Not entirely. There have been many people saying for a while that shale oil for example is a Ponzi scheme that could only work if the price of oil continually rises.
Here is just one of them but there have been scads of such predictions the last 5-7 years. Looks like they were right.
Why Shale Oil Is a Ponzi Scheme
http://www.thestreet.com/story/13080666/1/dan-dicker-on-why-shale-oil-is-a-ponzi-scheme.html
They were holding on pretty well until it dropped below $50.00. That doesn’t sound like a Ponzi scheme to me.
Shale oil is not a Ponzi scheme. Not even close. This is the way commodity prices go. Up and down. Repeat.