25 US cities where crime is soaring (1. Monroe, 10. Houma/Thib)

Why is Houma's poverty race getting higher?

Anyone who can’t see that the state is in significant trouble is either retarded, blind, or loves living in denial. This is a top-to-bottom issue. The state is drowning in crime and every bad category.

I see 0% creativity going on by those in power to fix the economy. The state simply cannot continue to live and die based on how the oil and riverboat casino industries are doing. These stats should embarrass most of the residents but they absolutely won’t. Louisiana ranks at or near the bottom in education, healthcare, and opportunity and near the top in obesity, stds, and crime.

Our demographics do us absolutely no favors, so that financial burden is always going to be there. We can’t continue to operate like it’s 1985; those types of industry of the past don’t work when there’s no money floating around. People aren’t going to lose their meth money at casinos anymore and NOLA isn’t going to generate any tourist $$$ as long as you have the same chance of getting stabbed and mugged as you do getting out alive. These are the same reasons why the state loses an astounding number of our college graduates; there’s absolutely no industry beyond O&G. I’m not even a pot head but you’d have to be blind not to see the gigantic economic opportunity in pot legalization (which will be legal in all states within the next 20 years) but Louisiana will be one of the last to legalize of course due to our religious politics.

Louisiana is falling further behind the rest of the pack. We used to linger around 45/50 or so but now we are dead last #50 and Mississippi, Arkansas, and Alabama are leaving us behind despite superior resources of Louisiana due to their superior leadership and willingness to diversify beyond their bread & butter economies of the past. Fayetteville and Birmingham are beginning to boom. Mississippi has also come a long way with Madison and the development of the coastal areas. The citizens have to demand more out of our leadership because a trailer & an F-250 shouldn’t be good enough anymore.

Anyone doubting this should sit down and watch Season 1 if True Detective and ask themselves if the shite that goes down in that show is REALLY that far-fetched... the religious factions controlling politics, the corruption, the good ol boy network, the blind stupidity of our citizens, the drugs that are absolutely everywhere, etc, etc. That kind of shite has been happening in our state for the past 50 years.

Louisiana gonna Louisiana! 3 cities in the top 25 and i'm sure baton rouge and N.O. were in the top 50 Ashamed really. i grew up there and still have friends/family there but to return to Louisiana and see the same deteriorated Schools/roads/bridges is Sad. At this point the good ole boy network in place, for dam near a century, in state government has placed louisiana pretty much dead last in U.S. in almost any type of standard of living categories. I used to want to return to Louisiana to retire but the longer i'm away the less i see louisiana as a final destination.

It's only going to get worse for the state before/if it gets better.

the younger and educated populations will continue to leave for better job/life opportunities and the "cream" will keep rising to the top.

The state has refused to invest in healthcare/education/infrastructure and nor has it attempted to diversify the economy. They falsely thought a 2nd Hollywood would flush the state with money.

Agree. An increase in crime is relative. Baton Rouge’s violent crime rate is 1065.7 per 100k.

Would be nice to see a study detailing the demographics of city leadership in the failing Louisiana cities...to see if a trend appears...just for fun.

Louisiana economy is a lot more diversified than the 1980's. I think 40% of the budget when 85 happened was reliant on oil revenue. Now that percentage is significantly less somewhere around 10-7% I believe. But I agree with your sentiment All you have to do is look at where LSU grads are moving after school. TEXAS. Almost half of LSU grads bolt to the lone star state and y'all are paying for it. I am part of that stat.

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Anyone who can’t see that the state is in significant trouble is either retarded, blind, or loves living in denial.

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correct

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This is a top-to-bottom issue.

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incorrect

this is a bottom to top issue

simply, our underclass has grown too large to contain and it's wielding public policy and has overtaken state spending

we cannot afford to support the underclass anymore and the underclass is not able to provide economic productivity we need

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Louisiana ranks at or near the bottom in education, healthcare, and opportunity and near the top in obesity, stds, and crime.

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underclass, underclass, underclass, underclass, underclass, and....underclass

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The state has refused to invest in healthcare/education/infrastructure

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wrong on the first 2. i think healthcare and education are our 2 biggest spending items and i'd imagine as a % of budget we spend more on those things (combined) than most states. the issue is that it's pointless to spend money on healthcare and education when it's going to be ignored (in the case of education) and/or abused (in the case of healthcare)

we are a microcosm of what's coming for the rest of the US

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Louisiana is not the only state with a lot of poor people though

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we just have a larger % than anyone else except maybe MS

i mean if we didn't, then we'd be much higher in things like education, healthcare, crime, etc