What's Wrong With Georgia?

[xchrom]

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/01/whats-wrong-with-georgia/384101/

?nhkisk

GRIFFIN, Ga.—Throughout the economic downturn and subsequent recovery, there have been some usual suspects when it comes to the most pitiful state in monthly unemployment figures.

For awhile, Michigan took the prize for highest unemployment rate in the country, until Nevada knocked it off its perch in May of 2010. Nevada then held the title for most of the next three years, sometimes sharing the honor with California, until it ceded the top (more accurately, the bottom) spot to Rhode Island in December 2013.

But now, as the economy picks up steam, and consumer sentiment rises to its highest levels since 2007, a new state keeps appearing at the top of the unemployment list. Georgia, home to Fortune 500 heavyweights such as Home Depot, UPS, and Coca-Cola, had the highest unemployment rate in the nation in August, September, and October. With a November rate of 7.2 percent, the state was narrowly edged out by Mississippi’s 7.3 percent (December statistics won’t come out until mid-January).

This may seem surprising, since Georgia was named the best state to do business in both 2014 and 2013 by Site Selection magazine, largely because of its workforce-training program and low tax rates. Nathan Deal, the state’s GOP governor, handily won reelection in November against Jimmy Carter’s grandson by speaking about Georgia as a job magnet.

[Feral Child]

1. GOP, xchrom.

The Republican governors are ruining this state. Our beautiful public parks are decaying from neglect, and the deer population is dwindling due to the "lottery" deer-hunting to cull the population. The "lottery" is a joke, fixed so that the tags go to Donators and they're damn-near "canned" hunts.

This year they only killed 12 dear and 1 coyote in Red Top Mountain State Park on Lake Alatoona. That's probably 2/3rds of the deer population in this smallish park. Used to be you couldn't drive through without seeing a small herd or two, now they're near non-existent.

Pavement is crumbling, all the Lodges are closed. The Park system is a shambles.

That same "use-it-up" attitude prevails everywhere and our infrastructure is falling apart. My wife has a 2 hour commute one-way due to traffic congestion and shoddy public transportation.

Deal is a liar. New business isn't coming in because the infrastructure is so bad. The school system is also suffering so businesses have to import qualified workers.

[bigdarryl]

2. BUT idiots in that state repeatedly keep voting rethug

Even when there is a centrist democrat running.I was one who though Carter had a real shot at that election but I wasn't surprised by the outcome because of there voter suppression in that state plus almost 100,000 voters were purged from the voter list mainly African Americans and Latinos

[Feral Child]

3. Definitely, bigdarryl.

We voted carter and Nunn, o/c, but we're drowning in a white lower-class that insists on voting against their own interests.

[CurtEastPoint]

5. EXACTLY! Our votes are washed away in a sea of redneck Baptist numbskulls.

[joshdawg]

7. Voting against their own best interests seems to be the

way of life here in my state of Texas.

[Feral Child]

14. Yep.

Except it would be abused (Jim Crow Laws) we really should require some kind of intelligence-test for voting.

Then again, I'm of the opinion that anyone who wants to get elected shouldn't be allowed to run...

[NutmegYankee]

17. The South has this rigid social divide - elite white, poor white, and blacks.

The elite whites heap on the poor whites, who then in a bid to not be the perceived social bottom, heap on the blacks and other minorities. The elites know that all they have to do is play up that money is going to non-whites to get the poor whites to vote against it (I.E, Republican).

That depressing reality is part of why I left.

[Feral Child]

20. Valid assessment, Nutmeg.

Add that black people are regularly disenfranchised of their voting rights.

There are counties along the coast that are 80% black, yet they have a white republican sheriff.

[NutmegYankee]

23. In a whole multitude of ways.

One of the main reasons Jury duty is only compensated at $40 per day to to dissuade the poor from registering to vote, for fear of losing too much pay if called. States like mine require your employer to pay you for 5 days while serving on a jury.

And then there is the "over-criminalization" of minor offenses, enforced mainly on minorities, to give them felony records with subsequent disenfranchisement while on parole.

Voter ID laws to make it difficult on older urban minorities without drivers licenses.

And then there is just plain old intimidation, like an employer threatening to fire someone for their vote.

[Feral Child]

24. Indeed

They had to scrap the Jim Crow Laws, but they've got a strangle-hold none-the-less.

Signing off for now, pal. Catch you on Monday.

[NutmegYankee]

28. Take care!

[cwydro]

22. I'm white, not elite and not poor.

I live in the South.

There are many like me who are not poor and not elite.

[Feral Child]

25. It's a generalization that's fair, though.

Churchifying helps control the Southern middle-class, also. Lot's of Southern Baptists vote for the Morality Party.

[NutmegYankee]

27. It's a very high level description of rural southern society.

Suburbia and cities differ, but the elements are still there.

[LuvNewcastle]

4. It comes down to rednecks.

That is all.

[Tsiyu]

12. Not necessarily

Some of the heaviest Repuke voting districts in Greater Atlanta are in upscale areas.

The corporate elite and wealthy Southern Baptists keep the scale skewed toward the GOP.

[RebelOne]

13. I live in the Atlanta metro area

and I have not met as many rednecks that you may think live here.

[Feral Child]

21. I believe you've lived here a long time. Longer than me.

My assessment is that is only true of Atlanta, perhaps Savannah and Macon. In the rural areas they predominate.

I'm uncomfortable with that term for them, but the class of people that are heavily Evangelical Christian, relatively poor and uneducated and quite racist seems to be the norm the farther you get from the major cities.

[BronxBoy]

26. It's amazing how people on a progressive board.....

can be just as myopic and ill-informed as the very Southerners they mock. I've only lived here 10 years but even in that short time, I've seen a lot of changes for the better. The change we all seek isn't going to happen overnight but it is happening....

[Feral Child]

15. I don't care for that term

But, yes.

[FLPanhandle]

6. What's been the population growth in the state?

Is it a matter of people migrating from the north at a faster rate than jobs can be created?

[Feral Child]

16. "Quiverfulls"

Mostly. I don't think that people come here looking for work, but many are imported by multi-nationals to fill their staffing needs.

I moved south after retirement. Weather.

It's really a beautiful state, bit of everything. Mountains, coastal salt-marsh wetlands. Nice beaches on the islands. Mild winters, though the summers get a bit hot.

The only thing that fucks it up is the bulk of the population. Stupid and "pious". There are pockets of progressives (I don't live in one) but the vast majority are Evangelical Republicans. There isn't a Democrat Party Office within 3 counties that I know of, probably further if it wasn't for Atlanta.

Seriously, at any major intersection you're liable to see more churches than gas stations.

[1StrongBlackMan]

8. Interesting article ...

seems that the people understand that what is good for business is NOT necessarily good for them; but not the connection that the politicians they vote for (win by default because they don't vote) are the one's instituting policies that are good for business but not the people.

I highly recommend reading the comments at the end of the article ... the idiot-to-informed ratio is quite low ... and despite the vigorous back and forth, the a$$hole ratio seems to be approaching zero.

[mnhtnbb]

9. My husband's family lives in Georgia

and they are die-hard Repubs. One of the family members home schools her three kids,
so no support for public schools from them. I had to finally hide the comments from
the family members on my fb page because they were all so homophobic and racist (anti-Obama
to the extreme). Yet they all attend Sunday school and church on Sunday. They'd do anything
for family--but forget about helping 'the least of these' especially if they are black.

My husband has a hard time going to visit them and his oldest sister's husband won't be
long for this world--at 90 something--which means we'll be going to a funeral before long.
I'm not sure I can handle it.

[mountain grammy]

11. We have family in Texas... same story!

[Feral Child]

19. I'll bet

they have church service on Wednesday night, also. All the Baptist churches do.

Home-schooling is prevalent. I'm an atheist and it's been the cause of a great deal of harassment.

The license plates that don't read "In God We Trust" are so rare that you can play a variant of "Slug Bug" on the interstates.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

30. no support for public schools except monetary

property taxes still by and large go to local school boards.

sP

[mountain grammy]

10. Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, etc, etc...

The Republican corporate agenda in full force. Supply side economics on steroids. But working people with middle class jobs go to church and are told liberals are bad, Democrats are bad, etc, and they believe and vote accordingly. The only middle class left in America will be seniors, government employees, and construction workers on government projects, and they are voting for the very corporate agenda that will destroy them too.

[MoonRiver]

18. Today in Kansas, I saw a bumper sticker on an old dilapidated car, which said:

"Save the Constitution: Vote Republican."

[Liberal Veteran]

29. Ah, Griffin....I went graduated high school there. I can tell when things went to hell...

Griffin wasn't always the far outskirts of the Atlanta metro area.

It was a nice town for the most part. A lot of the folks around the area worked in the cotton mills. They were the bread and butter of the working class. Not great jobs, but they paid the bills. Dundee Mills (which had 6 factories all in Griffin), Thomaston Mills, Carter Mills. Towels, underwear, hosiery, sheets....it seemed liked everyone in town had a closet full of "seconds" they bought from the mills with a misplaced stitch or something.

All those jobs went overseas for cheaper labor. They were barely hanging on in the 80s.

The interstate didn't help much. Before I-75, to get from Atlanta to Macon you pretty much drove right into Griffin. The interstate bypassed Griffin by about 10 miles.

As far as attractions go, it's pretty country, but nothing to write about....just Piedmont area north of the fall line.

It wasn't a bad place to grow up. I grew up in the county about 6 miles out of the city. Not a lot to do but fish and drink and go to church.

But the loss of the mills hurt. I was gone by then. Each visit back showed a little more loss. Eventually, as Atlanta began to grow, the town held on a bit as a place people could buy a place cheap and commute and a few service jobs came around. Wal-Mart of course came to town and you see a lot of the older places just gathering dust or gone out of business.