Market equilibrium occurs when supply and demand are at their optimal level, when supply is equal to demand and ideally the price commanded earns a profit for the producer yet is not prohibitively high for the purchaser of the good. To reach this, there is always a period of negotiation. As price goes up, demand goes down, and as the price goes down, demand goes up. As the price goes down, suppliers are less willing to supply their goods, and as price goes up, suppliers are more eager to use more of their finite resources...

These are the laws of supply and demand, simply put. But when dealing with the supply and demand for many goods and services in the national economy, filled with substitute goods and many other external factors that impact these forces, or in government, this negotiation takes far longer to produce an optimal result. So the public must be understanding and patient as Washington D.C. tries to find out the optimal level of guns and butter to provide, given the scarcity of resources and funds to do so.