Sad to this (another Montanana here) but just because people have lived in MT for decades, doesn't mean they have their act together. We are a very poor state, but we are also a state where its relatively 'easy' to be poor in. With no vehicle inspections, generally no dress codes or expectations in schools or work...or society.....you can just get along pretty easily in a thirty year old broken down car with bald tires, a broken out rear window, flip flops, shorts and a T shirt for half the year without really having to do anything about it. Then...when it suddenly snows a foot after a long, warm fall...you realize how ill prepared you are.
Now the answer to how this happens I think is a rural problem in general. In the Ken Burns Dustbowl documentary one part really struck me. When talking about why people stayed in an obviously deteriorating situation one of the interviewees said "We where 'next year people'" as in, they would always say "next year is going to be better" and tough out bad times by telling themselves they could put up without something right now because 'next year' was going to be better and they would be able to buy the things they needed.
I think this is really true, particularly of poor rural states like MT. I hear it all the time. Everyone is always saying how next year is going to be a better year and if they can just get through this winter then they can afford to buy those new tires, or a better truck, or move into a better house, or find a better job, etc etc.
Of course the reality is that ever since about 1979 every year has been worse than the year before for most people. A lot of people I know are still waiting to recover from 2008, literally driving on the same tires that where worn out then and hoping that 'next year' they can afford new ones.
I guess on one level, this is what people in what at least used to be the suicide capital of the country have to tell themselves to survive. But on another....not accepting that next year you will be older, in worse health most likely deeper in debt, poorer in a world where things cost more...is how you end up painted into a corner you cannot escape from.
I always plan on having to work harder next year than I did this year, just to be able to keep what I had or at least slow the entropy. Eventually I will hit the limit and crash and burn...and it will be a last year unless someone takes care of me. Which is also the way of life out here.