Hardest Places To Live In The U.S.?

[Thomas Promise]

Best to the poorest. The results may surprise you.

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/26/upshot/where-are-the-hardest-places-to-live-in-the-us.html?WT.mc_id=AD-D-E-KEYWEE-SOC-FP-NOV-AUD-DEV-ROS-1101-1204&bicmp=AD&bicmlukp=WT.mc_id&bicmst=1414728000&bicmet=1451538000&ad-keywords=KeyweeCampaign&kwp_0=4785&kwp_1=100991&kwp_4=39394&_r=0&abt=0002&abg=0

[Mick]

The South is heavily represented with counties deemed the worst - Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, South Carolina, Georgia. These states are always at the bottom of just about any measure of life quality sociologists want to study. Some academics that study these trends say the region has never been able to dig its way out from the impact of losing the Civil War. I am sure there are a constellation of factors that go into why this area, where I was born and have lived much of my life, is so poor. There are areas in the South where you can literally "feel" the poverty when you drive into it. Go into a convenience store and just spend a little time observing the people that go in and out. Lots of folks joke about this area, but believe me, stark raving poverty is no laughing matter. It is shameful, really - in a land as rich as ours. Not sure what the answer is and in no way want this to become anything political. From a sociological perspective, it is a conundrum and a riddle that I hope can be solved. This kind of deep poverty passes down from generation to generation with no hope of a way out for many, regardless of race. I encounter these people every day of my life and my heart truly bleeds for them. Considering my birthplace and my background, there but for the grace of God go I.

[Thomas Promise]

The Old South is still very aristocratic. Many small towns still have a real life Boss Hogg calling the shots. I lived in Charleston, SC for almost 7 years. They still relate well with British aristocracy there. The old line families there are blue bloods and the "Yankee" intruders and the non blue bloods are brigands, vagabonds or just white trash. The saying in South Carolina is: You have Charleston and then you have South Carolina.

Many small communities are reluctant to change. Corruption is rampant as well. Poverty and corruption go hand in hand just like ignorance and prejudice.

[Mick]

Tom, you are so right about Charleston and its history of "Old South" aristocracy. The blue bloods have always seen themselves as several cuts above everyone else, especially the white trash, the blacks, and the Yankee "carpet baggers." It is an interesting historical factoid that Sir Walter Scott, the English novelist, was the most popular writer in 19th Century Charleston, as well as much of the rest of the "Tidewater" areas of North Carolina and Virginia. Most of Scott's novels championed the MIddle ages and the concepts of chivalry, honor, and familial loyalty. Knighthood was a big deal in many of Scott's novels. Charleston was also the site of one of the nation's largest slave markets.