Principle of Cactus

 Security is always affordable, and I've decided to call this fact the cactus principle. 

 A cactus is an inefficient plant. All those spikes and poisons and calluses are expensive. 

 The fact water in the desert is so expensive makes it difficult to secure, but at the same time, the fact water is so valuable means the cactus is rich and can afford to defend it. The math works out.  

 

 There's a slight caveat regarding Malthusian limits, but anyone smart enough to understand and use verbal principles is far too smart to have to worry about Malthusian limits. Putting a find point on it, someone stupid will starve to death instead. It will turn out they could have secured themselves, but were too dumb to know that and deserve to die.

 E.g. jobs. Assuming you want a job for some curious reason, you can always secure your job, regardless of what the local head parasite is doing. The primary obstacle is not feeling entitled, but instead thinking about how to fence off and protect the revenue stream. E.g. always have two revenue streams, so that if one stutters, you don't instantly fall into poverty.