must sift past a dozen volumes of hot-take pop commentary like Thomas Friedman’s Thank You for Being Late. That said, here are a few new titles that caught our attention at CEI in 2016.

"The Intimidation Game: How the Left Is Silencing Free Speech by Kimberley Strassel. Reviewed ... by Fred L. Smith, Jr.... 'A skilled investigative journalist, Strassel documents the extensive efforts to suppress political opposition, intimidate dissidents, and weaken the First Amendment. Strassel notes that attacks on speech — and defenders of it — have come from both parties.... Readers will gain clarity, but little comfort, from her chronicle of culture and politics conspiring to weaken free speech.'

"Progress: Ten Reasons to Look Forward to the Future by Johan Norberg, summarized here by Ryan Young.... 'Norberg is a Swedish economist and political commentator who ... updates CEI hero Julian Simon’s work showing why the world is getting better, not worse.... Norberg remains pessimistic about a scare-obsessed media’s ability to accurately report on the human condition. But the facts on the ground give him no choice but to be optimistic about humanity’s future, from declining disease rates to rising life expectancies to mass prosperity finally reaching the developing world'....

"Real Heroes: Inspiring True Stories of Courage, Character, and Conviction by Lawrence W. Reed. Reviewed by Kent Lassman.... 'Reed brings to life dozens of stories where high character animates courage and triumph. Reed has mastered the maxim that people think analytically but learn analogically. He carefully makes the case that we need real heroes and they can be found all around, if we are willing to see them.'

"Rivalry and Central Planning by Don Lavoie. Summarized here by Ryan Young.... 'Lavoie played a major role in building up George Mason University’s economics department before he passed away in 2001. The Mercatus Center’s new reissue of his 1985 book ... remains relevant to today’s debate between spontaneous orders versus central planning....

"I also include my own review, for Cato Journal, of Markets without Limits: Moral Virtues and Commercial Interests by Jason Brennan and Peter M. Jaworski ... released in 2015, but the review was published this year.... 'The authors do a good job of separating incidental objections from the fundamental moral questions at the heart of the anticommodification debate.... Their primary question is whether there are things that categorically cannot be legitimately bought and sold.... For example, Brennan and Jaworski engage in fascinating discussions on whether public betting on the likelihood of future terrorist attacks should be legal, as well as on more well-trod debate topics like legalizing sex work and the moral status of surrogate motherhood.'"

Read more: https://cei.org/blog/5-great-books-politics-and-public-policy-2016
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3 libertarians named in Trump transition talk

Ex-BB&T CEO Allison said to be in running for Treasury chief - Chicago Tribune- Saleha Mohsin & Jennifer Jacobs, Bloomberg:
November 23, 2016 - "Former BB&T Corp. Chief Executive Officer John Allison is a late entrant on a short-list for the job of U.S. Treasury secretary, according to two people familiar with President-elect Donald Trump's selection process....

"Allison, 68, is a director at investment bank Moelis & Co. and is a former president and CEO of Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank based in Washington where he is now on the group's board of directors. He's been a critic of the Federal Reserve and the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the government's effort to purchase toxic assets from financial institutions following the sub-prime mortgage meltdown."

Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-john-allison-treasury-chief-20161123-story.html

Myron Ebell A Telling Choice To Lead Trump's EPA Transition Team: The Two-Way: NPR - Nell Greenfieldboyce:
November 23, 2016 - "The good news for those worried that the U.S. will lose its leadership role in confronting climate change: President-elect Donald Trump said Tuesday, 'I have an open mind to it. ... I do have an open mind.' At a meeting Tuesday with New York Times journalists and executives, Trump said he thinks 'there is some connectivity' in terms of human activity causing climate change.

"However, ... on the same day ... Trump formally announced that Myron Ebell would lead his transition team for the Environmental Protection Agency.... Ebell was one of seven people whose faces were recently featured in an activist campaign labeling them 'Climate Criminals.'

"He directs the Center for Energy and Environment at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. It's one of the few conservative, free-market groups that's been an accredited non-governmental organization at the United Nations' climate meetings. Ebell has long questioned mainstream climate science and has argued against any need to rein in greenhouse gas emissions that are warming the planet."

Read more: http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/11/23/503156456/trump-says-he-has-open-mind-on-climate-but-staff-pick-raises-questions

‘Who knows if Trump is even aware that he has a Secretary of Transportation?’ - The Washington Post - Ashley Halsey III:

 November 17, 2016 - "[An] inside-the-Beltway wag gave this reply when asked who might head the U.S. Department of Transportation: 'Who knows if Trump is even aware that he has a secretary of transportation?' Naming said person obviously isn’t a high priority in Trump Tower, despite the fact that the president-elect has promised to pour $1 trillion into roads, bridges and other infrastructure....

"Former Reason Foundation analyst Shirley Ybarra is the Trump transition team member tasked with finding the new Sec/Trans, and there’s talk that she may be a candidate for the job herself."

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/11/17/who-knows-if-trump-is-even-aware-that-he-has-a-secretary-of-transportation/
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CEI raises $1.1M at annual fundraising gala

At huge libertarian annual fundraiser - The Washington Post - Roxanne Roberts:

June 3, 2016 - "900 libertarians walked into the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s party Thursday night. The theme was 'Casablanca' which provided a cinematic backdrop — complete with lots of whiskey, trench coats and gambling — for the sold-out fundraiser.

"In this oddest of all election years, there was no mention of Trump, Clinton or even libertarian candidate Gary Johnson.

"'We don’t do electoral politics,' explained CEI President Kent Lassman. 'That’s not what we’re about.'

"The only hit on the 2016 race came from Steve Forbes, the multimillionaire who unsuccessfully ran for president in 1996 and 2000: "'To be blunt and since I’m not running for anything,' he told the crowd, 'certainly on the Republican side, this has been the most content-free campaign' in history.

"Forbes spent the next 20 minutes making the moral case for capitalism, but no one comes to CEI’s annual dinner (this year it raised a record $1.1 million) for the speeches. They come to meet other free-market capitalists who don’t like rules and regulations, at work or at play. This year’s after-party included generous open bars, lots of vaping, casino games and more."

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/reliable-source/wp/2016/06/03/at-huge-libertarian-annual-fundraiser-absolutely-no-mention-of-donald-trump/
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CEI runs ad against 'abuse of power' subpoena

‘Abuse of Power’: CEI Ad Slams Democratic AG’s in Exxon Investigation - Sam Dorman, MRCNewsBusters:

May 20, 2016 - "After activist attorneys general targeted a major oil company and conservative groups for their climate change views, one of the groups hit back hard, publicly accusing the AG’s of abusing their legal authority.

"The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) took out an ad in The New York Times on May 18, 2016, and slammed the liberal attorneys general for 'unlawful' intimidation. The ad, which charged the AG’s with an “ABUSE OF POWER,” also accused them of trying to suppress dissent on climate change.

"New York AG Eric Schneiderman announced an investigation into ExxonMobil in November 2015.... Since that time, one AG has specifically targeted conservative organizations including CEI which have challenged the so-called 'consensus' that climate change is predominantly man-made and will be catastrophic.

"'Around the country, a group of state attorneys general have launched a misguided effort to silence the views and voices of those who disagree with them,' the ad read. The ad was signed by people from many other conservative groups, legal organizations and academics.

"It also stated that the AG’s 'intimidation campaign sets a dangerous precedent and threatens the rights of anyone who disagrees with the government’s position.' At least one congressional committee is concerned by the AG’s efforts.

"The Hill reported on May 19, that members of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee sent a letter to Schneiderman requesting information related to his Exxon investigation expressing concern 'these efforts to silence speech are based on political theater rather than legal or scientific arguments ...'

"The liberal media, have barely mentioned the investigation’s troubling implications for free speech....  A few rare exceptions included a Washington Post column by Robert Samuelson and a New York Post editorial which said 'the anti-Exxon campaign is starting to look like a conspiracy in its own right — pursuing a purely political vendetta in a blatant abuse of office.'"

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/business/sam-dorman/2016/05/20/abuse-power-cei-ad-slams-democratic-ags-exxon-investigation
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Attorney General withdraws subpoena of CEI

Virgin Islands AG revokes climate-change subpoena after being criticized for 'abuse of power' - Washington Times - Valerie Richardson:

May 23, 2016 - "Virgin Islands Attorney General Claude E. Walker has withdrawn his subpoena of the Competitive Enterprise Institute after a rash of criticism over his investigation into climate-change dissenters.

"Still, CEI general counsel Sam Kazman said Monday that the free-market think-tank would still push the court for sanctions against Mr. Walker, one of a 17-member coalition of attorneys general pursuing fraud allegations against climate skeptics.

"'We are doing so because Walker’s underlying Virgin Islands subpoena remains in effect and, as his local counsel expressly stated, Walker can reinstate the DC [District of Columbia] subpoena whenever he wants,' Mr. Kazman said in a statement.

"'More importantly, his withdrawal only strengthens our claim that this subpoena was a constitutional outrage from the very beginning, violating our right to free speech and our donors’ right to confidentiality, and threatening the right of all Americans to express views that go against some party line,' Mr. Kazman said. 'This was an abuse of process, plain and simple, and we’re determined to see that Walker faces sanctions for an action whose illegality he refuses to recognize.'

"The CEI took out a full-page ad in The New York Times last week decrying the AGs United for Clean Power’s pursuit of climate skeptics. Signers of the ad included former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, former White House counsel C. Boyden Gray and MIT professor emeritus of atmospheric sciences Richard Lindzen."

Virgin Is. AG subpoenas libertarian think tank

Competitive Enterprise Institute Subpoena: An Attack on Exxon & Us All - National Review:

April 18, 2016 - "The Competitive Enterprise Institute, a libertarian-leaning think tank that has been a loud and trenchant critic of global-warming activism, is under subpoena by the attorney general of the U.S. Virgin Islands, who demands that the organization produce a decade’s worth of communication on the subject of global warming....

"Exxon was, in the past, a substantial donor to CEI; presumably, communication with Exxon is no small part of what the subpoena hopes to uncover.

"On March 29, a group of mainly Democratic attorneys general announced at a press conference (with former vice president and green-energy profiteer Al Gore in attendance) that they would seek to transform U.S. policy on climate change by 'creatively' and 'aggressively' deploying their prosecutorial powers....

"Claude Earl Walker, the attorney general of the U.S. Virgin Islands, ... shortly thereafter issued a subpoena to Exxon, demanding private communication and other internal information as part of an investigation into the firm. Walker has not come even close to describing any crime committed by Exxon, much less a crime committed by Exxon in his jurisdiction, the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Exxon does no business, holds no assets, maintains no employees, and has no physical presence....

"Exxon was not served the Virgin Islands subpoena by the authorities of the Virgin Islands, but by a private, Washington-based law firm, Cohen Milstein.... Cohen Milstein has a very large interest — millions and millions of dollars — in separate litigation being pursued against Exxon ... [and] received a $15 million contingency-fee payment from Walker’s office in another matter....

"The case has unmistakable parallels to the shakedown of Chevron, in which a cabal of U.S.-based lawyers ... working in conjunction with corrupt judges and officials in Ecuador attempted to extort billions of dollars from the energy giant ... until a federal judge threw it out as fraudulent.... For Democrats, these cases represent a potential double dip: There is the possibility of winning a policy change by engaging in the political suppression of a hated adversary; short of that, there’s the possibility of ... a very large settlement from Exxon....

"Using prosecutions to sort out policy differences is undiluted authoritarianism; delegating prosecutorial powers to a private law firm with a financial interest in seeing the target of a prosecution suffer is a gross violation of due process and legal norms; attempting to prosecute a firm for violations of Virgin Islands law when that firm does no business in the Virgin Islands and has no presence there is an obvious and indefensible abuse of office."

Read more: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/434167/competitive-enterprise-institute-subpoena-attack-exxon-us-all
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The libertarians behind the Obamacare challenge

Libertarian group launched backup plan to Obamacare - - Joan Biskupic, Reuters:

February 20, 2015 - "The U.S. Supreme Court case that could shatter President Barack Obama’s healthcare law this year was launched as a backup plan by a libertarian group and a powerful Washington lawyer frustrated by the slow progress of their original lawsuit.

"Their success in persuading the court to take the ideologically driven case owes to a combination of canny legal tactics and the willingness of at least four justices to hear it in unusually swift time. Oral arguments are set for March 4....

"At stake now are the tax-credit subsidies that have allowed low- and moderate-income Americans to buy insurance. The plaintiffs say the government unlawfully extended credits to states that did not create local insurance exchanges.

"The plaintiffs’ lead lawyer, Michael Carvin, represented some of the challengers in 2012. He and the libertarian Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), bankrolling the current lawsuit, began planning the new attack soon after that bid failed....

"The new challenge originated at a conference by the conservative American Enterprise Institute in 2010, where an employee-benefits lawyer highlighted an ACA provision allowing tax credits through exchanges 'established by the state'....

"Carvin filed first in May 2013 in a District of Columbia federal jurisdiction, where the government is based and where the appeals court was dominated by Republican appointees.

"When four months passed without much action, Carvin tried a gambit that would become decisive. He turned to a Virginia federal judicial district nicknamed the “rocket docket” for its speed in moving cases....

"The Virginia district court judge sided with the government in February 2014 and an appeals court affirmed in July.

"By early 2014 the D.C. case was moving. A judge ruled for the government, but then a panel of the D.C. Circuit reversed the decision, on the same July day as the Virginia ruling. That split gave Carvin ammunition for the high court, which typically waits for a division in appeals courts before hearing a dispute....

"In November, over the objections of U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, the conservative-leaning Supreme Court granted Carvin’s Virginia appeal. It takes only four of the nine justices to agree to hear a case. The vote was in secret, and the justices, as is their practice, did not explain the order."

Read more: http://www.spyghana.com/libertarian-group-launched-backup-plan-to-ob/
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Has the ‘Libertarian Moment’ arrived?

Has the ‘Libertarian Moment’ Finally Arrived? - NYTimes.com - Robert Draper, New York Times Magazine:

August 7, 2014 - "Libertarians, who long have relished their role as acerbic sideline critics of American political theater, now find themselves and their movement thrust into the middle of it. For decades their ideas have had serious backing financially (most prominently by the Koch brothers, one of whom, David H., ran as vice president on the 1980 Libertarian Party ticket), intellectually (by way of policy shops like the Cato Institute and C.E.I. [Competitive Enterprise Institute]) and in the media (through platforms like Reason and, as of last year, 'The Independents'). But today, for perhaps the first time, the libertarian movement appears to have genuine political momentum on its side. 

"An estimated 54 percent of Americans now favor extending marriage rights to gay couples. Decriminalizing marijuana has become a mainstream position, while the drive to reduce sentences for minor drug offenders has led to the wondrous spectacle of Rick Perry — the governor of Texas, where more inmates are executed than in any other state — telling a Washington audience: 'You want to talk about real conservative governance? Shut prisons down. Save that money.' The appetite for foreign intervention is at low ebb, with calls by Republicans to rein in federal profligacy now increasingly extending to the once-sacrosanct military budget. And deep concern over government surveillance looms as one of the few bipartisan sentiments in Washington, which is somewhat unanticipated given that the surveiller in chief, the former constitutional-law professor Barack Obama, had been described in a 2008 Times Op-Ed by the legal commentator Jeffrey Rosen as potentially 'our first president who is a civil libertarian.'

"Meanwhile, the age group most responsible for delivering Obama his two terms may well become a political wild card over time, in large part because of its libertarian leanings. Raised on the ad hoc communalism of the Internet, disenchanted by the Iraq War, reflexively tolerant of other lifestyles, appalled by government intrusion into their private affairs and increasingly convinced that the Obama economy is rigged against them, the millennials can no longer be regarded as faithful Democrats — and a recent poll confirmed that fully half of voters between ages 18 and 29 are unwedded to either party. Obama has profoundly disappointed many of these voters by shying away from marijuana decriminalization, by leading from behind on same-sex marriage, by trumping the Bush administration on illegal-immigrant deportations and by expanding Bush’s N.S.A. surveillance program. As one 30-year-old libertarian senior staff member on the Hill told me: 'I think we expected this sort of thing from Bush. But Obama seemed to be hip and in touch with my generation, and then he goes and reads our emails.'"

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/10/magazine/has-the-libertarian-moment-finally-arrived.html?_r=0
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Online gambling ban bill opposed by libertarian coalition

Libertarian groups slam online gambling ban | TheHill - Kate Tummarello:

April 28, 2014 - "A coalition of libertarian groups have said a new bill to ban online gambling would pave the path for more government control over the Internet.

"The bill 'is an inappropriate and unnecessary use of federal powers that infringes on the rights of individuals and states,' a coalition of ten libertarian groups said in a letter to the leaders of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees on Monday.

"The bill to ban most online gambling for money was introduced by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) earlier this year. It would reverse a 2011 Justice Department ruling that reintepreted the Wire Act to allow online gambling.

"Since that ruling, states have moved forward with efforts to legalize and regulate online gambling within their borders. Currently, Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey allow online gambling, and a handful of other states — including California — are looking to do the same....

"The letter from libertarian groups — including FreedomWorks, the Competitive Enterprise Institute and R Street — called the bill from Graham and Chaffetz 'a broad overreach by the federal government over matters traditionally reserved for the states.'

"A ban will push the inevitable online gambling to the black market 'where crime can flourish with little oversight and consumers have little to no protection from predatory behavior,' the letter said."

Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/technology/204580-libertarian-groups-slam-online-gambling-ban
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Conservative baffled that libertarians would honor transgender economist

Conservative So Baffled That Libertarians Would Honor Transgender Economist, He Wrote Column About It (UPDATED W/ Apology) | Mediaite:

May 16, 2013 - "Late this afternoon, Washington Examiner senior editorial writer Sean Higgins posted a column with the blaring headline, “Competitive Enterprise Institute to honor transgender woman at annual dinner,” expressing bewilderment at the libertarian think-tank’s decision to honor transgender economist Deirdre McCloskey with an award....

"CEI is well-known for its libertarian politics, taking a hardline stance in favor of legalizing online gambling and seeking more classically-liberal reforms to our immigration system, as opposed to the restrictive desires of conservative think-tanks. Part of that libertarian ideology also includes an apathy towards the things at which social conservatives — a group which presumably includes Higgins — frequently wring their hands.

"McCloskey’s transgender identity does nothing [to] discredit her work or make her any less an accomplished and worthy economist; and to breathlessly bring negative attention to it would seem rather strange. "

Read more: http://www.mediaite.com/online/conservative-so-baffled-that-libertarians-would-honor-transgender-economist-he-wrote-column-about-it/
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Libertarian classic 'I, Pencil' now available as video

Libertarian classic 'I, Pencil' gets modern makeover - Garry Reed:

November 16, 2012 - "The Competitive Enterprise Institute has remade Leonard E. Read's I, Pencil as an animated film, released on their website Thursday....

"I, Pencil was first published as an essay that appeared in the December 1958 issue of The Freeman, generally regarded as one of the oldest and most respected libertarian journals in the US, a publication of the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) which was founded by Leonard E. Read in 1946.

The essay, under its full title, I, Pencil: My Family Tree as Told to Leonard E. Read, had a simple goal: 'to show that economics cannot be "planned" since no one, no matter how smart, can create something as incredibly ordinary as a pencil.' Instead, its creation requires a highly complex global industrial network organized not by a master planner but by the spontaneous supply-and-demand workings of the 'invisible hand' in the peaceful, voluntary, libertarian, laissez-faire free market.

"The goal of the project, CEI announced in a news release, 'was to translate Leonard Read’s story into an exciting and accessible film for the Internet age.'"

Read more: http://www.examiner.com/article/libertarian-classic-i-pencil-gets-modern-makeover
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