Thank you for sharing this insightful, sobering assessment. I have known all of this in general, but you have spelled it out in vivid, compelling detail. The vast majority of us have no understanding at all that money is just arithmetic—an abstract, zero-sum measure of the marginal value of commodities—while the actual foundation of any economy is available net energy (the energy we have left after the energy we invest to get that energy). Hence the net energy from fossil fuels is actually depreciating, as the energy costs of extracting (NOT “producing”!) fossil fuels steadily increase as the reserves are depleted.
And I agree enthusiastically with your conclusion, which I have summarized with an easily shared slogan: grow gardens, grow community, grow awareness. Let us all do this: relocalize our economies, live simply, and practice and propagate permaculture!