America's Red State Growth Corridors

[Valin]

WSJ:

Low-tax, energy-rich regions in the heartland charge ahead as economies on both coasts sing the blues.

JOEL KOTKIN

2/25/13

 

In the wake of the 2012 presidential election, some political commentators have written political obituaries of the "red" or conservative-leaning states, envisioning a brave new world dominated by fashionably blue bastions in the Northeast or California. But political fortunes are notoriously fickle, while economic trends tend to be more enduring.

 

These trends point to a U.S. economic future dominated by four growth corridors that are generally less dense, more affordable, and markedly more conservative and pro-business: the Great Plains, the Intermountain West, the Third Coast (spanning the Gulf states from Texas to Florida), and the Southeastern industrial belt.

 

Overall, these corridors account for 45% of the nation's land mass and 30% of its population. Between 2001 and 2011, job growth in the Great Plains, the Intermountain West and the Third Coast was between 7% and 8%—nearly 10 times the job growth rate for the rest of the country. Only the Southeastern industrial belt tracked close to the national average.

 

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As Always The Comments are interesting.

[Valin]

Meanwhile in the Golden State.

 

Conn Carroll: The California spending rush

February 25, 2013

 

California's budget is balanced ... or at least that is what Gov. Jerry Brown wants you to believe, now that he "temporarily" hiked taxes on all Californians by $6.8 billion last year.

 

This past November, after voters approved Brown's income and sales tax hike through a referendum, the state's Legislative Analyst's Office projected that California would still end fiscal year 2014 with a $1.9 billion deficit. In January, just two months later, Brown claimed in his State of the State address not only that "the budget is balanced," but that the Golden State was on track to end the fiscal year with a billion-dollar surplus.

 

So what exactly happened in the span of two months that added $2.9 billion to California's bottom line? Did the economy suddenly turn around? Was spending cut? Not at all. What happened is that Brown simply made up new numbers.

 

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