America is rich country!

I spent most of my childhood in rural Romania and my teenage years in a small town (pop. 170,000). After 4 days on the road, visiting rural Virginia, I have to say that the United States of America is a developed country! I am simply amazed by the infrastructure that even the poorest and smallest towns have. We just came from Floyd, a town of 900 people. It had two-lane paved roads, a courthouse, and a ring of businesses (coffee shops, restaurants, bars etc.) in its downtown. We are now in Rocky Mount,a town of 4800 in Franklin County. It has a courthouse, a hospital, a highschool, a vast network of paved roads, and many businesses (timber mills, McDonalds, Holiday Inn, an entire shopping center etc.). In Romania, it would be incredible for communities below 5 000 people to have any of the infrastructure and businesses these small American towns. Most commuties of this size in my country have no paved road, no hospital, no high school, nothing. People drive carts pulled by horses and very few have cars. In most, the only way to make a living is to engage in subsistence agriculture on their tiny plots of land, usually less than 5 acres. I have to say that in my 6 years in America, this trip has opened my eyes the most and allowed me to realize the real differences between a developed and developing country.