But, a shrinking population causes problems with this, as at some point, there just aren't enough people to fill all the open positions and at least for now, as hard as they try

We have been dealing with this in Japan for a few years. The birth rate just keeps decreasing and we have been in the negative for awhile. Some we have entire towns where all the population is over 80 and the town is disappearing as the people die off. Nursing is the most in demand job in Japan right now, I think, as a result. Japanese people don't want these jobs, so they keep bringing in Filipinos to do them. But then the old people complain that too many foreigners will destroy the country. It's causing a lot of problems and conflict.

It isn't too expensive to stop using oil in cars, it just isn't profitable for those selling oil and, the initial cost of the changeover is going to be enormous for the consumer. But, "enormous cost" means "enormous profits" for some group of companies and those employed by them, meaning it is still generating economic activity that will supplant the previous suppliers.

This is short-term cost vs long-term cost, right? Too many corporations only look at short-term gains and that prevents them from making any change. Why are we still using oil, despite Exxon scientists correctly predicting as far back as the 50s that it would cause terrible climate change? Because it's easier to keep kicking that can down the road while you just focus on the short-term.

youth who think a viable career is making TikTok videos.

😂

You know there was a survey of young people in one of the big Japanese newspapers a few years ago, taken at public schools so it was a pretty large sample size. It asked what job do you want when you grow up. The overwhelming #1 pick was YouTuber.