In economics, when demands is permitted to displace supply in the order of priorities, the result is a sluggish and uncreative economy, inflation, and a decline in productivity. Such disorders afflict both our politics and our economics today.

The problem is that demand, like public opinion, does not exist in any very definitive and identifiable way; it is a flux of hungers and sentiments which assume particular forms chiefly in response to the flow of supplies. Because there is no demand for new an unknown goods, no demand for the unforeseeable fruits of innovation and genius, preoccupation with demand fosters stagnation. Egalitarianism in the economy tends to promote greed over giving. It downplays the various and specific sources of supply to favor the diffuse and sterile clamor of demand. To the ordinary mind, there is no reason for an assumption of equal importance for the two concepts. Demand attained parity only in our economic texts, and it achieved its deceptive supremacy only through our deluded politics.

From the new edition of Wealth and Poverty by George Gilder

HKO

Not only has demand been deemed the supreme force but it has been supported with incredibly ludicrous twists of logic where unemployment benefits and food stamps are deemed to have multiplier effects which stimulate production. If that were even close to the truth this economy should be on fire, yet there is barely a spark.

In 1977 Digital Equipment CEO Ken Olson stated, “There is no reason for an individual to have a computer in their home.” What was the demand for iPhones and iPads just a few years before their appearance? Steve Jobs never spent a dime on market research. He supplied, spending billions on research and development, before the first unit ever hit the shelves. Was there a clamoring for a children’s book on wizards before P.J. Rowling published her first Harry Potter book?

The reality that these fools refuse to acknowledge is our economic growth comes from the 1%, probably the 1/10 of 1%. These are the drivers of progress. When the political attitude is to suppress and demonize the 1% we risk bringing progress to a halt.

A strong middle class is important for political stability and it should be encouraged and respected, but we all benefit greatly from the great producers and the products and services they developed often with great cost and risk and all too often with substantial loss.

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