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Well, you came from Louisiana so it's not like things were good there either. Seems like anywhere in the country would be an improvement from where you came from. You also chose to live in a small college town with no big industries or job market. You need an education, whether it be a trade or a college degree with experience. If you have neither, there are retail stores and restaurants everywhere. I agree with JN1. By your most recent comment, I agree with JN1 even more.
If life sucks for you there, leave. If you're unemployed and broke, see if you have a relative in another state that you can stay with until you find a job. Then gather up just enough $ for a bus ticket and move on.
Its all about connections, I think thats a problem and has become too common and it affects the economy.
In Mississippi you either rich ( got a job) or you are poor, their is nothing in the middle.
The Public Education system up here is a joke, I never did attend school in Mississippi though, that was in Louisiana. But someone I knew who was attending school I would look over some of the work bought home and question what the hell are they doing in that school? I just never saw learning or education being done and this school is supposed to be a high mark school, but its my opinion they going to pass you no matter what.
This kind of model has existed in some developing nations.
Mississippi isn't the only state to view public education this way. This has gone on in other states. A traditionalistic political culture is part of why. In a traditionalistic culture, government's role is to keep the current social order. Probably part of why education has historically not been invested in properly for a long time.
OP, could you give a bit more information? For what sort of jobs were you applying? Could you describe the sort of people who were employing their own incompetent relatives? Were they black? White? 'Gulf Coast Mixture'? Were they actual Americans, or were they foreigners whose businesses were started with the Small Business Loans from the Government not available to actual Americans?
I'm trying to get a picture of what is going on, and you're not giving us information containing enough specifics.
As for my own list of reasons for Mississippi's poverty...
1. The BRAIN DRAIN (contributing to the state's low Average IQ)
2. The climate (contributing to the Brain Drain)
3. Low Average IQ (Stupidity creates poverty. Intelligence creates wealth.)
4. Celtic Culture (as opposed to Norse Culture)(heroism as opposed to rationality)(extreme sexual dimorphism/bubbas & beauty queens.... football-obsessed, hunting-obsessed, manhood-obsessed jackasses married to shrill, manipulative, controlling harpies painted-up like hookers)
5. The dysgenic legacy of Slavery and the plantation economy (deliberate importation of the unintelligent, to work the fields)
6. Economic subjugation of the region, by outside interests (facilitated, in part, by demonization of the region's people, by the Mainstream Media)
7. Cotton (banks, brokers, equipment manufacturers, and chemical companies absorb nearly all the profits, while the Farmers and their Labor get very little)
8. The general exploitation and fleecing of the American Farmer
9. The negative portrayal of the state and it's people (and of the South and Southerners) by the Mainstream Media
All these factors, plus a couple it is forbidden to mention, work synergistically to produce Mississippi's unfortunate situation.
OP, could you give a bit more information? For what sort of jobs were you applying? Could you describe the sort of people who were employing their own incompetent relatives? Were they black? White? 'Gulf Coast Mixture'? Were they actual Americans, or were they foreigners whose businesses were started with the Small Business Loans from the Government not available to actual Americans?
I'm trying to get a picture of what is going on, and you're not giving us information containing enough specifics.
As for my own list of reasons for Mississippi's poverty...
1. The BRAIN DRAIN (contributing to the state's low Average IQ)
2. The climate (contributing to the Brain Drain)
3. Low Average IQ (Stupidity creates poverty. Intelligence creates wealth.)
4. Celtic Culture (as opposed to Norse Culture)(heroism as opposed to rationality)(extreme sexual dimorphism/bubbas & beauty queens.... football-obsessed, hunting-obsessed, manhood-obsessed jackasses married to shrill, manipulative, controlling harpies painted-up like hookers)
5. The dysgenic legacy of Slavery and the plantation economy (deliberate importation of the unintelligent, to work the fields)
6. Economic subjugation of the region, by outside interests (facilitated, in part, by demonization of the region's people, by the Mainstream Media)
7. Cotton (banks, brokers, equipment manufacturers, and chemical companies absorb nearly all the profits, while the Farmers and their Labor get very little)
8. The general exploitation and fleecing of the American Farmer
9. The negative portrayal of the state and it's people (and of the South and Southerners) by the Mainstream Media
All these factors, plus a couple it is forbidden to mention, work synergistically to produce Mississippi's unfortunate situation.
On reason 5, I'll add that antebellum Planters made no effort whatsoever to educate their slaves and after the 13th Amendment abolished slavery, the state established a dual school system. There were white schools and black schools while the former took the lion's share of state funds between the establishment of Mississippi public schools in the 1870s to the end of segregation circa 1970. Not only that, but it was the policy of the state's education system during the years of segregation to focus black public education toward agricultural type work, domestic service, and other industrial type arts while white public education varied to include academic subjects that prepared one for higher learning.
In short, state leaders from 1817 to roughly 1970 conspired to make sure their "unintelligent" labor force could not have much of any access toward education.
OP, could you give a bit more information? For what sort of jobs were you applying? Could you describe the sort of people who were employing their own incompetent relatives? Were they black? White? 'Gulf Coast Mixture'? Were they actual Americans, or were they foreigners whose businesses were started with the Small Business Loans from the Government not available to actual Americans?
I'm trying to get a picture of what is going on, and you're not giving us information containing enough specifics.
As for my own list of reasons for Mississippi's poverty...
1. The BRAIN DRAIN (contributing to the state's low Average IQ)
2. The climate (contributing to the Brain Drain)
3. Low Average IQ (Stupidity creates poverty. Intelligence creates wealth.)
4. Celtic Culture (as opposed to Norse Culture)(heroism as opposed to rationality)(extreme sexual dimorphism/bubbas & beauty queens.... football-obsessed, hunting-obsessed, manhood-obsessed jackasses married to shrill, manipulative, controlling harpies painted-up like hookers)
5. The dysgenic legacy of Slavery and the plantation economy (deliberate importation of the unintelligent, to work the fields)
6. Economic subjugation of the region, by outside interests (facilitated, in part, by demonization of the region's people, by the Mainstream Media)
7. Cotton (banks, brokers, equipment manufacturers, and chemical companies absorb nearly all the profits, while the Farmers and their Labor get very little)
8. The general exploitation and fleecing of the American Farmer
9. The negative portrayal of the state and it's people (and of the South and Southerners) by the Mainstream Media
All these factors, plus a couple it is forbidden to mention, work synergistically to produce Mississippi's unfortunate situation.
Ironically enough, I am white, the jobs I been applying to the managers and all is white themselves. Most any jobs I have applied for has been with retail stores, salvage stores and some restaurants, its about all their is around here.
Is it a racism thing? Only in government like the City, if you want to work for the city in any manner or the state for things like construction, laying pipes, wiring along the highways, reading water meters, mowing or trimming areas, any basic City or State job, then it seems to be limited only to blacks.
I managed to get 1 job and this was in 2010, 75% of the employees car pooled and lived in the same house, still one of the best jobs I have had though, 2011 I worked with Walmart (not doing that again) and it was a huge mess, the 2010 job I had at least had competent people to some extent, the Walmart job was a big can of fail from most people they hired around me, all the way to management. I was terminated from that job for dropping a jack handle though.........yes.....DROPPING A DAMN JACK HANDLE ON SOME PIECE OF **** EQUIPMENT NOT FIT FOR USE...which most likely involved an illegal immigrant anyway. But thats another story.
As for this whole education thing, about all I learned in School was reading, I could write proper grammar if I wanted to, I choose not to especially on the internet because no one else bothers to either.
Having graduated in Louisiana though, thanks to the access of internet during that point and present, I learned most things through the internet and phased out much of what I learned in high school, you be very surprised that what you learn on your own was backwards in school, I am not talking about everything like Math, but to some extent English, Science, History, all of this has a good bit of false information in it.
I think College is far worse than regular High schooling also, I believe College does everything but prepare you for what field you are working toward. I've seen this all too much.
I'm sure that I will get a racist backlash for the comment I'm about to post, but I believe it to be true. Mississippi has the highest percentage of African Americans of any state in the country. I believe it's 59% white, 38% black, and 2% other races. African Americans in general make less money than their Caucasian counter parts, this is the largest contributor to the state's poverty levels. However it's not just poor African Americans, there are plenty of poor Caucasians also. It's the states old time traditions and ways of thinking that hinder it from moving forward.
While the state's population has continuously increased over the past 100 years, growth has been very slow, no more than 2-3% a year. I blame this on the media coverage, and general societal ideas of the state as being slow and backwater. An influx of outsiders moving into this state would greatly revolutionize it, and change things for the better.
North Carolina is a great example of this. The research triangle with the state's top 3 schools in the area has seen a huge population increase over the past few decades. The state's largest city, Charlotte is one of the fastest growing cities in the country, nearly doubling its population from 400,000 to 700,000 from 1990 to 2010.
Mississippi's largest city, Jackson is shrinking, and has been for decades. White flight came to this city during the 1960's and 1970's, with most whites moving to the suburbs. Consequently the county's population has seen a steady increase while the city itself has seen a large decline.
Other factors affect the state's economy. A lack of industrialization and organized unions guarantee lower wages and fewer jobs for the people in skilled trades.
It's no coincidence that the poorest states in the country are all in the deep south, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Alabama. Although Mississippi is probably amongst the poorest. This can be attributed to most southerner's general lack of a good education, rural communities, and a lack of people moving to the state.
Everyone makes some really salient points on this topic. I would point first to history, as green_mariner did. After the institution of slavery was dismantled, there was no lucrative industry to replace it, leaving the state in an economic bind, and *more importantly* prolonging racial tensions. Your neighbor, Alabama, offers some interesting insight into the situation in Mississippi. Alabama, though certainly no angel during the Civil Rights Movement and later integration in the 1960s, was actually pretty quick to desegregate. There was also a concerted effort to build community colleges, and the state did an impressive job of bringing African-Americans into government at the state level to help move African-Americans into the middle class. They saw people with education doing great things, and in turn thought they were capable of doing more. Unfortunately, this never happened for MS. The combination of deep-seated racial tension, low educational attainment, and low human capital has left the state in a difficult position, but I don't believe it's an impossible one. It will take a change in political leadership and policy, though. Something to think about when you step into the voting booth.
@ExhaustedCure, I don't think your statements are racist. In my mind, race is just another word for class, and the great disparities between the rich and the poor are as American as apple pie. I like your point about labor unions. The recent stigmatizing of labor unions as somehow 'un-American' is really problematic (cough Wisconsin, Ohio). I'm not sure what the union landscape is like in Mississippi, but I'd be curious to find out if you have any stats or info.
I'm sure that I will get a racist backlash for the comment I'm about to post, but I believe it to be true. Mississippi has the highest percentage of African Americans of any state in the country. I believe it's 59% white, 38% black, and 2% other races. African Americans in general make less money than their Caucasian counter parts, this is the largest contributor to the state's poverty levels. However it's not just poor African Americans, there are plenty of poor Caucasians also. It's the states old time traditions and ways of thinking that hinder it from moving forward.
While the state's population has continuously increased over the past 100 years, growth has been very slow, no more than 2-3% a year. I blame this on the media coverage, and general societal ideas of the state as being slow and backwater. An influx of outsiders moving into this state would greatly revolutionize it, and change things for the better.
North Carolina is a great example of this. The research triangle with the state's top 3 schools in the area has seen a huge population increase over the past few decades. The state's largest city, Charlotte is one of the fastest growing cities in the country, nearly doubling its population from 400,000 to 700,000 from 1990 to 2010.
Mississippi's largest city, Jackson is shrinking, and has been for decades. White flight came to this city during the 1960's and 1970's, with most whites moving to the suburbs. Consequently the county's population has seen a steady increase while the city itself has seen a large decline.
Other factors affect the state's economy. A lack of industrialization and organized unions guarantee lower wages and fewer jobs for the people in skilled trades.
It's no coincidence that the poorest states in the country are all in the deep south, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Alabama. Although Mississippi is probably amongst the poorest. This can be attributed to most southerner's general lack of a good education, rural communities, and a lack of people moving to the state.
Its racist to the ones who hate the truth, but what you say is a fact.
If you notice places that are more populated with whites or other races, the economy is tons more better, I think one study a couple years back deemed Salt Lake City, Utah as being the best place to live because of this. I found it quite interesting but not surprising.
I hope this aint racist, but I believe these places in the south went down hill after all that civil rights malarkey in the 60's. All that did was just reverse the roles some what.
You know what is even more ridiculous though?
The fact 9 out of 10 cards (seems that way) on the road has a handicap license plate...........even these giant 4x4s, that just doesnt make too much sense. You see teenagers with them, nothing wrong with them in the world, same group that probably collects SSI.
On reason 5, I'll add that antebellum Planters made no effort whatsoever to educate their slaves and after the 13th Amendment abolished slavery, the state established a dual school system. There were white schools and black schools while the former took the lion's share of state funds between the establishment of Mississippi public schools in the 1870s to the end of segregation circa 1970. Not only that, but it was the policy of the state's education system during the years of segregation to focus black public education toward agricultural type work, domestic service, and other industrial type arts while white public education varied to include academic subjects that prepared one for higher learning.
In short, state leaders from 1817 to roughly 1970 conspired to make sure their "unintelligent" labor force could not have much of any access toward education.
And on top of all THAT, which I believe is accurate, Mississippi did not have compulsory education until the 1960's. In other words, many parents never sent their youngsters to school at all.
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