This is what I have been pontificating for years with my Cassandra-like whining, but you state the case much more authoritatively and with better referrals than I. All I have to rely on is my intuition, you seem to actually have some education in the matter.

As I said earlier (in this very thread, actually) I feel (yes, intuitively, not from any real study of the situation) that our problems are compounded, possibly beyond the point of solvability without enormous world-wide suffering, by the fact that most of the "wealth" of humanity is/was illusory and it isn't likely that anybody is in any better shape than we are to bail us out of our (or their own) trouble.

Some interesting reading here that is an elaboration of the point that Music made earlier.

tanstaafl.