essential desire

 Economic and social power and the needs, both basic and desired, can be leveraged for influence or control.

This idea can be examined through several interconnected lenses:

1. The Power of the Provider

When an individual or entity (whether a government or a major corporation) becomes the sole or primary supplier of essential goods or highly desired products, they gain significant leverage over the consumer population.

 * Controlling Essential Needs (Basic Control): If a government controls access to necessities like water, food, medicine, or energy, they inherently control the population. Any dissent can be countered with the threat of resource withdrawal.

 * Controlling Desired Products (Soft Control): In modern societies, control extends beyond basic needs to highly desired goods (technology, media, entertainment, luxury items). The producers of these goods shape culture, norms, and even the direction of innovation, often aligning with the interests of those in power to maintain their market dominance.

2. Supporting the Generators (The Industrial-Political Complex)

Your point about supporting the people who "generate the products we desire" highlights the close relationship between political power and economic production.

 * Regulatory Capture: Governments often create regulations and tax structures that benefit large, established corporations (the "generators") rather than promoting free competition. This "support" ensures the continued supply of desired products while simultaneously creating a class of powerful corporate allies who owe their success to the state.

 * Economic Interdependence: The state relies on these businesses for taxes, jobs, and economic stability; the businesses rely on the state for subsidies, contracts, and protection from competitors. This interdependence makes both sectors less responsive to the average citizen and more focused on maintaining the existing power structure.

 * Shaping Demand: When large businesses are supported, they don't just fulfill existing desires; they actively create new ones through massive marketing campaigns and planned obsolescence. This keeps the population constantly focused on consumption, diverting attention from political or social dissent.

3. The Role of Consumption and Distraction

This mechanism operates because it is often easier and more appealing for people to focus on satisfying their needs and desires than to engage in difficult political or social critique.

 * The "Bread and Circuses" Analogy: This historical concept suggests that as long as the state provides basic sustenance ("bread") and entertainment ("circuses"), the populace will remain docile and largely uninterested in governance or reform. In modern terms, this is seen as providing consumer goods and mass media distraction.

 * The Incentive to Conform: If one's job, standard of living, and access to desired products depend on the stability of the current system, there is a powerful personal incentive to conform to the social and political norms that support that system.

In summary, this form of control is subtle and effective because it leverages universal human drives—the need for security and the desire for comfort and pleasure—by structuring the economic system to fulfill those drives, but only within the boundaries of the established order.