Google picks Southaven (best, brick, snow)

[Listener2307]

Originally Posted by Bamaman1

............... With the gambling in Tunica and Biloxi going town the drain, how can this extremely poor state afford these corporate incentives?
...............Toyota put their factory in Blue Springs with the intent of getting the hard working ex-furniture workers in Tupelo and New Albany to assemble cars. I have not heard any product problems, but their employee turnover has been extremely high as they simply work their people too hard..........

Toyota Blue Springs has been a good trade off. Toyota has its hand in the local community college as well as the local high schools and even real estate as visitors from Japan come and go.

he Toyota Education Endowment Fund is the $50 million gift Toyota announced at its groundbreaking in 2007. Payable over a 10-year period, the goal of the education gift is to create a perpetual fund to enhance education in the eight school districts in Lee, Pontotoc and Union counties, offering all students in public schools opportunities they may not have had. It is administered by the Toyota Educational Endowment Fund Advisory Committee.

https://createfoundation.com/toyota-wellspring-fund/


I don't know much about working conditions at Toyota, but they do offer long term employment and pay at the upper end of what local companies pay. They expect their workers to be on time and pay attention; that's just too much to ask for some people. Employee reviews are generally favorable.

[Desert kid]

Originally Posted by Dd714

See post #4, once again Amazon and Google have nothing to do with the state flag. The Georgia flag was changed via state referendum and internal political pressure, it can be arguable if there was economic pressure or not (the ones claiming that were politicians). Woke capitalism has it's limits - namely corporate profit - cheap labor and low tax in MS will beat "woke" each and every time. Otherwise, do how do you explain corporations that moved to China in years past? You think China, Peoples Republic of, is "woke" and progressive?

China is certainly not woke or progressive. But they do suspiciously throw a lot of money to “woke” causes, groups and institutions in the West.

[brickpatio2018]

That's a really good point that companies invest in China despite their being a Hitler-style police state.

China offers the best-case scenario of a billion-plus highly intelligent, educated people who work for very low pay. Companies face a choice of going out of business (due to competitors making good products made in China for lower prices at Wal-Mart, etc.) or matching those competitors by also making their products in China.

I do think though the flag issue should help Mississippi from a business standpoint. When businesses are choosing between US states, the differences in terms of tax rates, work force, land costs, etc. are often minimal. The one difference between two states could be the political and social environment: will workers feel comfortable working in a state where the politicians take pride in humiliating 40% of the state's population?

For that reason, (besides saving Ole Miss and Mississippi State from being kicked out of the SEC as they would have been eventually), I do suspect that the flag change will impact economic development in Mississippi.

But there is also just the psychological impact. Mississippians no longer have to slink in shame of being perceived as not merely backwards but also nefarious bordering on hateful. Now that the flag issue has been resolved, Mississippians can live in the present and focus on the future.

In any event, regardless of the flag issue, personally I'm elated just thinking about the beautiful economic growth that will be occurring in Mississippi over the next 30 years. In my lifetime, Mississippi as a whole will evolve into a level of prosperity enjoyed by pockets of the state today such as DeSoto, Rankin, Madison, Lafayette and Lamar Counties.

Places such as the Coast, Tupelo, Starkville, Laurel, Jackson...I can already envision these places at incomes enjoyed today by Nashville, Austin, Charlotte and the like. I cannot wait to see Mississippi arriving in that place; it will be a beautiful sight a mere two or three decades away.

The other thing is places like Natchez, Greenwood, Meridian, Brookhaven, Corinth...and many others, have so much character, and seeing them enjoying Madison/Rankin/DeSoto levels of prosperity is just some 30-40 years away... that will be a sight to behold.

[Bamaman1]

I certainly hope the optimistic things said about North Mississippi will come to fruition. And I applaud the positive direction that Desoto County has taken--despite having a little corruption problems for awhile.

One great positive to the area is the flat terrain of the land, and a complete lack of bedrock makes building those incredibly huge warehouses relatively inexpensive. And with substantial railroads, the river commerce and Federal Express air delivery capabilities, this area is the distribution hub of Middle America.

My daughter works off Lamar & Getwell, and i swear there are more heavy tractor/trailer trucks on the roads than cars. That means jobs are everywhere. We also have a son working in laser cutting in a Tupelo machine shop.

But it's hard to compare the area with any other city--because the Mid South is unlike any other place in the U.S. I worked 20 years traveling to every major and many minor cities in Mississippi, and I know the positives there. And I hope you guys don't get so large that you suck away all the water under Memphis' aquifer.

[Listener2307]

Originally Posted by brickpatio2018

............I do think though the flag issue should help Mississippi from a business standpoint. When businesses are choosing between US states, the differences in terms of tax rates, work force, land costs, etc. are often minimal. The one difference between two states could be the political and social environment: will workers feel comfortable working in a state where the politicians take pride in humiliating 40% of the state's population?.............

Sounds like we are on the same page there.
This whole Confederacy thing has outlived its usefulness and should be retired. All the various monuments and memorials to those who died should be removed. The whole idea of secession was wrong and doomed from the start.
It would be good to note that all those who died for The Confederacy did so while trying to kill Americans.
I would be pleased to see Mississippi lead the way toward real reconstruction by abandoning the legacy of The Confederacy. As you note, businesses would be more willing to follow that lead.

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by Desert kid

I would strongly second comparing it to Huntsville. It's basically an "escape" from Memphis. Desoto County is the place where young professionals can make a way for themselves without having to deal with Memphis being...Memphis.

And much like Georgia in 2003, major Atlanta corporations had quite a bit to do with threatening the state's politicians over it's 1956 state flag. I do think something very similar happened to the Mississippi flag with Amazon and Google two weeks ago.

It's the conundrum of being a conservative sometimes, what's the point of being socially conservative if hyper-liberal corporations threaten your state's economy over it?

Don't be surprised if an uptick of populism occurs.

I think what pushed it over the edge was the NCAA saying they'd not allow postseason sports play in Mississippi until the flag was changed.

[Desert kid]

Originally Posted by RocketDawg

I think what pushed it over the edge was the NCAA saying they'd not allow postseason sports play in Mississippi until the flag was changed.

Sacrificed at the altar of College Football. However, football, just like NASCAR has gone woke and will inevitably kill it's own brand with it.

I think there will be a backlash of sorts.

[Dd714]

Originally Posted by Desert kid

Sacrificed at the altar of College Football. However, football, just like NASCAR has gone woke and will inevitably kill it's own brand with it.

I think there will be a backlash of sorts.

There already is.

The "boycott" of Goya for instance (for the sin of praising a sitting president of the US) has turned into a "buycott" where people are actually going out of there way to not boycott a product, but to buy more of it. It backfired. I mean, cans of beans are now political? This level of anarchy and destruction, pulling down statues of, not confederates, but Washington and Roosevelt and Lincoln, have given the lesson that "enough is enough" of woke and the cancel culture. Woke and cancel, whatever the intention, have turned into an ideology of intolerance, hate, and radicalism.
Mainstream America has had enough.

Woke capitalism was simply a meaningless marketing campaign anyways, a commercial theme without any practical action. It stopped at a corporations bottom line.

[viverlibre]

Originally Posted by RocketDawg

I think what pushed it over the edge was the NCAA saying they'd not allow postseason sports play in Mississippi until the flag was changed.

As far as pressure from the SEC, they had State and UM by the short hairs. Outside of a couple of lesser sports (baseball, women's basketball), both are usually drains on the conference and are likely the lowest ranked academic universities. The SEC would have never threatened Alabama or UGA.

[sammyreynolds1977]

Originally Posted by viverlibre

As far as pressure from the SEC, they had State and UM by the short hairs. Outside of a couple of lesser sports (baseball, women's basketball), both are usually drains on the conference and are likely the lowest ranked academic universities. The SEC would have never threatened Alabama or UGA.

It wasn't so much about Ole Miss and Mississippi football. NCAA has the first two rounds of both NCAA Women's basketball tournaments and baseball tournaments in Mississippi which draw a tremendous amount of money for the state in tourism dollars. The NCAA knew this and they knew they could threaten to take it away and they would get the result they wanted. It worked.