Roll taxes and regulations back a century and I’ll be doing a lot better.
In those days rural people could still live pretty good without ever holding a regular job.
Looking into my town’s history and I see my neighbor’s great grandfather all through the early days. He managed the ice harvest during the winter, built the stone arches of the bridge. He managed and house and migrant farm hands who came through for all the local farms, did all kinds of odd jobs around town, hunted, trapped and farmed etc.
I recall the stories of my parents when they were kids in the 30’s. They both lived on farms. They always had food & shelter. City people would walk the country begging for food. My mom’s dad would let them in to work, pay them only food and a place in the barn to sleep. My grandpa simply had no money to pay them.
If the SHTF the same will happen. City folks will flood the country side. The difference is due to all the government entitlements & socialist class warfare, they will see country folks as rich and simply take what they want and destroy the rest.