A couple of quick responses, Micca:

1. There is no question that a nest-egg makes for better survival, because it helps invoke help. If you can hire a young man to repair your roof when it falls in, you are liekly to be less at risk of broken legs, etc. You can buy shelter, transport, food and communication facilities long after you are too old to invent them all on your own.

2. For every vector toward survival/better futures there is someone who will be beaten down enough to go upside down and elect the opposite path. People who have been jammed hard into being victims will make decisions that further that identity even when it is not good survival.

A