Liberal cities in conservative states

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

As much as I hate to admit it, the south grew a great deal more than the US average between the New Deal and 1980. Since, then it kind of just stagnated and the north has been able to grow much faster. Whether that's a good or bad thing and the causes of it can be debated - the US average itself is pretty consistent. Just the general rural nature of the region and large distances between cities has got to be part of it which is why they need public projects. They started off poorer through no fault of their own, but one party did help them catch up, and it's not the one they're voting for.

Of course there are hundreds of other problems and solutions. A stronger banking industry would have done wonders had they not opposed it for all of history. That would have countered some of the problems they face.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

Oh, well, of course, the south has some good places - I was just generally speaking about the Southeast as a whole.



Of course, you couldn't expect the south to go up forever as you'd expect it to settle in at 100 (or just a bit under 100 for the reasons I mentioned above), but it really has failed to catch up at all, and the trend line starting in 1980 can't be just a coincidence especially when New England manages to do so well in that timeframe (private resources being diverted to states with strong banking systems due to deregulation).

And also just to clarify - I wasn't saying the South is in decline - just that its growth has been lagging since a specific revolutionary point in history.