its not true. If everyone actually did the bare minimum, everything would screech to a halt immediately. In fact people doing that imo is part of what causes the decline of empires. You can, in fact, trust people further than you can throw them.

Its a cousin of the mindset that the reason people don't steal is because they think they will be caught and rationally weigh up based on the value they gain and the chance of loss that its not a worthwhile action.

No, most of the time people steal because they think its wrong, and they dont want to do it.

Public trust is a real thing and varies massively by country. America is notably extremly low on this metric

One needs the state, the other needs intrinsic morals. One is a tax on all actions, the other forms working societies.

How are the behavior described imperfections ?