“There’s no such thing as a free lunch.” This colloquialism is arguably the one most frequently repeated in the economics space. Nothing’s free. Even the water you drink from the drinking fountain. Someone paid for that “public” water dispenser. Get it?
Though economists focus incessantly on consumption, their acknowledgement that “there’s no such thing as a free lunch” is a rather quiet admission that they sort of get Say’s Law. All “demand” or “consumption” is preceded by production. Nothing’s free. If you want food, clothing, shelter, and all manner of other material goods, you must produce something of market value first. Your work, or production, is what enables consumption. By extension, consumption is a consequence of economic growth as opposed to an instigator.
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