After mentally stepping aside from the cozy developed country context, the answer becomes obvious really. Regular citizens won't pay for the excesses of our benevolent overlords if they have no income, but they will build and sustain that excess for pittance or for food or for free. Look at any country rapidly de-evolving back in time - Russia, Iran, Venezuela, Afghanistan and the most prominent North Korea. So it's not a fluke or regional, it happens across the globe - when living conditions degrade, in most cases people just tend to adapt and adapt and adapt until they continue working but in subhuman conditions.