Chapter III, Section B, Item 1. The Unlimited Supply Fallacy
Economic models fail miserably if an assumed resource is gone. Most
economic models accommodate resource scarcity in the supply and
demand price balance, albeit with considerable short-sightedness in
predicting commodities futures, and with an operating assumption
that supply can always meet demand at some price. The system is
periodically shocked when the resource assumption fails, but at
least most economic models adjust to the new condition. The
assumption that energy resources are nothing but commodities bought
and sold in an economy of unlimited growth is nothing short of an
assumption of perpetual motion. Coupled with population spurring
demand, the end of finite fossil-fuel resources portends the
economy’s complete collapse, and is thus the greatest threat to ever
face humanity.