Peak oil denial diagnosed with neoclassical autism | Energy Bulletin

Economists like to suggest that energy is like any other commodity, and that one energy form can be substituted for another. The term is "elasticity". But it shows they are lost in their equations and have no common sense. Obviously oil serves a different function than coal, but they're both "energy". Hence if you convert all forms of energy into BTU's you can equate miles per kilowatt-hour to miles per gallon and pretend they're the same when they're not. The delusionary thinking could well be misleading the planners into thinking there's no problem when common sense would tell you there is. For example the shares of energy, oil, and gasoline in the GDP are low, well below 10% of the U.S. economy. Economists might celebrate their lowness as a triumph of technology and the relentless drive for profit. The small share of natural resources in aggregate expenditures is not one hundred percent good news. The neoclassical prediction apparatus is false.