I bet a lot of states would look better in various rankings if they were allowed to exclude 40% of the land or 23% of the population from consideration.
OT: Top states for doing business
- Thread starter dorndawg
- Start date
- Status
I bet a lot of states would look better in various rankings if they were allowed to exclude 40% of the land or 23% of the population from consideration.
You know, I'm almost jealous: for so many, any time you see news you don't want to believe or doesn't support what you already think, you simply hand wave it away with "liberal media". I'm being serious, it must be fantastic for one's mental health to just dismiss reality when you don't like it.
A) Kinda fitting with the theme that they kept R&D in California
B) Always thought their logo looked so cool:
More and more, working and social conditions will come into play. I believe that I am knowledgeable on the status of welders and mechanics and will only discuss those two trades in this statement. Because of the social bias against blue collar workers, they have been underpaid and young replacements not invested into. There is an ac-cute shortage of high tech welders globally. I am not talking about stick monkeys sticking **** together. Visa request, for welders, are accelerated in Europe because of shortages. The welder situation is problematic in North America also. Businesses in America are folding due to the lack of auto mechanics that are tech savvy for newer cars. This strict analysis has nothing to do with a liberal or conservative slant, it is strict ruthless number crunching. In this environment, lower wages and standard of living are a lower priority. If Mississippi State produced a upper tiered welder, he would be discovered in London or Berlin?
Last edited:
You've got a major university in the state that only has 40% in-state...
...enrollment. Ole Miss would rather take SMU and UGa rejects (who have no intention of staying in the state past graduation), than educate Mississippians. How much are they subsidized by state tax-payers, I wonder.
...enrollment. Ole Miss would rather take SMU and UGa rejects (who have no intention of staying in the state past graduation), than educate Mississippians. How much are they subsidized by state tax-payers, I wonder.
Very well said. The categories in the article simply arent part of some liberal bias and claiming its a 'very liberal slant' is grossly misdirected. It is, in my view, part of why things dont change- the actual issue is misidentified and therefore the solution doesnt fix the problem. This can be seen in government and private business all the time.
SPS thru the years has been filled with threads that bemoan Mississippi's infrastructure, economy lack of friendly business, poor education, low educated/skilled workforce, etc etc etc. Yet when an article analyzes all these things, its a very liberal slant?
MS and the vast majority of its constituents don't have a problem with gay people. The sidebar article that focuses on MS being last points out the law banning transgenders in WOMEN'S sports as a major factor in MS being last. In other words, CNBC had to put a liberal slant on it.
I agree with you, Workforce education infrastructure economy are the reasons Mississippi is last. That has mainly to do with the entire delta region and inner city Jackson. What are those school districts and parents in those areas doing to give kids a chance to succeed? The adults in charge of those regions are just perpetuating the problem.
I agree with you, Workforce education infrastructure economy are the reasons Mississippi is last. That has mainly to do with the entire delta region and inner city Jackson. What are those school districts and parents in those areas doing to give kids a chance to succeed? The adults in charge of those regions are just perpetuating the problem.
Good for MS, but wouldn’t say that’s a true relocation. They merged with an existing company in Olive Branch, and consolidated a lot of operations there. Not like they closed up shop, purchased land / capital, and started fresh in MS. And dorn’s point about the R&D remaining in Cali is a valid one.
You and Dorn are being condescending while also being wrong. Certainly Mississippi is not particularly attractive for numerous reasons and may rank low on a more legitimate ranking, but this is a slanted ranking. The stated categories aren't equally weighted and they don't even measure what you would expect in some cases.
Health, Life, and Inclusion only matters for the ability to attract work force. But beyond that, businesses really don't care about inclusiveness of state laws in general. If you want to be inclusive, you don't need state laws to make you (most state laws just repeat federal laws and it's just a headache for the business to have two different entities to comply with on the same subject matter). Businesses also don't generally care about access to green energy, especially since that usually is paired with lower reliability. Nor do businesses generally care about "sustainability in the face of climate change". They care about their hazard risks.
Not really a liberal slant issue, but most companies also don't care about how many patents are issued per capita in a state. They only get patents for their inventions. This is basically another proxy for workforce availability of a particularly valuable type.
The infrastructure calculation is also bonkers. It's measuring volume of goods shipped by different modes, which is a decent proxy for how well a state is doing, but not really of how much capacity the current infrastructure has. Something similar is going on with economy metric. It ranks the number of major corporations headquartered in a state, which again, is great for showing how a state has done, but not for how how attractive a state is for business now. Chicago is a great city in some respects and Illinois has been a great place to do business in the past. They had (have?) Caterpillar and don't now (or won't in the next year?). They didn't really get worse for businesses. They've been bad for a while and received a short term reprieve by giving Caterpillar some incentives to stay, but that just delayed the inevitable. But last year Caterpillar would have counted as a credit to Illinoi while they were also planning to leave largely because of the business/tax climate.
But really all these rankings are pretty worthless if they are not industry specific. The only thing that can really be generalized is tax/regulatory environment and even that is more or less important to certain industries depending on whether a business is labor intensive or capital intensive and/or whether it's primarily tangible goods or intangible goods or services provided.
For workforce, Mississippi generally doesn't rank well, but for some industries california's workforce would put it out of the running and make mississippi a contender and vice versa (although typically the more desirable industries are going to be the ones where Mississippi is ruled out). And companies also usually don't look at relocating to a state, but to a city/county. So some of these things that are done a state wide basis (e.g., water and sewer infrastructure) are just a proxy for how likely are voters in the state to screw up everythign by voting the state into dysfunction.
ETA: And in what world would Mississippi be the least business friendly? We certainly don't do as well on regulatory and tax climate as people like to think, but we're solidly middle of the pack. And how states handle cannabis doesn't have a big impact on how most businesses outside of the cannabis related industries view of how business friendly a state is.
Last edited:
They dont. The avg out of state student generally pays double what in state student does. Same thing at State, just UM has many more out of state that MSU.
I know of at least 5 in the Jackson metro alone (outer metro, as they all came here and bought land).
Facts.
People want urban, that's why Mississippi isn't/wasn't growing. Not as many people want urban now, as many are moving to Mississippi to buy plots of land. But plenty of people still want the city. Gotta fix Jackson. Can't let it rot.
Basically no state has control over who stays or moves there in the short term. People don't generally choose where to live based on government policy. We certainly would be better off if we had chosen better policy in the past, but for basically all of the time that matters outside of a small period of time either too brief to matter or too recent to matter yet, Mississippi was democrat controlled and more worried about oppressing black people and protecting existing business interests (that were also largely agricultural) than we were about doing or allowing anything productive. So we started off with a disadvantage of most of our resources/advantages being agricultural and did a terrible job of carving out any areas for transitioning to manufacturing and then the knowledge economy because of our policies. But now the thing that is most important for attracting people is probably people and existing population centers, and we can't really fix that with government policy, except over a very long time frame where we will also be competing with other states like Texas, Florida, Tennesse, and Georgia that can easily match our policies and also have a head start.
When I see “Mississippi gonna Mississippi” I think
Enjoy life
Work hard
Love family
Eat ******* good
I’m gonna Mississippi until I can’t Mississippi anymore.
One of my best friends who is a State grad and one of, if not the biggest real estate attorney on the coast and he has closed at least 10 families who have moved to the coast from California within the last 3 months. Nothing earth shattering but I see a decent amount of California tags in Biloxi; however, the could also be airmen at Kessler Airforce Base.
Because of the border issues in CA etc, but you should know that. Cali folks are moving into the Laurel area too. That tv show has generated interest there. Then you've got Natchez, which has blown up in the movie field. Some Cali folks in that area now too.
Last edited:
I’m certainly sure that individuals and families have moved from CA to MS. And vice versa. And same for every other combination of to / from any two states. But that’s entirely different from entire businesses or corporations shutting down and relocating from one state to the other.
I've been to both Laurel and Natchez recently, there are very small numbers of people moving there. The show has been a boon to Laurel and they done some great things, but there aren't thousands of out of towners moving there.
Don’t be out here telling folks what’s actually happening in the real world, that would straight offend them. If they can’t back it up with a link, then it ain’t happening.
I can’t understand the attraction of a TV show about remodeling, but it’s working.
Concur, but how? If the state takes it over, it will be heck to pay, with claims of racism, etc., abounding. Plus there'd probably be push back from the current administration, and eventually the same politicians would get back in charge. Give money to current city leadership and it would just be mismanaged, subject to graft, etc.
Birmingham has seen a little resurgence, but city leaders there understand drawing in people in from the burbs to spend their money means more money for city, Jxn city leaders don't have this mindset.
Well, since you asked.......
https://www.edelbrockgroup.com/corp...alifornia-to-mississippi-announces-expansion/
https://www.edelbrockgroup.com/corp...alifornia-to-mississippi-announces-expansion/
They will, eventually. It may not be baby chock, but Jackson is usually about 20 years behind Birmingham. People are already starting to wake up, now they have the capitol police force, etc. Investments will start coming in, and then it'll start snow-balling. Eventually we'll get a mayor with some sense, and it'll be alright.
We will ALWAYS have crime, though. Birmingham (and Memphis, which is another good 'goal' city) has never been able to shake that. It's just trying to make a few areas decent enough to attract people.
Jackson has great bones. When I usually complain about things around here, it's generally not that the 'city amenities' suck.....it's that I don't have hiking and things like that, and the general attitude of the people. Jackson has all it needs to be successful.
Last edited:
Y'all remember when MS put limits on lawsuits because that would bring in more businesses?
Or when we eliminated the flag to bring in businesses?
Now, how about we cut the damn tax burden on people. We're a top 25 taxing state and have the lowest income. If low wages, a symbolic end to racism, and limits on lawsuits haven't helped, how about helping the actual damn people that do live here.
Or when we eliminated the flag to bring in businesses?
Now, how about we cut the damn tax burden on people. We're a top 25 taxing state and have the lowest income. If low wages, a symbolic end to racism, and limits on lawsuits haven't helped, how about helping the actual damn people that do live here.
But Republicans are in charge. Republicans are always pro-business, right? Nothing to see here other than business-friendly misappropriation of restricted federal funds to a non-profit.
"Former Gov. Phil Bryant instructed his wife’s friend — whose nonprofit was receiving millions in subgrants from the welfare department he oversaw — to pay NFL legend Brett Favre $1.1 million, according to a new court filing."
"Former Gov. Phil Bryant instructed his wife’s friend — whose nonprofit was receiving millions in subgrants from the welfare department he oversaw — to pay NFL legend Brett Favre $1.1 million, according to a new court filing."
Well I read the entire article and the criteria in this article does not have a liberal slant. It is pretty much 100% straight forward in tune with what industries are looking for.
For example, Yokohama moved into West Point. They were shopping locations through different cities and counties. Lowndes county bent over backwards to get them here. Revamping EMCC curriculum, building new facilities like the one out on 82 between Columbus and Starkville, and probably giving them a 15 year tax holiday. All were needed to get the workforce ready for them, and I am telling you, the stuff they have to learn to get certified as applicants is basic ****. It was sad that our workforce didn't know how to do some of this stuff before hand. Or that our workforce is too dumb to be able to teach them these skills in a matter of a couple of weeks on the job.
Here is the simple truth, the way I see it. Let's say Mississippi's politics were a business. Let's say our business production was 50th out of 50 for the past 100 years when ranked against every other "business" in the country. Why does Mississippi keep trying the same politics to solve the same issues? Seems like that strategy isn't working. But for all means, lets not look at what California, Texas, and Colorado are doing. Let's refuse to raise taxes to improve our education system. I visit school district weekly, and I will tell you right now, most areas of Mississippi have very very very ****** school facilities. Those areas have very limited tax bases, so there is no path for more money. Our leadership should be lobbying hard for a federal/state partnership on funds to get our schools ready. But no. They have decided to not fund education on the state level ongoing for 24 years now.
Dude knows 3 californians that moved to Laural and now all Californians are moving out. Dude, California has like 40 million people. 60 million if you count illegals. California is in good position long term, and always will be because they tax at an appropriate level to improve their state as a whole. Even the red residents of CA like how nice **** is there.
I do agree with this- businesses dont actually care about inclusivity laws beyond them existing so the business can supprort/attract/retain employees. Same with green energy- its a good think to publicly support, but not much beyond that.
Hold up. your last sentence is the most important. Between Chevron and Kessler,...... why the 17 do you think people from California is moving to the brown **** stain that is our coast?
MS is behind on infrastructure, education, public health- lowering taxes will make it difficult to have money to improve those costly and large state shortcomings. Not saying taxes shouldnt be cut, but its tough to see how that will help.
The common response is that spending should not be wasted. Sure, nobody can disagree with that. It isnt something that will offset though.
I know people who are involved with hiring people in Mississippi in several fields. We have a SERIOUS workforce problem. Anybody that thinks otherwise has their head in the sand. It's hard to get and keep high skills people here. I'm not talking about just college educated people either. It's a self-perpetuating problem. We don't have that many jobs for high skills people, so we don't have many of those people. We don't have many high skills people, so we don't have many of those jobs. There is no quick fix.
The federal government is forking out tons of money for infrastructure. The lottery just sent tons of money toward it too. The federal government is also about to open up our educational tax money to private/charter schools, and that will help education too IMO, as the public system has lost its way. Public health is an income issue 75% of the time. Cutting taxes only helps that. Most things in life come down to money. Reducing the tax burden is almost always a good thing.
MS is not behind in infrastructure, I don't care what rankings say. MS is overbuilt, ESPECIALLY in regards to capacity. Come at me bro.
And don't point at Jackson and say "pOtHoLeS!!11". That's straight up mismanagement by them.
I know this is happening, but we might should be careful what we wish for. Federal money comes with federal strings attached. Hope the private schools are looking at the paperwork closely.
They do mention the things the state is doing, but I will add every single state in the entire country is doing this base level ****. And, I will add, we have been doing these things for as long as I have lived in Mississippi. You can't do the damn very basic and expect to compete with States that have a better tax system and a dedication to raising the education standards to the highest levels.
Folks, here is the deal. It isn't working. Now I hate to just criticize without discussing what I would do about the situation. So here is my solution.
It doesn't matter how much operating cost you spend per student in a school district. It does't matter how good your facilities are, if they are meeting basic needs. What I would propose is the following:
1. Huge public relations campaign to stress the importance for parents to be involved daily in their kids education. Parents make the single most important factor in a student's success or failure in the classroom.
2. It is beyond time that school districts crack down on kids that do not come to school ready to learn. Make it clear, students that have a 100% disregard for doing what they are supposed to be doing during class and while at school, is going to be removed from the school. Too many stories out there that basically say the students are running the classroom. Teachers don't hate their students, they hate their administrations not having their backs and parents that basically blame the teacher for their kid being a little ****.
3. It is hard for a student to learn if they are hungry. I would continue the breakfast/lunch support needed throughout the state.
4. I would require parents to be a practicing participant of the PTA.
5. I would strengthen the advanced class track in every school. We need our brightest and best challenged without the anchor of students that are not there to do their work.
It all begins and ends with parents. Our administration should be out there daily talking about the responsibility of parents when the kid is not in school. They should be checking in on their kids progress, ensuring they are studying and doing homework, and engaging their kids in what they are learning... every single day.
Every kid in Starkville Schools has the same opportunity. Hell I would argue every kid in Mississippi has the same opportunity. It is the parent/teacher combo that makes a student excel or fade. Got to get parents involved.
A grown up administration would be beating this drum every single speech given about educations: It is hard to teach algebra if you kid does not know how to come to school and be prepared to learn. If we have to mess with basic 3rd grade level classroom antics, and your kid is falling asleep during class, we are wasting the opportunity they have. Get your **** together parents, this is not 100% our responsibility. You have a responsibility to get your kid ready to learn and to follow up to make sure they have the work ethic needed to achieve what is required.
- Status