re: WSJ: Why is Mississippi Falling Behind Rest of South?

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the mississippi delta is a huge swath of land whose entire economy is based around acres that are precious for row crop agriculture, which is done by far more machines than men. it's a recipe for poverty, and it's nobody's fault if not everybody's fault: anyone who relies on row crops to feed themselves and their families has a hand in the stagnation of agricultural areas like the delta. meaning, it is what it is, and nothing is going to "fix" it except for moving out of the area if you're one of the have-nots that don't farm or are employed by it.

nobody does poverty like the slums in the delta. take out those areas and jackson, and you've got an entirely different picture.

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I often say there needs to be a mass evacuation of folks out of the Delta. There are no decent jobs (not many jobs of any kind) and there will never be decent jobs there.

My summary of posts on this thread:
Take out Jackson, the Delta, Meridian, Gulfport, most rural areas and most of the state, Mississippi is doing well!

MS is a dump with a few diamonds in the rough. Even the nice towns like Oxford would be hard for outsiders to move to because people are so set in their ways.

I have lived in MS for 33 years since a young child.

3-17 Columbus
18-24 Starkville
25-27 Tunica
28-35 Oxford
36-current in Ocean Springs

It is wild at how vastly different worlds these places are to one another. Travel up/down 61 from Memphis to Vicksburg and the poverty is insane. Same for Jackson - you don't need signs for Jackson, when the roads are no longer paved you know you are there. Personally, I have enjoyed living in both Oxford and Ocean Springs.

Columbus is in bad decline. They were by every measure ahead of Tupelo when we first moved and they failed. It used to be two 5A public schools (Caldwell and Lee) and then they merged aroudn 1993 to make Columbus HS. That basically created integration and led to massive whie flight to Heritage Academy or the county schools (New Hope and Caledonia).

Starkville is hanging on by the university, but so many professors there send their kids to SA as opposed to public schools. Oxford has two good school systems (Oxford City and Lafayette County) which keeps their home prices high and the shite out of the town.

Tunica is the most impovershed area I have ever seen before. Starting my teaching career there was wild. Most of my 8th graders had never left the state of MS in their lives aside from maybe Memphis. It was an all-black school, but it was very rural. As in, if I did anything out of pocket for those kids, you genuninely felt they appreciated it even if it was small. My next job in Oxford was the opposite, where if I bought the kids snacks for a project or something, they'd be upset if they only got four Oreo cookies to represent the phases of the moon or something...just a pretentious population.

Overall, the state lacks white collar jobs. The haves leave the state leaving behind only the ones who do find a solid job and the vacumm of those who just add to the problem. You can make $100k/year in MS and live almost like a king in a lot of regards. There are a lot of positives and I enjoy it mostly, but there are unquestionably some major problems that no government ahs ever been able to fix.

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My summary of posts on this thread:
Take out Jackson, the Delta, Meridian, Gulfport, most rural areas and most of the state, Mississippi is doing well!

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Or simply Jackson and some of the Delta.

They throw out a ton of stats, but don’t dig into any of those stats further. Stats about % of population on disability, % of population with a college degree, etc.

I have a funny feeling I know why.

The reality is that it's the most business friendly state in the USA. One CEO from TN told this to me a decade ago, and after looking at manufacturing business I found him to be correct. One thing overblown is the argument of income tax on businesses being detrimental. That company was expanding manufacturing in MS rather than no income tax TN, as income tax is low on the totem pole of concerns. MS regulatory climate is great for businesses, the hidden high tax.

If memory serves, the initial census data showed negative growth for Hattiesburg and the surrounding area. Later revisions showed Hattiesburg and the surrounding area (including Petal) had actually experienced marginal growth. The initial discrepancy was linked to COVID negatively impacting census responses. Whether or not I have that exactly right, I don’t know, but I live in the area and growth is obvious.

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Louisiana has natural resources that Mississippi will never have Vibrant port system, the Mississippi River and massive oil and gas industry. Mississippi can never compete with that

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[img]Vibrant port system, the Mississippi River[/img]

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Might want to look at a map.