re: U.S. States Losing and Gaining Population

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We are losing primarily because of hurricanes.

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Yet, Baldwin County, Alabama is the 17th fastest growing area of the US...

It aint hurricanes...

Louisiana, for all the bluster otherwise, could not exist without massive collective spending. The river is the lifeblood of the US and always has been BUT for almost the entire history of the US keeping the river viable has been a collective effort. Petroleum is very similar...of keen interest to the rest of the nation and therefore developed, in large part, collectively. With that collective spending comes 2 things, everywhere its done on a large scale. The first is influence from outside the area....if people in Massachusetts are footing part of the bill they are going to expect some influence in the way the money is spent. The second thing is corruption...anywhere there is a lot of government money there are going to be grifters and con men getting their share of it. The fact that much of Louisiana's economic history is about collective efforts means that Louisiana is subject to the good and the bad that comes along with collective efforts. When folks started paying attention to spending and cutting everything, are paying lip service to it, it became necessary to justify spending and drove the shysters to higher and higher levels of performance. And here we are, a vital area of the United States, arguably the most important single area, and its a shite hole. About as American as apple pie and Chevrolet....