elite
world population is increasing. world energy production isn't keeping up. obviously that means that less energy is expended per person. that's a pretty good measure of standard of living. the rich are the ones with the highest standard of living. they control governments. they are not going to let their standard of living go down. what will happen is they will trim their ranks. they will reduce their own numbers so the standard of living of the remaining rich people stays high. watch the american middle class become poor.