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Out of those states, GA is the only one I'd consider wholly Southern. FL is no longer culturally Southern in many of the major metros due to the influx of retirees from up north and Hispanics. TX is its own animal. MD is not Southern today in any fashion. The Southern areas of VA are not where the jobs are, and where the jobs are retain little Southern culture.
So since your definition of the South is not geographical or historically based, tell me more about this culturally based definition. What makes a state "culturally Southern"? Also, I find the idea that Hispanics detract from cultural Southerness preposterous, but then again, I'm just a Texan.
I've looked for jobs all over the country and am from the South. Wages there are low, even when you factor in the cost of living. Jobs overall are hard to come by, the region is still struggling with significant unemployment and poverty, as most of the country (even the Rust Belt) seem to be recovering better than the South. Any quality jobs pay less than they would in northern metros, and Southern offices often feel like red-headed stepchildren.
Do you think young people will begin abandoning the South due to a lack of opportunity there?
Some will but there are lots of people who have a blind loyalty to their states and will stay. I've seen the same thing in Montana. Wages there are low and the cost of living is high, but it so pretty that people stay. People who want to get ahead will move and those who are unmotivated will stay where they are and complain about being poor.
So since your definition of the South is not geographical or historically based, tell me more about this culturally based definition. What makes a state "culturally Southern"? Also, I find the idea that Hispanics detract from cultural Southerness preposterous, but then again, I'm just a Texan.
+1. I find it hard NOT to consider TX a Southern state, since it is geographically locates farther south than any other state except Florida.
Well there's some jobs that will always be in the south. The Gulf Coast is probably more important now for energy then it has ever been. Alaska has been waning and I don't know if North Dakota can deal with their inflation and maintain job openings at the same time.
In a sense there can be some paradoxes here for a few factors.
1) Going from north to south is pretty easy economically. Going back is another story. I had a supervisor before that relocated to Phoenix. The company even paid for him to move. Got a promotion but something happened and he wanted to go back. Yeah they don't pay for that. Not sure if he could afford to go back. Housing stock at least in Boston runs pretty low.
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2) There are some things you find up north that you still cannot find as easily down south. Public Transportation for starters. Yes DC has a excellent system but beyond that where are the rails?
3) Academic credentials can stand out more down south
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Some will but there are lots of people who have a blind loyalty to their states and will stay. I've seen the same thing in Montana. Wages there are low and the cost of living is high, but it so pretty that people stay. People who want to get ahead will move and those who are unmotivated will stay where they are and complain about being poor.
I don't know where you got that idea. The cost of living is quite low in Montana. I've lived in Great Falls myself. It has essentially the same cost of living as Houston, my current hometown. Ditto for Helena. Also, if you think MT is ugly, I'm surprised you are a Wyoming resident. WY has very similar climate and scenery. I've visited Buffalo, Casper, Cheyenne, and Sheridan WY myself a few times.
Keep voting in republicans as your leaders, and poverty and low wages is what you get. This is a wake-up call to the rest of the nation.
That's why basically exclusively Democratic (and bankrupt) Detroit, the south side of Chicago, Gary IN, Cleveland, OH and more have streets paved with gold and residents wiping themselves with $10 bills, huh?
That said, considering the Democratic and Republican Party are pretty much two sides of the same coin, I'm not sure how relevant the demagoguery above really is to this thread or in general life. However, that's a wholly different discussion.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scooby Snacks
+1. I find it hard NOT to consider TX a Southern state, since it is geographically locates farther south than any other state except Florida.
Being a Midwesterner who left for Texas for job opportunity, I'll say that while Texas is stereotyped as a Southern state, my perception of my time here is it has a different feel than perhaps what I would have stereotyped as "the South". Part of that difference in reality to perception is exactly due to the abundance of jobs in Texas and people migrating here (like myself) - which conveniently counters the the point the OP was trying to make - how awful the South is compared to the North (which, apparently from some other posters, is something the OP likes to do).
As far as weather playing into the migration scenario - Texas is hot but I will still take this hot over bitter, bitter cold of MN. 95-100F is about 20-25 degrees above a proposed "perfect" temp of 72-78F, but winter in the North goes easily 50-100 degrees below "perfect temp". Far more drastic change.
There are more reasons to abandon the south than poverty wages, although that is definitely a very good reason to leave. I have been doing a lot of travelling with my job and otherwise over the past couple of years. Something I've picked up on is that a large portion of the population in the South is uneducated and obese. I believe the obesity part comes from the fact that it is simply too hot to do any kind of outdoor activities for a good 7 months out of the year. Who wants to jog, ride a bike, or hike in the woods when it is 95 degrees outside with 90+% humidity? Yuck!
BTW, though obesity rates weren't part of the OP question, let's not overplay the whole "all of the South is fat and all of the North is svelte and pictures of health and fitness..."
There are plenty of links you can pull, but the Washington Post and the CDC show that while obesity is a problem for the South, there isn't a considerable difference in percentage of fat people in Northern states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, Iowa, North Dakota, Michigan. Additionally, no state was less than 20%.
In fact, who wants to jog, ride a bike, or hike in the woods when it's 0F? About the same percentage as who will do so in 95F...that's why indoor facilities have popularity.
For 12 years while I was in the refining industry, (2000-2012) every shutdown in the northeast was flooded with southern welders (coon asses) nahleens boys (New Orleans) for those of us who speak fluent Yank.
They were some of the best welders and they always came up (Noth) North for us again, for the wages, not a lack of work. Damn fine hardworking, dudes and ladies from Texas to Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, 'Bama ( roll tide), they came by the hundreds and a lot of them were offered full time jobs, but they were true southerners " We can only stand you Yanks 4-5 months a year, not forever".
I miss those guys, yes it was union and it was the most fun I have ever had at work. The stuff Southerners come up with about Yanks and the north would make anyone laugh so hard, you'd cry.
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that people stay. People who want to get ahead will move and those who are unmotivated will stay where they are and complain about being poor.
