[rbehrends]

It's not a question of long-term vs. short-term thinking.

It's a question of cash flow.

It's a vicious cycle, too; the lower your cash flow is, the less you can exploit economies of scale, and the less you can save, keeping your cash flow limited. Catastrophic events (such as an unexpected illness) are more likely to create debt, and debt service (interest and repayment of principal) reduces your cash flow further.

While wealth, at some point, becomes self-sustaining.