> Again this is a matter of where you draw your boundaries. Just as with the boundaries of what shape the earth is. If you want to consider it flat, good on yo

> Again this is a matter of where you draw your boundaries. Just as with the boundaries of what shape the earth is. If you want to consider it flat, good on you. But if you want to talk about the law of universal gravitation, you'd better be prepared to accept that the earth is approximately a sphere (at very least, toroidal). Otherwise you are contradicting yourself. > Latent demand is still demand which exists just demand withheld from the market (ie priced out). It exists in the world where the price is lower. It does not exist in the world where the price is higher. That divide is what supply and demand observes. The law of supply and demand says: When the price of a good or service falls, there tends be less willingness to sell said thing (decrease in supply) and when the price of a good or service rises, there tends to be less willingness to buy said thing (decrease in demand). Likewise, when the price of a good or service rises, there tends to be more willingness to sell said thing (increase in supply) and when the price of a good or service falls, there tends to be more willingness to buy said thing (increase in demand). That's it. Not exactly groundbreaking. If you've ever stepped outside, even if only in Soviet-era Russia, you probably already reached the same independent observation. Why you think you need a "competitive free market" for that to stand is a head scratcher. > But it is still supply which exists, just supply which is withheld from the market It is something that still exists, but it is not supply as the law of supply and demand considers it. If "supply" was all things out there in the world, and equally "demand" every last wish someone has for something, we couldn't talk about supply and demand. It fundamentally could not be a concept. So what is it that you do think we are talking about?