Median yearly household income across US states varies by less than a factor of two in nominal dollars, not accounting for differences in land prices or cost of living. (Mississippi = $37k ... Maryland = $70k) Mississippi has a &lt;7% unemployment rate, down from a peak of about 11% in 2010. Compare to a Greek unemployment rate of 26%.<p>There are certainly many poor rural people in the US who get screwed over by the society at large, just like there are many poor urban people who get screwed over by society, but that’s a different set of problems that federal transfers to keep states afloat doesn’t necessarily fix.<p>(I agree though that it would be nice if we in the US had a more effective set of social support systems to help individual struggling families. It would also be nice if we had stronger labor protections, a higher federal minimum wage, etc.)