The South Rises Again
The Gulf Coast is a bad luck area. Hurricanes, floods, oil leaks -- one of its cities is still recovering from Katrina, the Gulf fisheries are depressed and toxic, and businesses are fleeing the region.
Wrong.
The Gulf is growing. From Joel Kotkin's New Geography:
The American economy, long dominated by the East and West Coasts, is undergoing a dramatic geographic shift toward this area. The country’s next great megacity, Houston, is here; so is a resurgent New Orleans, as well as other growing port cities that serve as gateways to Latin America and beyond. While the other two coasts struggle with economic stagnation and dysfunctional politics, the Third Coast—the urbanized, broadly coastal region spanning the Gulf from Brownsville, Texas, to greater Tampa—is emerging as a center of industry, innovation, and economic growth.
Why? You know why, of course: a good business climate.
In the wilds of Louisiana’s St. James Parish, amid the alligators and sugar plantations, Lester Hart is building the $750 million steel plant of his dreams. Over the past decade, Hart has constructed plants for steel producer Nucor everywhere from Trinidad to North Carolina. Today, he says, Nucor sees its big opportunities here, along the banks of the Mississippi River, roughly an hour west of New Orleans by car.
“The political climate here is conducive to growth,” Hart explains as he steers his truck up to the edge of a steep levee. “We are here because so much is going on in this state and this region. With the growth of the petrochemical and industrial sectors, this is the place to be.” Already, some 500 people are working on the project. When completed in 2013, the plant—which is expected to process more than 3.75 million tons of iron ore a year—will create about 150 permanent jobs immediately. Another 150 are expected after a second development phase.
Governor Bobby Jindal is probably cutting his first presidential primary campaign commercial right now, using that sound bite.
Yankees, Californians, and snobs in general -- beware! The Gulf is where the smart people are:
Over the past decade, Texas and Florida have ranked first and second among the states in net domestic immigration, combining for a gain of roughly 2 million people. Together, Houston and Tampa have gained more than 1.5 million people over the course of the decade; in fact, in 2008 and 2009, net domestic migration to Houston was the highest of any major metropolitan area. An examination of migration flows to Houston, New Orleans, and Tampa by Praxis Strategy Group, where I work as a senior consultant, shows that many of their new citizens are coming from the East and West Coasts, especially New York and California. Also over the past decade, Houston has attracted as many foreign immigrants, relative to its population, as New York has—a considerably higher rate than in such historical immigration hubs as Chicago, Seattle, and Boston, though still lower than in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Miami.
What’s more, the Third Coast is winning the battle of the brains. Over the past decade, according to the Census Bureau, 300,000 people with bachelor’s degrees have relocated to Houston. Between 2007 and 2009, as demographer Wendell Cox has chronicled, New Orleans—which had hemorrhaged educated people for the previous few decades—enjoyed the largest-percentage gain of educated people of any metropolitan area with a population of over 1 million. The New York Times reported in 2010 that Tulane University, the city’s premier higher-education establishment, had received nearly 44,000 applications, more than any other private school in the country. The largest group of applicants came not from Louisiana but from California, with New York and Texas not far behind.
This is good news for America because it's bad news for New York and California. They need to learn the lesson that economic growth isn't automatic. You can eat well and live well all over the country, not just in the enclaves on the coast.
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Jul '10
Re: The South Rises Again
Also, yankees and californians need to learn to stop voting for leftist politicians after moving Here.
Dec '10
Re: The South Rises Again
Top 2 primary system. Give them a choice between a Republican and a conservative.
Dec '11
Re: The South Rises Again
My Sak's has adequate parking
May '10
Re: The South Rises Again
The King Prawn
Top 2 primary system. Give them a choice between a Republican and a conservative. · 0 minutes ago
Amen. I like to tell people that we have two parties in South Carolina: Republicans and REPUBLICANS.
Nov '11
Re: The South Rises Again
We never said our rise would be military, y'all just implied it. ;)
Oct '10
Re: The South Rises Again
A law will probably be passed banning states from such destructive competition. They could call it "The Anti-Dog-Eat-Dog Rule".
Aug '11
Re: The South Rises Again
I'm sure this news is racist, but I haven't quite figured out how to spin it that way.
May '10
Re: The South Rises Again
And there's this (taken this morning on the Bama-Florida border):
Soft white-shell sand and water you can swim in without a wetsuit. Who needs California?
Apr '11
Re: The South Rises Again
Good luck with that!
Any prosperous region attracts people from unprosperous regions who bring their political preferences and prejudices along with them. These new residents will be supporting the same policies and types of politicians that wrecked the economies of the places they came from.
Enjoy the prosperity while you can--because you are attracting your own doom.
Edited on November 20, 2012 at 5:44pmJun '12
Re: The South Rises Again
Paul L.
Good luck with that!
Any prosperous region attracts people from unprosperous regions who bring their political preferences and prejudices along with them. These new residents will be supporting the same policies and types of politicians that wrecked the economies of the places they came from.
Enjoy the prosperity while you can--because you are attracting your own doom. · 2 minutes ago
Edited 0 minutes ago
True, we live in the fastest growing Parish in Louisiana and most liberals cluster in the city. They like having a job and enjoy the economic well-being, but they do not support nor respect the traditional values that have upheld the strength of this area. In fact, they vigorously try to instill liberal ideals and values. What amazes me is how very united they are as one voice - Anti-Christianity, Global Warming promoters, Anti Guns and Anti-Military.
Edited on November 20, 2012 at 6:13pmRe: The South Rises Again
Joan Greathouse
Paul L.
... Any prosperous region attracts people from unprosperous regions who bring their political preferences and prejudices along with them. These new residents will be supporting the same policies and types of politicians that wrecked the economies of the places they came from.
Enjoy the prosperity while you can--because you are attracting your own doom. ...
True, we live in the fastest growing Parish in Louisiana and most liberals cluster in the city. They like having a job and enjoy the economic well-being, but they do not support nor respect the traditional values that have upheld the strength of this area. In fact, they vigorously try to instill liberal ideals and values. What amazes me is how very united they are as one voice - Anti-Christianity, Global Warming promoters, Anti Guns and Anti-Military. · 20 minutes ago
Edited 20 minutes ago
That concerns me. I don't mind welcoming newcomers,...but I'd rather they left the attitude and political vices that made their region so unlivable behind.
Dec '11
Re: The South Rises Again
Dave Carter
Joan Greathouse
Paul L.
... Any prosperous region attracts people from unprosperous regions who bring their political preferences and prejudices along with them. These new residents will be supporting the same policies and types of politicians that wrecked the economies of the places they came from.
Enjoy the prosperity while you can--because you are attracting your own doom. ...
True, we live in the fastest growing Parish in Louisiana and most liberals cluster in the city. They like having a job and enjoy the economic well-being, but they do not support nor respect the traditional values that have upheld the strength of this area. In fact, they vigorously try to instill liberal ideals and values. What amazes me is how very united they are as one voice - Anti-Christianity, Global Warming promoters, Anti Guns and Anti-Military. · 20 minutes ago
Edited 20 minutes ago
That concerns me. I don't mind welcoming newcomers,...but I'd rather they left the attitude and political vices that made their region so unlivable behind.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metastasis
Re: The South Rises Again
Rob's last paragraph hits the nail on the head. California has to realize that you can only live off of your looks for so long.
Mar '11
Re: The South Rises Again
As a guy that has lived in Alabama for decades now (native Californian), what I'm afraid of is that, like Virginia and North Carolina, the economy will attract idiot liberals that will move here and attempt to turn us into a southern version of the northern/midwestern mess they left in the first place. Liberal emigres are a lot like locusts in that they destroy their own habitat with their support for stupid things, then move elsewhere and try to start the process all over again. Now I understand why my dad's neighbor in Tennessee had a bumper sticker like this one:
Jun '12
Re: The South Rises Again
Dave Carter
Joan Greathouse
True, we live in the fastest growing Parish in Louisiana and most liberals cluster in the city. They like having a job and enjoy the economic well-being, but they do not support nor respect the traditional values that have upheld the strength of this area. In fact, they vigorously try to instill liberal ideals and values. What amazes me is how very united they are as one voice ...
Edited 20 minutes ago
That concerns me. I don't mind welcoming newcomers,...but I'd rather they left the attitude and political vices that made their region so unlivable behind. · 1 hour ago
DC, it concerns us too. They honestly believe they are better than us and they are doing us a favor "improving" our lives and "environment". I don't think they have any memory or a sense of accountability of where they come from. To them, their economic collapse was due to Bush and the greedy capitalists. They are just victims. Since they are here in the red states, they will be generous towards us by showing us the way to a better world.
Jul '12
Re: The South Rises Again
Quick someone delete Rob's post! I guess it is selfish but I was really kind of hoping that we could keep the South a secret. As per the comments above, I fear too many "enlightened" liberals moving in and trying to improve our way of life (for our own good, of course!) Maybe we are safer up here in Tennessee, they think we are all sitting barefoot on the front porch spitting tobacco juice into the yard! And marrying our cousins. Those living on the Gulf Coast please don't let the libs ruin it! We hillbillies love to come down there for our vaycashun dontcha know!
Nov '10
Re: The South Rises Again
Sniffle. As a proud Virginian born and raised, I say...ditto. Dude, what happened to my Commonwealth?!
Sep '11
Re: The South Rises Again
How about Airbus building A320 Neos in Mobile, AL! Mobile is also home to a $6 Billion steel plant of ThyssenKrupp. The author didn't look closely enough at what is a huge plus for Alabama too.
Re: The South Rises Again
You guys in the South are fighting a losing battle. Again. You can't keep your great food and perfect beaches and sophisticated way of life to yourselves. Face it: Yankees are going to move there. The trick is to elegantly and subtly get them to change their politics. This won't be hard for you. You guys are masters at this kind of clever manipulation. The Yankees don't have a prayer.(But they will learn to pray, after you guys are done with them....)
Jul '10
Re: The South Rises Again
That reminds Me of something else Y'all need to learn....