Originally Posted by Greger
Gold and diamonds, oil and iron are dug up and added to the wealth. Crops are grown, timber and other renewables harvested. So while all the wealth in the world is finite or limited we don't seem be be reaching the limits yet of how much wealth can be created. The limit we are running into is how many Greeedybeasts it will actually support.

Basically, when you refer to gold, diamonds, iron and OIL, you're essentially referring to the same element that all of them connect to:

ENERGY.

Wealth is that which increases the quality of life, and since almost everything that increases QOL involves energy, basically ENERGY IS WEALTH. Gold and diamonds are objects of intrinsic value in that a certain amount of labor is required to make them available, but in reality they are just hard currency.
If a barrel of oil was small enough to fit in one's pocket it would do just as nicely as a lump of gold, a gold coin or a diamond, because in the end most wealth buys the energy needed to increase QOL or it buys products that take a certain amount of energy to create.

Thus energy is wealth.

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