Rick Perry was mocked on social media on Thursday for flubbing the definition of supply and demand as the Department of Energy secretary spoke during a visit to a coal-fired power plant in Morgantown, West Virginia.
Taylor Kuykendall, an energy reporter at S&P Global Market Intelligence, pointed out Perry's comments in a tweet, reported The Hill.
"Twitter users were quick to find fault with Perry's use of the term, which is defined in the dictionary as the law that "an increase in supply will lower prices if not accompanied by increased demand, and an increase in demand will raise prices unless accompanied by increased supply," said The Hill's Josh Delk.
Business Insider's Elenda Holodny said Perry's comment harkened back to 1803 when French economist Jean-Baptiste Say argued for the unorthodox line of thinking in his work "A Treatise on Political Economy."
Holodny quoted Say as arguing that "a product is no sooner created, than it, from that instant, affords a market for other products to the full extent of its own value."
Others on social media said the former Texas governor was just flat wrong.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.