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As a public school teacher, an article like this one brings to light the trade offs involved in an economic situation such as this one. Having taught in Ohio for half a year I can tell you that financially the midwest, midatlantic and new england states are going to pay much better even when compared to cost of living than any district in the south could ever hope to come close to. Had I been able to stay in Toledo, Ohio I would be enjoying a salary that pays 2k more a year than what I make down here. Retirement situation in Ohio is better at the present time as well. HOWEVER.....the trade off here is well I'm in SC and have been now going on 9 years because in Ohio it's tough to keep a job, especially one in education. In the south you have a job but it barely pays the bills. If you live in the north you can pay the bills and then some BUT only if you're lucky enough to get a job. It's definitely a double edge sword. A pro-business state like this one does create growth in our 21st century global economy BUT in order to create that growth you have to willing as a state / community to sell some part of your state. In this case it's the sale of public services to entice private bids. The local economies of Toledo and Detroit have been dying for decades in large part because of not just unions but high tax rates. Tax rates that go towards funding public schools mind you. Having taught and coached in both states I can assuredly say that when people ooooo and ahhhhh at the resources that a Spartanburg D5 and D6 have I tell them that both of those are examples of the standard in large Ohio communities not the exception. If I learned anything in macro-econ is that there is definitely no such thing as a free lunch haha.
Grinds my gears that the national media have completely dropped the ball regarding coverage of the assembly plants and suppliers in the South. When that stupid Cash4Clunkers deal was being batted about in the Congress the Dems wanted it to be for Big 3 vehicles only. Thankfully, Senators here in the South demanded it be for all new vehicles, regardless of make (even if it was a bad idea to begin with).
The South is where auto manufacturing will flourish for generations to come, VW has a new plant in Chattanooga, and Toyota, Nissan, and Hyundai continue to invest heavily in so-called red states. Many of the workers in those plants are from the upper Midwest and were UAW members, and they're perfectly happy working at many of the assy plants in the Sun Belt these days.
Far as the tax issue is concerned I have to agree with folks who say you can't give them everything including the phone booth out front in these deals, BMW pays a fraction in state and local property taxes here of what they would pay elsewhere, and in my mind's eye an extra million or three per year wouldn't hurt them. There has to be a balance, and quite frankly Haley and others in state gov't have been giving away some deals to the likes of Amazon and others which other states would never offer, and just like the article said the state coffers suffered terribly through the downturn, even after drastic cuts in spending.
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