What I mean is, in previous times of shortage both labour and materials have been available, but the system was so badly set up that people sat idle and starving, while production capacity was under-utilised. All that was needed was for the distribution of resources to change. Now, I seriously think the very models of production (for instance, agriculture based on fossil fuels and 'fossil' water) are falling to pieces, so the resources may simply cease to be there at all.
Like school children during the Bay of Pigs, or people in the first half hour of a zombie movie, I watch the news at the moment and think 'Has it started?'