[kalthalior]

So when will the rest of the world catch up with the US economically, Dogscoff? US GDP has gone from $6 trillion in 1995 to over $10 trillion in 2001, 30% of world GDP. The second largest economy is Japan's, at $3 trillion. Europe, as a whole, is around $8 trillion, and growth in the US is perennially at a higher rate. Also, what finite resources are you refering to? Both production and known reserves of almost every conceivable resource have expanded over the Last 50 years.
Example: oil production, in millions of metric tons -- 1950=523, 1973=2,858, 1998=3,450. Known reserves in 1950 were about 1 trillion barrels. That has quadrupled to 4 trillion barrels in 2000.

For nearly every other known mineral resource, there is a similiar story to be told.