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Life in rural America has always been difficult. Appalachia, for example, has a history of severe poverty that in some ways still exists. https://www.reddit.c

• nradov 2y ago
  Appalachia is particularly cursed by geography. Mountainous areas can't support much large-scale economic activity beyond subsistence farming, resource extraction, and tourism. It's just too expensive to move things around. We see the same issues in other countries as well.
  • AlotOfReading 2y ago
    The Nordic economies were also characterized by low-intensity agriculture, resource extraction, and tourism, as well as a remarkably similar 28M population vs 26M Appalachians. Topographically, Appalachia isn't much different from places like Norway. Yet the Nordic situation couldn't be more different. The issues with Appalachia aren't the result of some impossible geographic curse, they're the accumulation of countless political and economic decisions against trying to improve the region. All it would take to fix it is decades of coordinated efforts at every level of society. Obviously that's not going to happen, but recognizing that it's possible is better than pretending that we don't have the ability to change anything about the situation.
    • nradov 2y ago
      Norway isn't really comparable. Their population is concentrated along the coastline and can use the sea to cheaply transport goods. Certainly the situation in Appalachia could be improved. The point is that their geography is a handicap which makes almost everything a little harder.