Supply must somehow be equated with demand. If the market place be imagined as a huge auction, the problem becomes one of who shall get what quantity of the goods to be auctioned. The economic way to ration scarce resources is through the price system. In so doing, chronic shortages and surpluses are avoided, the productive process is left unharmed, and peaceful exchange becomes the reigning principle. Price also directs production, its second function.
Businessmen are professional price-watchers.
If consumer demand for a product increases, consumers are willing to pay more for that product. This puts pressure on price to rise, which raises profit margins. In order to take advantage of this profitable situation, businessmen increase their production. The marvelous mechanism of price does the job far better than the noblest and wisest politician. The economic consequence of government price control is economic disruption.