People living in capitalist countries, even if they are not completely free, don’t think about it. As customers, they place orders with their suppliers. As producers, they fulfill the orders of their customers. Consumers are the bosses, producers are at their service. And producers happily accept this role because they want money to, in turn, order goods from the market as consumers. A free rather than a less free economy naturally organizes itself around this principle, because we produce to consume and not the other way around.
At Christmas you gave orders to your suppliers, not the other way around. A producer could not instruct you to buy from him. Only public producers – governments or suppliers supported by governments – can do this. The French philosopher Raymond Ruyer, in his 1969 book Eloge de la society de consommation (In honor of the consumer society), described the difference between a market economy, in which the consumer is sovereign, and a planned economy, in which the producer runs the show (under government control):
In a market economy, demand is imperative and supply is imploring. In a planned economy, supply is imperative and demand is imploring.
« Dance the economics of the march, the demand is impérieuse, and the supply of suppliers… Dance the economic plan, the supply is impérieuse, and the supply of suppliers. »
This is why, if you have the chance to live in a more rather than less free society (and if you are not a hermit), you can have a Merry Christmas.
Merry christmas!
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