I find this kind of &quot;in depth&quot; news series frustrating.  The problem here is not lack of coal business; it&#x27;s lack of ability or motivation for these people to pull up stakes and move to a better area.<p>I would suggest North Dakota, or would have up until a year or two ago when the price of oil dropped drastically.  The jobs up there were paying crazy wages, truck drivers pulling six figures, restaurant dish washers making $15-20&#x2F;hour etc.  It&#x27;s a temporary boom but the fact is, that&#x27;s where the jobs are, or were.  Still better economy up there than in Kentucky, even now.<p>Thus, what&#x27;s really missing from these backward areas is education.  With good education, even just K-8, people will have the ability and resources to understand that they can vote with their feet and move to where the economic opportunities are.  Someone with mining experience might do OK as a roughneck in west Texas, Oklahoma, or North Dakota.  If you&#x27;re a hard worker and have been in the mines, or driven trucks, or done back breaking work outdoors, you&#x27;re going to be able to find something.<p>But as for people who just sit around their cabins, the classic backwoods hillbilly stereotype, addicted to opioids or other chemicals and unable to or unwilling to do something about their situation -- sorry if this sounds hard hearted but it&#x27;s hard for me to dredge up a lot of sympathy.  Someone who&#x27;s <i>not</i> sitting around feeling sorry for himself and abusing drugs -- that&#x27;s the one I have sympathy and respect for.