That's not true of the Scots-Irish and you ought to be ashamed of yourself for making those kinds of generalizations.
The overwhelming migration of the Scots-Irish to American came between 1720 and about 1760 and from that group came the majority of American presidents and generals.
They were the poorest group to immigrate here from the British Isles and they did very well. Aside from material considerations, (they weren't wearing velvet and jewels) they were the ones who took the brunt of the Indian Wars of all kinds.
If there are pockets of lassitude and white poverty in Appalachia, these pockets exist in every culture. But maybe they like the country life.
Shame on you!
Huh? I assume you're being sarcastic? I was talking about a backward group from that area, not all Scots/English?
"If there are pockets of lassitude and white poverty in Appalachia, these pockets exist in every culture. "
Yeah you are right. The success of a group of people is less tied to their culture than their adherence to a couple of values, including a strong work ethic, moral values, respect for life, etc.
A simplified version of this is reflected in the fact that is something like if you (1) finish high school (2) don't be a teenage mother and (3) don't have a baby out of wedlock they you will have some high chance of not living in poverty. Does anyone around here know the exact statistic?