Kotkin: Economy shifting to U.S. South
Feb. 1, 2013
By John Seiler
In another incisive article, Joel Kotkin writes how economic power in America is shifting from high-tax, highly unionized states, including California, to the freer, more business-friendly states of the U.S. South:
“The common media view of the South is as a regressive region, full of overweight, prejudiced, exploited and undereducated numbskulls. This meme was perfectly captured in this Bill Maher-commissioned video from Alexandra Pelosi, the New York-based daughter of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.”
Nancy Pelosi, of course, comes from California and is the poster-girl for what the late Jeanne Kirkpatrick called “San Francisco Democrats.” By herself, as House Speaker in 2010, Pelosi scared millions of Americans into voting GOP, thus losing the House for Democrats. The causes of the South rising again:
“demographic trends, economic growth patterns, state business climates, flows of foreign investment and, finally and most surprisingly, a shift of educated workers and immigrants to an archipelago of fast-growing urban centers.
“Perhaps the most persuasive evidence is the strong and persistent inflow of Americans to the South. The South still attracts the most domestic migrants of any U.S. region. Last year, it boasted six of the top eight states in terms of net domestic migration — Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina and Georgia. Texas and Florida alone gained 250,000 net migrants. The top four losers were deep blue New York, Illinois, New Jersey and California.”
At the federal level, Republicans sell out their supporters; hence the massive Jan. 1 tax increase they brokered with President Obama. But at the local and state levels, Republican are appreciably better than Democrats. In California, of course, Republicans are close to being an extinct species, leaving Democrats it total control and out of control.
“Perhaps more importantly, these states are nurturing families, in contrast to the Great Lakes states, the Northeast and California. Texas, for example, has increased its under 10 population by over 17% over the past decade; all the former confederate states, outside of Katrina-ravaged Mississippi and Louisiana, gained between 5% and 10%. On the flip side, under 10 populations declined in Illinois, Michigan, New York and California. Houston, Austin, Dallas, Charlotte, Atlanta and Raleigh also saw their child populations rise by at least twice the 10% rate of the rest country over the past decade while New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston and Chicago areas experienced declines.”
Remember how the Proposition 30 tax increase was sold by Gov. Jerry Brown as being “for the children”? Actually, the population figures show, high taxes are anti-children because they make it difficult for parents even to afford children.
“It is more likely that the culture of the increasingly child-free northern tier and the slow-growth coasts will, to evoke the past, be the ones gone with the wind.”
Gov. Jerry likes to advertise California as a dynamic, future-oriented place. He attacks nay-sayers as “declinists.” But he’s living in his 1970s past. His own policies — massive increases in taxes, spending and regulations — have tied California down.
The future lies in the low-tax, low-regulation South.
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Here’s Kotkin’s full article.
As John noted, Kotkin is incisive. I’d even go so far as to say Kotkin is a “classic liberal” – not that there’s many who have any idea what a “classic liberal” is anymore…..apart from CWD readers that is……=)
http://www.newgeography.com/content/003451-how-the-south-will-rise-to-power-again
I don’t think so. The red-necks will have more exposure to the progessive thinking of those who have joined them. Somebody should take them the tapes of the movie, “Missippi Burning”, and the stories of the murders of Medgar Evars and the lynching of Emmitt Till. If they can pay attention long enough, they hopefully will be Blue too, one day.
LOL @ Seesaw. Our resident Emily Litella. LOL LOL
That’s MISSISSIPPI Burning, Seesaw. I’ll assume you realize the setting was 1964. A lot can change in 50 years. Just look at California.
Nevertheless I chuckle at the biased views of the South are often from residents of Planet Manhattan who think a visit to Newark Airport is a trip “out west”.
What’s changed in 50 years? The Klan has thrown away the sheets and become the Tea Party. The Dixiecrats have become Republicans. And Nixon’s “southern strategy” of turning whites against blacks and other minorities to build the Republican Party has worked.
Yes, jimmy, it was 1964. It is an example of how long it takes to effect change. That’s what my post was about. Our ancestors used to burn normal people at the stake for god sakes! You don’t see any slaves in the south now, do you? The southerners still have a longs ways to go, and the more people who settle there from the north and the west–the better.
That’s MISSISSIPPI Burning, Seesaw.
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Jimmy, seesaw would have trouble spelling “cat”….even if you spotted her the C and the T 😉
What’s changed in 50 years? The Klan has thrown away the sheets and become the Tea Party.
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Stevefromsactown, the bomb throwing, libel tree hugger.
I was the seventh-grade spelling champ, Rex, and I went to the County Spelling Bee. Of course, we all know what a keyboard artist you are, when it comes to spelling.
Seesaw…….I usually only have a vague idea what your posts are about. From one to another they are almost always contradictory. If I were to line up your posts side by side, The South either has or has not changed, and if the former, has been lightning fast or glacially slow, as measured against the yardstick of human history.
Which is it? I can’t tell. I DO know I need a drink.
Keep at it, Ms Litella. You are doing justice to her memory….LOL
Now Sactown Steve, on the other hand, is consistent. He refuses to believe, against all evidence to the contrary, that ANY change has happened in The South. In SteveWorld, George Wallace (the politician, not the comedian) still runs the show in Montgomery, and the joint is littered with separate drinking fountains.
Goodness gracious..where do we find these people?
I don’t know who MS Litella was jimmy and I don’t need or care to know. I am only one person–me. And, I know very well who I am and what I stand for. Too bad you don’t understand what I am talking about. I don’t need to take a drink.
seesaw, you need to take some time with your psychologist 😉
Your lil brain is not working properly, it is stuck in the Fantasyland of Gov employment and calTURDS worship ……
I don’t have or need a psychologist, Rex. You certainly need a few sessions with a licensed MFCC. My daughter is one–perhaps I could get you an appointment. On second thought though, I would never do anything to put a child of mine in danger.
You certainly need a few sessions with a licensed MFCC. My daughter is one–perhaps I could get you an appointment. On second thought though, I would never do anything to put a child of mine in danger.
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seesaw, just the exposure of your lunatic fringe entitlement mentality puts your poor daughter in harms way. I pray for her.
SeeSaw, your racist comments are not welcome among the adults on this board. Calling Southerners, Red-necks, is akin to calling
oblamy the N-word. You have stooped to a new low my dear, but I still love you. Shed you hate-filled mind my sweet and learn to love! Don’t be a hater-gator. 🙂
StevefromSacto, are you Ted Kaczynski? 🙂
Oh, no, that is stooping pretty low, Donkey. Red-necks are proud of who they are. The term has no correlation with the N-Word. And even if it did, it is not racist! I am a total people lover–something that you are absolutely not!
The only lunatic between the two of us Rex, is you!
SeeSaw, the term “red-neck,” peckerwood, cracker, and Whitey are all perjoritives towards White people, and mostly towards Southereners. You can race-bait all you like by belitting entire groups of people, but at the end of the day you are still a racist and a RAGWUS trough feeder. Still, I love you, even if you are full of hate!! 🙂 <3
No Donkey, I am not a hater. I didn’t realize you were so touchy about being called a “red-neck”. I won’t use it anymore as long as you don’t refer to me with your stupid, self-coined acronym. If you don’t stop calling public employees names, and stick to debate points, you are indeed a hater and a “red-neck”.
SeeSaw says:
The only lunatic between the two of us Rex, is you!
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seesaw, you made me cry 🙂
SeeSaw, stop making Rex cry!! And stop using your racist mantra on CWD, we are all human beings, the use of hate words based on skin tone is the most ignorant trait of the bigot.
Are all RAGWUS feeders so filled with hate? 🙂
Donkey, stop calling me a racist! The term “Red-Neck” has nothing to do with skin tone and all to do with ideology! Other than that, I have no problem with refraining from using the term, since it pains you so. Do you have a problem refraining from calling me a hater and a “RAGWUS”?
SeeSaw, the belittling term you use, “red-neck,” has everything to do with the color of a persons skin tone and lying about it reminds me of the typical RAGWUS member lying about how much they deserve their ill-gotton gains fron the public unions quid pro quo pension, pay, perks and benefits scam. Don’t hate my love, it is unbecoming and brings to mind Robert Rizzo and how he hated the Hispanics in the city he was stealing from. 🙂
No, Donkey. I have no need to lie about anything. It is my opinion that most red-necks are right wingers, but not all right-wingers are red-necks. I have a lot of right-winger friends–we don’t spend all our time arguing about politics. The term, “red-neck”, has nothing to do with skin tone as far as I am concerned–maybe it does to you. I have no prejudices when it comes to skin tone. My spouse is an “Oakie”, a term which many consider a slur. My spouse doesn’t mind me referring to him as that, and if he did, I would refrain–its where he’s from. I don’t know Robert Rizzo personally and would not know anything about his hating Hispanics. You can have all the opinions you want–you don’t own your own facts.
White skin in too much sun turns red, brown skin in too much sun gets darker, black skin in too much sun gets darker, hence the perjorative term used to belittle White Americans is “red-neck.”
As far as “Oakie” goes, my Mother and Dad were both from Oklahoma. My Dad was English, Polish, Irish, and Cherokee, my Mother, English and Cherokee. I have brothers and sisters that burn if they stay in the sun too long and I have some that never burn because of their skin tone, but we never use the term “red-neck” to discribe ourselves or others, as we would never stand for any of our siblings to be called half-breeds either. 🙂