I suspect it's the latter, too. With a dollop of consumerism thrown in for good measure. Remember, Obama has several times called for a "bottom-up" recovery. He believes this baloney.
It's true that consumers provide the money that supports a business, but if the entrepreneur doesn't carefully save a portion of his revenues [that is, he must refrain from current consumption,] labor don't get paid and consumers soon don't have a business to buy from.
John Stuart Mill, in the 19th century, wrote that buying goods does not buy labor, meaning that consumer spending does not support the economy. Only capitalists who consciously make the decision to save their proceeds and reinvest in the business can cause economic growth.
That's a concept Obama could never comprehend.
Not necessarily so.
Many manufacturing business must forecast and gamble on
production quantity's.
They must inventory raw materials and parts and invest in equipment (which the government taxes) then produce their products and pay
their labor costs (Labor, insurance and taxes) before
their products are even shipped.
Then they must wait sometimes months before their paid
for their goods.
This is a financial gamble
and why it takes capital to do so.