I wasn't trolling anyone, but I was concerned.
I read a long interview with him about his book. He spent a lot of time talking about the poor choices made by everyone around him in contrast to his own advance. So he was very critical, almost saying all those Rust Belt meth heads deserved it.
I see that sentiment a lot on the right. But that argument doesn't work because you can't base public policy expecting everyone to be at the extreme right side of the bell curve.
I've seen the small town in upstate NY where I went to high school 40 years ago fall into poverty. There used to a be a steel mill, a transmission plant, etc. Now there's nothing but poor paying service jobs apart from the university & government, of course, both paid for with tax money. What were once nice houses are a shambles with amateurishly installed chimney pipes for the wood stoves they have to use now because they can't afford central heating anymore. It's so poor that when you stay at the local motels all the maids are white because Mexicans won't move there.
Vance, like Trump, seems to have understood that if you want a functioning society the majority (who want a job not a handout) have to have the opportunity to earn enough to support a middle class household.
The middle class just keeps getting squeezed harder and harder, as your high school town exemplifies. Really sad.
That is bad.