Buy / Sell: Mississippi's economy is in a 'death spiral'

[Perd Hapley]

If you want to figure out how that translates into being a good place to live, you really need per capita income rather than per capita GDP and you need to adjust it for purchasing power parity.

Even with those numbers, you really need to look at the distribution. Places like California are a great place to be rich and a pretty good place to be poor. You don't want to try to make it as middle class or probably even lower upper class there. Places in Mississippi with decent public school options are pretty good places to be middle class and upper class unless you really want amenities that come with more densely populated areas.

I wasn’t talking about measuring how good a place is to live, economically. That’s going to always be infinitely subjective and tied to numerous variables that are different from person to person. I was replying simply to the health of a given economy in a state, which is what was mentioned in the posts I replied to. And the only true, objective measure of economic health in a region is productivity.

Since you brought up California, they are of course very productive on the whole, economically….considering they are the world’s 5th largest economy or whatever it is now. But for per capita GDP, they aren’t even Top 3 in the US, as they lag behind Washington, North Dakota (surprise appearance), New York, and Massachusetts. And they also aren’t that far ahead of a few others. So, one might argue that they are still underachieving in spite of their overall GDP as a state, based on certain policies. And those would then lead to your referred “great place to be rich / bad place to be poor” scenario.

As for Mississippi, its where everyone already knows it is without pulling up the map. And 49, 48, and 47 (West Virginia, Arkansas, and Alabama) are all right there in their normal spot also.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

My point is that the other places in Mississippi are struggling in the same way that most rural, sparsely populated areas across the country are struggling. Officials in Warren County or Vicksburg can be smarter and try not to hurt the county/city, but at the end of the day, not much of what they can do is going to drive growth. The best they can do is create favorable conditions and hope they get lucky with a homegrown business exploding.

In contrast, Jackson should be booming if for no other reason than it should be capturing a decent amount of instate migration away from more rural areas. All Jackson has to do is provided the basics:
- adequate water and sewer services
- reasonably safe environment where criminals are arrested, held unless appropriate bond is posted, tried in a timely manner, and subject to reasonable consequences if convicted
- provide decent public schools or vouchers

All of that is easily attainable and the state would almost certainly provide the resources required to do that if Jackson government didn't fight against it.

This is accurate.

I don’t understand how people don’t get it.

 

[ronpolk]

Why not? It’s about the most objective economic indicator there is when comparing areas / demographics that can be very dissimilar. Not saying its the only indicator, but its certainly one of the main ones to look at….especially when trying to judge if a state or region has good economic policy at the state level.

And if you don’t measure success by per capita GDP and don’t measure success by required living wage, how would you measure it?

I just don’t believe the example of Alaska and Hawaii as high per capita GDP means much. They also have one of the overall lowest GDP’s in the United States. Neither state could support and grow their GDP if people decided to move to Alaska or Hawaii in search of getting a piece of that per capita GPD. People continue to move to Texas and the per capita GPD is not diluted. Do you think that would be the same of Alaska?

 

[horshack.sixpack]

I was raised in a small Mississippi town and educated in it's public schools. Both my wife and I have degrees from State. We got married and chose to live and raise our family in the town we were raised. We worked hard and had to make ends meet for a few years but we got on our feet and eventually attained a good quality of life. Is this no longer possible in Mississippi ?

It is possible everywhere, just increasingly difficult. People graduating MSU in the last 5 years have entered one of the most unfriendly first time home buyer markets since the late 70's/early 80's. I suspect that the market will adjust and it will abate. It is also noteworthy that over the last 20+ years it is increasingly more often that younger professionals want, and believe they should have, everything that their parents have. They just don't realize that stuff doesn't typically happen overnight.

 

[Podgy]

MS is doing fine. This happened just outside of Jackson, apparently.

Redneck gets beaten by wooden block and shovel in shocking brawl

A man was beaten by a wooden block and shovel - leaving him completely bloodied - after showing up at a house and demanding to get his 'stolen' all-terrain vehicle back.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Perd Hapley]

I just don’t believe the example of Alaska and Hawaii as high per capita GDP means much. They also have one of the overall lowest GDP’s in the United States. Neither state could support and grow their GDP if people decided to move to Alaska or Hawaii in search of getting a piece of that per capita GPD.

That’s not really how it works. People don’t move to a new state to “grow a GDP”, they move because the GDP has already grown and a gap needs to be filled by more employment in a productive sector to continue the trajectory. Or conversely, a state with low GDP does not have jobs to offer in a productive sector, due to its GDP stagnating or declining, and then nobody moves there because there are no jobs.

Take Alaska for example. Biggest industry by far is oil / gas exploration. So as new reserves are found, more jobs are created. The more efficiently these reserves are found and extracted, the higher the GDP goes and the more jobs are needed. And of course people can then move there to fill those jobs.

People continue to move to Texas and the per capita GPD is not diluted. Do you think that would be the same of Alaska?

Sure, if the jobs are there. Again, people aren’t just up and moving to Texas and figuring out later how to make it work. They are filling the gaps already created by a growing economy in whatever sector. And if you want hard evidence, Alaska’s population increased by 15% from 2000-2020, but their per capita GDP in 2020 was 20% higher than it was in 2000. So people are both moving there and in doing so they are sustaining and growing the productivity.

Texas is going to be able to grow by much larger overall magnitudes….due to how big it is already and the general lack of barriers to entry to get there logistically, as well as commercially for supply chain related items. But on a percentage of growth basis, I don’t know that you can say Texas is significantly outpacing Alaska or not.

 

[ronpolk]

That’s not really how it works. People don’t move to a new state to “grow a GDP”, they move because the GDP has already grown and a gap needs to be filled by more employment in a productive sector to continue the trajectory. Or conversely, a state with low GDP does not have jobs to offer in a productive sector, due to its GDP stagnating or declining, and then nobody moves there because there are no jobs.

Take Alaska for example. Biggest industry by far is oil / gas exploration. So as new reserves are found, more jobs are created. The more efficiently these reserves are found and extracted, the higher the GDP goes and the more jobs are needed. And of course people can then move there to fill those jobs.



Sure, if the jobs are there. Again, people aren’t just up and moving to Texas and figuring out later how to make it work. They are filling the gaps already created by a growing economy in whatever sector. And if you want hard evidence, Alaska’s population increased by 15% from 2000-2020, but their per capita GDP in 2020 was 20% higher than it was in 2000. So people are both moving there and in doing so they are sustaining and growing the productivity.

Texas is going to be able to grow by much larger overall magnitudes….due to how big it is already and the general lack of barriers to entry to get there logistically, as well as commercially for supply chain related items. But on a percentage of growth basis, I don’t know that you can say Texas is significantly outpacing Alaska or not.

So explain to me why Alaska’s high per capita GPD is significant? The overall GDP is less than even Mississippi. They don’t have some thriving economy. I’m not saying it’s bad but why does the high per capita GDP matter?

 

[johnson86-1]

I wasn’t talking about measuring how good a place is to live, economically. That’s going to always be infinitely subjective and tied to numerous variables that are different from person to person. I was replying simply to the health of a given economy in a state, which is what was mentioned in the posts I replied to. And the only true, objective measure of economic health in a region is productivity.

I was partly talking about income because of the original post and thinking you were talking along the same lines, but also because I think generally (with maybe a few exceptions related to areas with heavily concentrated ownership in things like natural resources) a healthy economy is generally going to mean it's good for the people working in it, which generally is going to mean they make a lot on a PPP adjusted basis. I would probably agree with you that "productivity" is a great measure of economic health, but I'm not sure we'd agree on what productivity means. For example, most measures of GDP are going to include incomes earned by government workers. So a policeman providing a service by providing security and discouraging crime is going to count just as much towards GDP as a policeman that is spending his time setting speed traps. $1M in teachers salary at a school that produces exactly zero students that can read or do math at grade level counts ten times as much at $100k in teacher salary that produces 60 students that can read and do math at grade level. If you and I both have stay at home wives and we each make $100k a year, we collectively count $200k towards most GDP measures. If you hire my wife for $20k a year to take care of the house and kids and I hire your wife at $20k a year to do the work that my wife was doing for free, now we collectively count $240k towards GDP. Our households became 20% more productive!1!!1!1

And this isn't just nitpicking. Washington DC has a per capita GDP way higher than any state. In reality, most of that GDP is probably created by harmful activities that the country would be better off if they would stop. With something as complex as an economy, there's not going to be a one size fits all number. If I had to pick one, I think I'd go with PPP adjusted per capita income. I think that would just unfairly penalize places that are particularly nice to live (say touristy type places) and places that have geographic caused costs (say hawaii being an island; alaska being remote).

Since you brought up California, they are of course very productive on the whole, economically….considering they are the world’s 5th largest economy or whatever it is now. But for per capita GDP, they aren’t even Top 3 in the US, as they lag behind Washington, North Dakota (surprise appearance), New York, and Massachusetts. And they also aren’t that far ahead of a few others. So, one might argue that they are still underachieving in spite of their overall GDP as a state, based on certain policies. And those would then lead to your referred “great place to be rich / bad place to be poor” scenario.

As for Mississippi, its where everyone already knows it is without pulling up the map. And 49, 48, and 47 (West Virginia, Arkansas, and Alabama) are all right there in their normal spot also.

 

[CoastTrash]

Agreed. The leaders there have had a go at it for a while. And they suck.

I get that this is popular thinking but perhaps it’s a bit wrong?

we need to foster a better sense of working together for our common goal. we Don’t need to blame blacks or whites or hail folks that don’t agree with us.

if you want to better Jackson and our state, look to invest your time and money.

Is Kentucky and MS really all that applies to?

it doesn’t apply to Chicago? New York City? What about the eldest California Senator who cannot feed herself much less provide representation? What about the states who lost more population by percent in 2022 than both Mississippi and Kentucky? New York, Illinois, Hawaii, Oregon? Do they not have entertainment for the under 35 segment?

Do we wanna be more like the states that gained the most? Florida? Texas? Montana? Idaho? South Dakota? Utah? Then why are people griping about the current state of the government?

We keep talking about what a dump Jackson is… but then we want to put more ideals and thinking in state government that Jackson currently has? “We need to do something about Jackson!” Hell, it’s being tried. And it’s being stonewalled. They can barely get an agreement on who picks up the garbage. And can barely feed the animals in the zoo. Meanwhile the place rots. But we need that fresh thinking and compromise in state government?

really?

This iron fisted government that has been alluded to has ushered in Medical Marijuana, craft beer laws, loosened the barriers to get resort status, brought in the lottery, vastly improved education from when give was iron fisted on the opposite direction for decades on end, ran fiber internet through most all of the state, and is trying to institute the same tax laws that are one of the huge draws to Texas and Florida.

it’s not government.. it’s investment in the “fun” things that needs to improve for the younger crowd.

Bay Springs Lake in North East MS is a prime example. Complete and absolute waste of a prime opportunity. The Natchez trace runs right past it with zero need for anyone to exit. Not because of government… because of investment. That could be a new Guntersville, AL. Same thing for other lakes and reservoirs. It’s not state government standing in the way. It’s investment (and sometime the fed govt with the corp of engineers).
But Bay Springs sits there without so much as a restaurant around it. Wasted wasted wasted opportunities.

Per 2020 census, Mississippi lost population and continues to lose population. All other states, except Illinois and West Virginia had population growth. Yes, California, Arkansas and even Louisiana grew population faster than Mississippi per 2020 census.

We should be seeking to working together to solve this issue despite challenges. Much easier to have a vibrant economy during a time of population growth.

 

[57stratdawg]

My point is that the other places in Mississippi are struggling in the same way that most rural, sparsely populated areas across the country are struggling. Officials in Warren County or Vicksburg can be smarter and try not to hurt the county/city, but at the end of the day, not much of what they can do is going to drive growth. The best they can do is create favorable conditions and hope they get lucky with a homegrown business exploding.

In contrast, Jackson should be booming if for no other reason than it should be capturing a decent amount of instate migration away from more rural areas. All Jackson has to do is provided the basics:
- adequate water and sewer services
- reasonably safe environment where criminals are arrested, held unless appropriate bond is posted, tried in a timely manner, and subject to reasonable consequences if convicted
- provide decent public schools or vouchers

All of that is easily attainable and the state would almost certainly provide the resources required to do that if Jackson government didn't fight against it.

Those issue don’t stop at the Jackson city limits though. It’s not much different in Aberdeen, Meridian, Greenwood or Monticello.

I think you’re desperately making the case “they’re are Mississippi’s problem - not me”. I would consider that to be one of MS’ largest problems.

 

[CoastTrash]

perhaps we should ask bigger questions like why are municipal elections in the summer odd years? Why are our state elections in odd years (we are only 1 of 3 states with odd year elections). Why do we have 122 state house and 52 state senators?

 

[L4Dawg]

I was raised in a small Mississippi town and educated in it's public schools. Both my wife and I have degrees from State. We got married and chose to live and raise our family in the town we were raised. We worked hard and had to make ends meet for a few years but we got on our feet and eventually attained a good quality of life. Is this no longer possible in Mississippi ?

It's still possible. It's a lot more possible than it used to be. I wonder how many people
Posting in this thread livein Mississippi, and of those, how many live outside the Jackson metro? I've noticed people in NE Miss and others areas outside the Metro and the Delta tend to be much more positive.

 

[L4Dawg]

True. But remember back in 2007 or so.. a resort area was granted to some investment company to build a resort with a golf course, hotel, restaurants, etc. The recession bombed it.

There can be development there if the right effort is made. Same with other places. But it’s already been proven that it is not fuddy duddy state reps that would be a barrier to it.

I expect if the shore land at Bay Springs was put up for sale you would see development there. It's a beautiful lake with deep, fairly clear water. It's unlike anything else in Mississippi other than Pickwick.

 

[johnson86-1]

Those issue don’t stop at the Jackson city limits though. It’s not much different in Aberdeen, Meridian, Greenwood or Monticello.

I think you’re desperately making the case “they’re are Mississippi’s problem - not me”. I would consider that to be one of MS’ largest problems.

I'm having trouble understanding what you're missing. You are correct that those problems don't stop in the Jackson city limits. But again, if those places fixed those issues, it wouldn't change their trajectory a ton. It'd certainly be great for the people that live there, but they're going to continue to be small towns without much prospect for growth absent catching lightning in a bottle. They are too far behind in the most important asset in today's economy, which is people.

If Jackson did just the three things I mentioned, it would immediately be considered the most desirable place in Mississippi to live for the average person under 40. It'd have the greatest concentration of jobs and amenities in the state. And none of those things are hard to achieve except as a political matter.

 

[johnson86-1]

Bay Springs Lake in North East MS is a prime example. Complete and absolute waste of a prime opportunity. The Natchez trace runs right past it with zero need for anyone to exit. Not because of government… because of investment. That could be a new Guntersville, AL. Same thing for other lakes and reservoirs. It’s not state government standing in the way. It’s investment (and sometime the fed govt with the corp of engineers).
But Bay Springs sits there without so much as a restaurant around it. Wasted wasted wasted opportunities.

Maybe people just can't find it because it's located so far from Bay Springs, MS.**

 

[johnson86-1]

The Federal government owns almost all of the land with water frontage at Bay Springs.

Does the federal government need that land? I had no clue we had a lake like that within an hour of Tupelo. If there isn't a functional need for the federal government, it seems criminal that our delegation hasn't pushed to allow development there.

I also never understood why the state government didn't open up more of lakes like Sardis or Grenada to more lakefront development. Why would you not want to encourage resort areas to develop?

 

[Perd Hapley]

So explain to me why Alaska’s high per capita GPD is significant? The overall GDP is less than even Mississippi. They don’t have some thriving economy. I’m not saying it’s bad but why does the high per capita GDP matter?

Its significant because you can’t get blood from a turnip. When judging fiscal policy of a state and what level of jobs and living standards are possible and available (things that need to change for MS to be better than what it is….which is the subject of this thread), you are always going to be constrained by relative population numbers….the amount of people available to do the work.

If 70% of MS residents were software engineers, oil / gas reps, manufacturing supervisors, small business owners, etc. all making $75,000 / year or more, our state’s per capita GDP would blow everyone out of the water, money would be free flowing throughout the state and giving us nice things all over the place, our schools would be best in the country, home values would skyrocket, and in general we’d be the butt of zero jokes. And we’d still not have dick compared to CA, TX, FL, GA, and others in terms of overall GDP. So looking at overall GDP is pointless in a vacuum because it doesn’t account for the productivity of the state adjusted for population.

For Alaska and Hawaii, they are both extremely limited in how many people would actually be willing to move to each one for obvious reasons that are well beyond the control of the state. In Alaska’s case you have extreme temperatures / seasons, and limited habitable land. Hawaii has very limited habitable real estate based upon the terrain, and there’s 2,000 miles of ocean keeping you locked in to a very small area. But, both states have crafted their economic policies very well to ensure the strengths of the state (oil and gas for Alaska, tourism for Hawaii) are supported by the state’s laws, tax policy, etc. So, if you’re actually willing and able to move to either location, you have the confidence that you are moving into a very stable economy, can have a good job and nice things relative to what you would have in another state, and so forth.

 

[L4Dawg]

E

Does the federal government need that land? I had no clue we had a lake like that within an hour of Tupelo. If there isn't a functional need for the federal government, it seems criminal that our delegation hasn't pushed to allow development there.

I also never understood why the state government didn't open up more of lakes like Sardis or Grenada to more lakefront development. Why would you not want to encourage resort areas to develop?

I think the Corps of Engineers owns/controls it all.

 

[dorndawg]

It is possible everywhere, just increasingly difficult. People graduating MSU in the last 5 years have entered one of the most unfriendly first time home buyer markets since the late 70's/early 80's. I suspect that the market will adjust and it will abate. It is also noteworthy that over the last 20+ years it is increasingly more often that younger professionals want, and believe they should have, everything that their parents have. They just don't realize that stuff doesn't typically happen overnight.

 

[Boom Boom]

This is accurate.

I don’t understand how people don’t get it.

What people don't get is the state government only allows Jackson to do certain things. If Jackson came up with a brilliant plan to "fix" their schools without spending oodles of more money....the state would step in and stop it. Not because they are against that goal (though many are), but because it would be something different. Look how hard it was for Jackson just to get a 1% sales tax for tourism. Hell, did they ever get it? Too many rural state politicians view Jackson as their enemy, and oppose whatever they are trying to do to fix things. No matter what it is.

Note that the water fiasco happened exactly as all govt-business fiascos happen: pay tax money to consultants, who tell you to spend tax money on Big Business, who takes the check and under delivers.

 

[horshack.sixpack]

View attachment 394175

Funny! I will say that I've watched my dad's generation get caught right in the middle of a huge change in career thinking, from 40 years and a gold watch and a pension to all of that vaporizing. I know my dad had to double down during his late 40's and through his 50's/60's to put enough money into 401k to help him survive during retirement. Even still, he is substantially underfunded, in my opinion. Health issues forced early retirement so that didn't help matters.

 

[PK Dawg]

Cities suck. I grew up in NY. I visited last year and it was a hell hole. The house I grew up in just sold for a million dollars. It is not worth a million dollars in reality.

Define reality please.

 

[thatsbaseball]

What people don't get is the state government only allows Jackson to do certain things. If Jackson came up with a brilliant plan to "fix" their schools without spending oodles of more money....the state would step in and stop it. Not because they are against that goal (though many are), but because it would be something different. Look how hard it was for Jackson just to get a 1% sales tax for tourism. Hell, did they ever get it? Too many rural state politicians view Jackson as their enemy, and oppose whatever they are trying to do to fix things. No matter what it is.

Note that the water fiasco happened exactly as all govt-business fiascos happen: pay tax money to consultants, who tell you to spend tax money on Big Business, who takes the check and under delivers.

So the rest of the state is holding Jackson back. Who knew ?

 

[57stratdawg]

I'm having trouble understanding what you're missing. You are correct that those problems don't stop in the Jackson city limits. But again, if those places fixed those issues, it wouldn't change their trajectory a ton. It'd certainly be great for the people that live there, but they're going to continue to be small towns without much prospect for growth absent catching lightning in a bottle. They are too far behind in the most important asset in today's economy, which is people.

If Jackson did just the three things I mentioned, it would immediately be considered the most desirable place in Mississippi to live for the average person under 40. It'd have the greatest concentration of jobs and amenities in the state. And none of those things are hard to achieve except as a political matter.

"Jackson" arguably is the most desirable part of the state for young people. "Jackson" already has the most jobs. Almost everyone I remember from college that stayed in MS now lives within 10 or 20 miles of the Mississippi Capital building. No one moved back to Nettleton and Waynesboro - they all moved to "Jackson". You're hyper focused they moved to Rankin County and not Hinds, or this zipcode vs that zipcode. Who cares?

The bigger issue is that like 1/2 of us left the state. Jackson's Mayor election had virtually no impact on any of our decision. The decisions made at the Capital building did, and still do, have quite an impact.

 

[Boom Boom]

So the rest of the state is holding Jackson back. Who knew ?

Always has. It's very basic 20th century history. Jackson was "them". The governor and legislature were there to vote "us". And that's without getting into the very basic racial history.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

What people don't get is the state government only allows Jackson to do certain things. If Jackson came up with a brilliant plan to "fix" their schools without spending oodles of more money....the state would step in and stop it. Not because they are against that goal (though many are), but because it would be something different. Look how hard it was for Jackson just to get a 1% sales tax for tourism. Hell, did they ever get it? Too many rural state politicians view Jackson as their enemy, and oppose whatever they are trying to do to fix things. No matter what it is.

Note that the water fiasco happened exactly as all govt-business fiascos happen: pay tax money to consultants, who tell you to spend tax money on Big Business, who takes the check and under delivers.

That’s fine, but do you lay any of the blame on the City of Jackson?

 

[OG Goat Holder]

"Jackson" arguably is the most desirable part of the state for young people. "Jackson" already has the most jobs. Almost everyone I remember from college that stayed in MS now lives within 10 or 20 miles of the Mississippi Capital building. No one moved back to Nettleton and Waynesboro - they all moved to "Jackson". You're hyper focused they moved to Rankin County and not Hinds, or this zipcode vs that zipcode. Who cares?

The bigger issue is that like 1/2 of us left the state. Jackson's Mayor election had virtually no impact on any of our decision. The decisions made at the Capital building did, and still do, have quite an impact.

You’re not wrong, but hard to really pin that on any one person. There’s blame on both sides. The more important question is how to move forward.

 

[catvet]

Here's the better question. What needs to be done to make Mississippi, not just Jackson, a place people want to live? If you say better paying jobs, what are we not doing that brings in the Nissans, Toyota and Yokahamas? Ridgeland is getting Top Golf. North Mississippi South of Memphis is growing as is the Coast. The suburbs around Jackson are growing if the city isn't. No one is moving to the Delta, so what are your suggestions

 

[Bulldog Bruce]

Define reality please.

1985

 

[Dawgg]

Funny! I will say that I've watched my dad's generation get caught right in the middle of a huge change in career thinking, from 40 years and a gold watch and a pension to all of that vaporizing. I know my dad had to double down during his late 40's and through his 50's/60's to put enough money into 401k to help him survive during retirement. Even still, he is substantially underfunded, in my opinion. Health issues forced early retirement so that didn't help matters.

I heard the Dusty Rhodes 'Hard Times' promo when I read that.

 

[garddog]

Guess I will beat the horse again. Infrastructure is what drives jobs. Interstates, airports, railroads, waterways. Most of the "high" tech jobs you guys talk about are actually just a few with a ton of general labor folks pushing the big companies. Take Texas Instruments, only maybe 5 to 10 percent of their payroll is college educated. The rest are factory workers. The brain trusts are small, the engines are non college educated. What do they all want? Easy access to move goods.
Even ****** Memphis has hubs for all 4 major transportation elements. Jackson's airport, rail, and roads suck. That is what holds it and Central Mississippi back.

 

[paindonthurt]

I saw article from CNBC: CNBC: the-salary-a-single-person-needs-to-get-by-in-every-us-state.html Looks like Mississippi is the least expensive.

This raised the question in my mind: Will the state ever pull out of this basement? The optimist in says "yes" and the realist in me is dubious.

Interested in the Pack's take today.

Being the least expensive isn’t a bad thing.

 

[paindonthurt]

I moved to the Sip last year and thought that an added bonus of the move would be a lower cost of living than DFW. Fooled me, because I haven't noticed any difference and somethings are actually higher. The only cost that is less is real estate taxes. The truth is Mississippi is not that cheap and you have less choices to where you spend your money.

Where do you live?
Starkville?
Oxford?
The coast?

Bc the cost of living in Mississippi is way cheaper than dfw if you are comparing apples to apples.

 

[paindonthurt]

When you get stationed in the Military your CONUS money is based on where you live. Those guys in Alaska make a lot of additional money to be station there.

No matter where you live until wages catches up to inflation the cost for food, utilities and gas is just way too high and making it hard to live. I read 60% of Americans are living from paycheck to paycheck and using credit cards many times just to get to the next paycheck.

That has nothing to do with inflation. That has to do with idiots and the government.

 

[paindonthurt]

The problem is that most of the country can't stop spending on every little thing that Corporate America flashes in front of their eyes. The problem is personal discipline, budgeting ignorance and a lack of willingness to share expenses with other people. I personally believe if you don't have any mental or physical handicaps and you can't make it in this economy you're in danger of falling into the deadbeat category.

You can some it up like this.

60% of the population doesn’t understand the difference between needs and wants.

Some of the ones who do think they deserve what they want without consequences.

 

[paindonthurt]

Can we stop pretending like this is only a “Jackson” problem? I see something like 64 of MS’ 82 counties shrinking in population from 2010 to 2020. That is way bigger than potholes in Jackson. There were only 6 counties with double digit growth - and one of them was Hinds.

Below is CNBC’s state ranking for Business. MS is #48 overall including 45th in “workforce”, 48th in infrastructure, 50th in business friendliness & 41st in access to capital. These monumental headwinds are not the result of Jackson’s City Council.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/11/americas-top-states-for-business-2023-the-full-rankings.html

You think potholes in Jackson are even in the top 5 or maybe even 10 of Jackson’s problems?

 

[Maroon Eagle]

You think potholes in Jackson are even in the top 5 or maybe even 10 of Jackson’s problems?

Yes.

Potholes— See also: Infrastructure.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

Here's the better question. What needs to be done to make Mississippi, not just Jackson, a place people want to live? If you say better paying jobs, what are we not doing that brings in the Nissans, Toyota and Yokahamas? Ridgeland is getting Top Golf. North Mississippi South of Memphis is growing as is the Coast. The suburbs around Jackson are growing if the city isn't. No one is moving to the Delta, so what are your suggestions

Uhhhh…..the answer is to have a vibrant urban core, which we’ve been discussing throughout this thread but you’re too stupid to see

 

[OG Goat Holder]

Guess I will beat the horse again. Infrastructure is what drives jobs. Interstates, airports, railroads, waterways. Most of the "high" tech jobs you guys talk about are actually just a few with a ton of general labor folks pushing the big companies. Take Texas Instruments, only maybe 5 to 10 percent of their payroll is college educated. The rest are factory workers. The brain trusts are small, the engines are non college educated. What do they all want? Easy access to move goods.
Even ****** Memphis has hubs for all 4 major transportation elements. Jackson's airport, rail, and roads suck. That is what holds it and Central Mississippi back.

This isn’t true. As far as capacity, MS infrastructure is actually overbuilt. Of course, much of it is now aging and tougher to maintain. I state again, infrastructure is not our problem (on the whole).

 

[Pink Floyd.sixpack]

The way we vote is our biggest problem.

Here we go

On the county level, most of Mississippi opted for the most country *** redneck on the ballot for supervisor. Or in some cases who they “are kin to” . Either way, these guys are responsible for a ton of infrastructure, and their sole goal is to not spend money. The county roads in this state are deplorable, mostly still dirt even in the 21st century. God forbid most Mississippi counties vote for a qualified candidate over one that might do em a favor.

Cities and counties aren’t much better. But since the cities have what little infrastructure and industry we do have these positions are vital and mostly run by uneducated people with no business sense.
And why we continue to let the Rankin county Republican Party continue to control our statewide candidates we will continue on the same path we are on.
Do your homework on candidates and vote for the most qualified.