I think it's a mostly a delusion--greed and callousness and braggadocio masked behind the lip-service paid to "self-sufficiency"--and it's a particularly onerous part of this in my opinion, because it's a mix of harmful behaviors masquerading as a genuine, if overly lionized, virtue. It's the same mindset that encourages business leaders, without irony, to take enormous credit (and massive payouts) for the combined efforts of entire companies of employees and the myriad benefits provided by the modern nations hosting the business (highways, communications, safety, educated workforce, etc).

I'm reminded that the words "culture" and "cult" have the same Latin root ;).