Dude, you are reinforcing the stereotype
Man, I love Alabama. After living in Iowa and California growing up, the east coast going to school, and multiple places in the world with Uncle Sam, I can honestly say there's no place I would rather be than sweet home Alabama.
But then you guys gotta start talking like this and putting confederate flags on your truck. You get folks who refuse to vote in a lottery or minor property tax increase that would add an extra $150 a year to build a new $20 milliion high school. They apparently don't realize that Californians pay 1.25% annually on their half million dollar modest home...some $6,250, so that those crazies can build half billion high schools in L.A....not lower Alabama but the real L.A. where my lawyer brother lives/works, traffic is idiotic, illegal aliens are plentiful, only matched by environmental impact studies that deprive farmers of water and destroy perfectly good dams so a few more fish will survive.
And then those left coast geniuses turn around and promise so much in government pensions that the state possibly has half a trillion in unfunded pension obligations. They go so hog wild on home speculation that it in turn drives up public and private pay to the point that businesses can't afford to operate there, especially when workmen's comp is included. Regular folks can't afford the taxes or normal homes that have been inflated near big cities forcing stupidly long commutes.
The inevitable crash occurs so then red states end up partially funding left and right coast stupidity in buying too much house for their income. You are right, that ain't right. They pay so much in interest on those homes that despite big incomes they don't necessarily pay big federal taxes, yet they expect us to bail them out of their own misguided purchase.
The other dumb thing in blue states is unions. The other day on TV, a guy was complaining that he had lost his $130,000-with-overtime GM job and was now making 100K less working at Loews. Well, duh dude, your $130K income, outrageous benefits, and huge pension are what put GM in bankruptcy. I refuse to be put on a guilt trip for not "buying American" when union folks demand so much...and get it...and our tax dollars foot the bill.
So when I see all kinds of foreign and multinational corporations being successful in the south, I have a hard time feeling sorry for American manufacturing. I will happily buy a Nissan Sentra made in Smyrna, Tennessee, an American pick-up for horse-happy wife, and my sports car Mazda that at the time was part owned by Ford. And I'm perfectly happy to make less than the coasters because my house is paid for and cost only $65K to build from scratch in 1986. You can make less in the south because it costs less to live here. You can survive as a business here for the same reasons...I know because I had one for 13 years.
It's a global economy and global interdependence in the economic sector helps deter war. So please help me cheerlead for a possible LCS victory by Australian Austal and KC-X win by EADS that also builds darn nice helicopters in Mississippi near where NG builds nice Fire Scout UAS. Did you know that Boeing C-17 workers went on strike? How about the KC-X crying Seattle boys that sent half the 787 production to South Carolina? Now Oshkosh wants to strike after corporate honchos got them crucial orders to keep them afloat at a ridiculously low M-ATV bid price...dumb.
You'll tell me that I don't get it and I'm a carpetbagger. Well, my daughter is hogging a Med School slot in Alabama, something she could never do in California due to greater competition. My son is now at Auburn so we are trying to assimilate. And assimilation is something my daughter endeavors to do sharing one good thing in common with those left coasters. She and an Indian and Pakistani med student are in the same study group and do just fine together. When I visit my Silicon valley former home, I also see plenty of Indians. Pakistanis, and Iranians who aren't threatening jihad and seem to get along with Americans quite well. Alabama has come a long ways from just 40 years ago which is why, when coupled with the Muslim immigrant population that does just fine here, leads me to believe that one day things could get better over yonder...using the U.S. and its well-intentioned Soldiers as a model.
So before even using the "R" word to describe changing government, just be glad you live where you live and a Kia and Hyundai plant are just down the road along with a fine university dressed all in orange. Wanna be like Aivs and be number 2 instead? Soon enough instead of 10 day traffic jams, China will have perpetual ones and even greater smog. They will have fewer younger and more older citizens thanks to the one-chld rule. Eventually wages will rise and some new place in the world will supplant them in making products for Walmart where Americans spend $2 million a week per store. Are you gonna tell me you don't buy from Walmart with all that non-made-in-the USA stuff?
Originally Posted by Ken White
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