Bylund made some very good points with the apple analogy. However, I did not even think about some of the things you mentioned. In the paragraph about productions you said,

"The apple tree example could even be taken a step further to the production of apple juice or some other apple derivative."

This is very interesting. I had not thought about how the apple producer could be be a member in the chain of production. If the company or person selling that is selling apple juice does not produce their own apples, they rely on someone else to do it. Kind of like how we, as consumers, rely on a chef at a restaurant to cook the food we order. Production is extremely important in the supply chain. If someone is not creating or manufacturing a product, it derails the entire supply chain. For example, my dad owns a government contracting business. Last year it was nearly impossible for the manufacturers of equipment to find steel and the price of steel increased tremendously because it was in such high demand. This caused a huge issue for my dad because without the specific equipment made of steel, he could not complete the job. That job should have been completed in September of 2023, however, because of supply chain issues, his company will not be able to finish construction until the end of May in 2023. They were forced to change their schedule and wait around for equipment because of an issue that was out of their control. The supply chain and chain of production effects tons of people.

Consumers can choose to not purchase a good because they do not value it as much as they value the money they would exchange for it. But, as I stated previously, the price of steel increased largely. Since there is no alternative to product or service, they had to decide if they wanted to continue with the construction or leave the job unfinished. Ultimately, they could not stop this job. So the government was forced to pay a large amount for the production of the equipment my dad needed to complete the job he was hired to do.

It is important to consider if there is an alternative to a product or service.

I enjoyed reading your post. It made me think a lot about how much one producer can change the chain of production completely.