Secretary of Energy Rick Perry was roundly mocked on Twitter on Thursday for his definition of supply-and-demand economics, which he gave during a visit to a coal-fired power plant in Morgantown, W.Va.

“Here’s a little economics lesson: supply and demand,” Perry said, according to reports. “You put the supply out there, and the demand will follow.”

DOE Rick Perry at coal plant:"Here’s a little economics lesson: supply and demand. You put the supply out there and the demand will follow." — Taylor Kuykendall (@taykuy) July 6, 2017

ADVERTISEMENT

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.”

Atlantic correspondent James Fallows said that Perry was instead citing Say’s Law of Markets, which states that production is the source of demand.

Sigh.



I think he means the much-controverted "Say’s Law.”https://t.co/VkYGmf3U37



(Tell it to farmers in the 1930s, etc) https://t.co/6S0J2BF9m2 — James Fallows (@JamesFallows) July 6, 2017

The worst part of this -- besides its 100% wrongness -- is the condescending "Here's a little economics lesson..." Like he's schooling us. https://t.co/kgCmllZWHi — Ken Tremendous (@KenTremendous) July 6, 2017

Rick Perry got a D in Econ at Texas A&M. https://t.co/k4mCLCTFMh — Wescott Eberts (@SBN_Wescott) July 6, 2017