>The long slow breakdown of a previously high-trust society is a very sad thing to witness firsthand.
Yes this is true. But the breakdown comes from people not being able to make ends meet, and as poverty sets in, so does defense mechanisms. If it happens with someone who is well off then it is a tactic that they have always used to get over on people and enrich themselves. I have had people that I have given shelter to, paid their grocery bills, paid their rent or monthly mortgage, car insurance, given them money, saved their life, and have been accused of hurting their feelings or wrongdoing, but that only came after I was in need, did they become dead and blind.