Comment by inglor_cz

The social safety net of a relatively poor country is not really better than the current social safety net in the US, because of the overall lower economic level that limits the amount of taxes collected.

Looking at the "hollers" in the Appalachia, the situation is quite comparable to that of the rust belts of the 1990s in Central and Eastern Europe. You can buy groceries from welfare money, so you don't starve. Young people escape, old people sit and drink (or worse), but don't form a violent mob.

This is how economic decline usually looks like, including in the US. Reminds you of the poem about how the world does not end with a bang, but with a whimper.