Yea, I used to live in central, rural Florida for a few years. It's rural. Farms and ranches. They have a lot of land to cover, a hot and humid climate that eats anything left alone for too long, and not a high density of expendable cash because it's various types of farming which has almost always been low margin. So the roads are going to not be great. But people were as fat and happy there as anywhere else. Spanish moss makes everything look dilapidated, it grows on everything including power lines. Sure it's poor compared to many other places, but I've also been to third world countries, and they are certainly not that. Not even close. So yea, the poorest areas of the USA are still not too bad, I think that says something.

> They're equivalent to third world countries with infrastructure held together by duct tape and spit

This is deeply hyperbolic.