All of those states have multiple cities proper. Mississippi does not. America's economy does not provide good outcomes to rural areas.
OT: Why does Mississippi only have one large city?
- Thread starter WayboDawg
- Start date
One word... TRANSPORTATION.
The key to Mobile and New Orleans being such large cities are their deep water ports... Railroads and Waterways is what built most of the large American cities.
That being said, Did you know Biloxi was the capital of the Louisiana Territory at one time? It was moved in the 1720s from Biloxi to New Orleans for fear of Hurricanes...
The key to Mobile and New Orleans being such large cities are their deep water ports... Railroads and Waterways is what built most of the large American cities.
That being said, Did you know Biloxi was the capital of the Louisiana Territory at one time? It was moved in the 1720s from Biloxi to New Orleans for fear of Hurricanes...
Nope, they were bought. MS taxpayers paid $130 million for Yokohama, over $350 million for Toyota, and over $1 billion for Nissan.
Good public schools are by far the single most important ingredient in a successful community or state.
I took a nephew on one of those shrimp boat tours where they drop the nets, sort out what they catch and show it to the kids and the Capt surprised me. He said if you walk in one of the casinuhs (as Haley calls them) that 90% of the shrimp you eat in there comes from overseas, 90 fvckin % so don't think you are eating fresh in there.
Starkville's city planning and economic development programs seem to suck. Look at the industry that's being developed right across the county line in Lowndes county, and it's kind of depressing. I remember a few years ago Starkville lost a major manufacturing facility to Baton Rouge basically because they had people in the administration come out and be like "Yay! We won the bid!" before the prospective company had told their current facility they were moving.
And, as has been clearly discussed on here, let's not even get started on the building codes.
All of those things add up over time.
And, as has been clearly discussed on here, let's not even get started on the building codes.
All of those things add up over time.
I was in Orange Beach a few weekends ago, and a local restaurant owner and I were talking about the new Red Snapper laws on commercial fishing vs. chartered fishing. He said most commercial fishermen send their product to Mexico for processing now where there are basically no laws on size restrictions, etc. He was like "All my fish is caught within 20 miles of here, shipped to Mexico, and then shipped back to me".
Kind of gross.
Kind of gross.
Geographic locations are the seed...it's culture that dictates characteristics of the plant. Just like a plant, since the begginning of time, us humans have always followed the same pattern. We grow and bloom near water. Water is the harbor of life. Now, why we are in the situation we are in, it's plain and simple. We planted a bad seed in MS. It will take 100 or more years to correct our plants growth pattern. Hard to draw roots in a desert.
I don't think it's the schools.
As somebody who now lives in Texas but graduated from Starkville Academy, I've never understood this argument. If parents send their kids to private schools, they're still forced to support the local public schools through property taxes, yet their kids don't consume any of those resources. How does sending their kids to the public schools and consuming more of the same number of resources, spreading them out further, make that institution inherently better?
Doesn't offering the choice of the private school incentivize the public school administration to attempt to improve conditions to attract those students?
Doesn't operating the private school employ more people in that local economy?
My wife and I now homeschool our four kids in the Austin area in Texas. I work from home in high tech, so I could work anywhere. The reason I left Mississippi fifteen years ago was because I sought opportunity after I finished my degrees at State that I didn't think I could find there.
The reason we don't return now is part cultural: as I said, we homeschool, and there's a robust network of folks here who organize and do homeschool activities together--a wide range of homeschooling philosophies to choose from. In Mississippi, the only homeschooling organizations seem to be religion-based, and that's just not our scene.
The other reason we don't go back is because if something were to happen to my company and my job, I don't think I could find a job there easily where I could easily replace my income.
I say that after spending my formative years in Mississippi. It's where I grew up. I imagine it's not easy for somebody with no ties to the place to be sold on Mississippi. The mainstream media depictions don't help.
As somebody who now lives in Texas but graduated from Starkville Academy, I've never understood this argument. If parents send their kids to private schools, they're still forced to support the local public schools through property taxes, yet their kids don't consume any of those resources. How does sending their kids to the public schools and consuming more of the same number of resources, spreading them out further, make that institution inherently better?
Doesn't offering the choice of the private school incentivize the public school administration to attempt to improve conditions to attract those students?
Doesn't operating the private school employ more people in that local economy?
My wife and I now homeschool our four kids in the Austin area in Texas. I work from home in high tech, so I could work anywhere. The reason I left Mississippi fifteen years ago was because I sought opportunity after I finished my degrees at State that I didn't think I could find there.
The reason we don't return now is part cultural: as I said, we homeschool, and there's a robust network of folks here who organize and do homeschool activities together--a wide range of homeschooling philosophies to choose from. In Mississippi, the only homeschooling organizations seem to be religion-based, and that's just not our scene.
The other reason we don't go back is because if something were to happen to my company and my job, I don't think I could find a job there easily where I could easily replace my income.
I say that after spending my formative years in Mississippi. It's where I grew up. I imagine it's not easy for somebody with no ties to the place to be sold on Mississippi. The mainstream media depictions don't help.
1) A Jeffersonian culture that valued agriculture over industry. Industry is what drives population growth.
2) Mississippi, more than any Southern state, lost out on the Industrial Revolution thanks to Reconstruction
2) Having industry meant "immigrants" (i.e., Yankees) (since very few companies have been created in MS) and we're not known for being very receptive to such.
3) Having not constructively dealt with race relations has kept industry from coming in as opposed to other states.
4) Litigation-friendly legal system in the state has scared alot of business away.
5) Poor education systems in a significant part of the state.
I drove through Jackson for the first time in a long time last summer and was astounded by the complete lack of non-legal entities that had offices downtown. Little retail, no corporate headquarters, just law office after law office.
Not the kind of business that attracts large segments of the population.
2) Mississippi, more than any Southern state, lost out on the Industrial Revolution thanks to Reconstruction
2) Having industry meant "immigrants" (i.e., Yankees) (since very few companies have been created in MS) and we're not known for being very receptive to such.
3) Having not constructively dealt with race relations has kept industry from coming in as opposed to other states.
4) Litigation-friendly legal system in the state has scared alot of business away.
5) Poor education systems in a significant part of the state.
I drove through Jackson for the first time in a long time last summer and was astounded by the complete lack of non-legal entities that had offices downtown. Little retail, no corporate headquarters, just law office after law office.
Not the kind of business that attracts large segments of the population.
Well said.
Ironically, MSU indirectly contributes to this problem. The city waits for MSU to take the lead on projects, and MSU is waiting for the phone to ring. By way of example, look at the industrial and research parks: the former is vacant and the latter is MSU-subsidized/populated.
Can I bring up the lack of shopping and grocery stores? No one I know (myself included) wants to listen to their wife gripe about that.
There are very few "really wealthy" people in the State of Mississippi. When you describe people that grow up in small towns whose families owned businesses, you are describing mostly upper middle class people. For Mississippi, the cut off for the top 5% of incomes is $143,000.00.