I wonder if the scarcity mindset has more to do with:

1. We remember things being scarce. (A chicken in ever pot and a car in every garage was not that long ago)
2. Currency is designed to be scarce. There is always more debt then there is bank notes.
3. Advertising to have to want it now, because "Sale ends tomorrow". Got to keep selling, or no one gets a pay check. Planned obsolescence.

Whichever it is, it definitely has a hold on the people.
If we ever move from burning stuff for electricity to all forms of sustainable generation, what will that do to the scarcity mentality? Or is the scarcity mentality keeping the old electric company in place?