I revisited this story and it reminded me of another thought:

Those who have very little will usually make things work, while those who have too much make things not work (consumerism). Getting people with too much to believe they don't have enough is one of the great frauds of colonialism with endless strife and waste. "Pursuit of Happiness" was probably meant more in the context of "satifaction of needs", but 250 years of Destruction profits/prophets later, who's going to question the difference?