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The South would be able to cut a lot of government regulation and taxation out which severely hampers business in the US. In addition it would be able to open up drilling in the Gulf.
Honestly, I think people are only saying the Northeast will be prosperous because NYC is a prosperous city. Without NYC (and possibly Boston and Philadelphia), the Northeast would be nothing. It is extremely cold in the winter and if we were to depend only crops from our area, we'd be doomed. Almost every fruit and vegetable is imported from another state. There are so many industries lacking in NYC as well (not including Long Island), especially the public education system. It's got to be one of the worst (with the exception of the specialized high schools) - I went to school in NYC and there are definitely so many cuts and because the students are not motivated, teachers aren't as well.
I personally think the West would do very well if it were its own nation. You have basically almost everything there - warm weather, cold in the north, fun (in California and Vegas), clean and beautiful beaches and so much more.
That's like saying the Midwest would be nothing without Chicago, Minneapolis and Indianapolis or the UK would be nothing without London. It's true but they're there so that's a useless point. Also, the NE is much more than just New York. At most that's 22 million people out of 55 and not much of the land area.
The Northeast can grow a lot of it's own food it certainly has the land and enough people and either way, what would stop the NE from importing food like it's doing now? And anyway, what do people think people in the NE did when it was colonies or just older. You don't need a permanent growing season to be viable, that's been proven by history for like ever. The Northeast used to grow a lot more historically before we used the rest of the country for that but we still have plenty of capacity and there would be nothing stopping the imports anyway.
Whatever your opinion of NYCs schools, the fact is the NE leads the country in education and Boston leads the world. People would still flock to the NE for education from all over like they do now. And it's not just secondary ed, the NE states rank fairly well against others on primary education too.
As for being prosperous, there's no reason the NEs cities wouldn't remain so. NY is an unbelievably huge asset and Boston and Philadelphia sweeten the pot considerably. Maybe as a separate country other metros in the NE may get a chance to expand some economically. The NE also has decent natural resources, granite, lumber, iron and gas and fresh water. Tourism makes a nice industry too with Cape Cod, Boston, Maine, VT, NH, CT coast and casinos, the whole quaint New England thing, NYC, Niagara Falls, the Adirondacks, Philly, Amish Country, the Jersey shore, Atlantic City etc, etc.
The NE may be small but it has great, powerful and diverse cities, maybe the best infrastructure in the country, a decent amount of natural resources and wealth of beauty not to mention a strong hold on education and human capital. It would be a very strong country. IMO it would compare it to France, Germany or the UK in terms of power.
If people say the NE would have the worst chances I think they're seriously sleeping on it. It has its disadvantages but so do all the rest. The Midwest would have no direct sea access, the West is coming on to a major water crisis which is a question of when not if and the South ranks generally lowest in the country on many important indexes including personal wealth, education and health for some examples. Don't get me wrong though, they all have huge strengths too, I'm just saying it wouldn't be all good or bad for any of them.
Using Census Bureau defined boundaries for the Midwest, Northeast, South and West, I added up their respective Gross Products and added text boxes to this map. 2010 Regional Gross Domestic Product, United States of America
Midwest in the grain color, Northeast in Blue, South in Red and the West in Green. The different shades in each color represent subregions within the regions themselves, as defined by the Census Bureau.
Independently they would all be among the World's largest economies.
I personally every region except the Northeast would do better on its own. New York's influence and global power would have the wind knocked out of it. DC would also suffer greatly as I doubt the South would want to keep as their national capital.
The south would suffer from a loss of federal money returned to them. They get so much more back than they spend.
The west and the northeast would seem to be on the winning end, if they didn't have to send money back to Washington. Which, you would think, would put them in a better financial position "on their own."
The south would suffer from a loss of federal money returned to them. They get so much more back than they spend.
The west and the northeast would seem to be on the winning end, if they didn't have to send money back to Washington. Which, you would think, would put them in a better financial position "on their own."
I don't think I would base it totally off of federal money returned. That's only one part of the equation.
I would also think that the regions with the greatest amount of natural resources (I think the West easily wins this category) would have a bit of an advantage.
I think the South would likely see a return to its state's rights roots with a smaller central government. That could have some effect as individual states could become more or less prosperous.
It would also be interesting to see which regions would impose tighter or looser regulations on commerce and industry. New competition between the countries could greatly affect that.
Also, I would imagine there would be a lot of migration in the first decade or so, as people either move back to where they originated from, or to regions that they perceive will be better for their own quality of life.
In the end...it's hard to say. Each region has its own advantages and disadvantages. (I'll focus on the advantages to keep this thread as positive as it can be).
Northeast: adv - urban centers and corporate infrastructure
Midwest: adv - industrial and manufacturing infrastructure, abundant fresh water
South: adv - population (workforce), land, natural resources
West: adv - natural resources and technology infrastructure
The south would suffer from a loss of federal money returned to them. They get so much more back than they spend.
The west and the northeast would seem to be on the winning end, if they didn't have to send money back to Washington. Which, you would think, would put them in a better financial position "on their own."
The fallacy of this is the fact that your assuming that the political and economic situation in the south would be the same as it is right now if it was independent, which is simply not true. I believe that the South would see the largest improvement of any of the four regions. With that being said, the south is the poorest part of the country still, but there are many parts of the south that are very prosperous and booming. I think the South would do better on it's own than it is now, but it would take a significant amount of time to see results.
I wonder if there 4 seperate countires if the migration rates would stay the same; would be a potential slow down in the Southern economies if the construction levels stopped
Just a thought
End of the day we are all better as one country at this point
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