Why Is This State the Way That It Is?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 พ.ค. 2024
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Mississippi, once the richest state in the USA, now has the lowest GDP per capita, highest poverty rate, and slowest growth. What caused this dramatic decline? Let's find out.
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I missed the evidence that MS was once the richest state, and have never heard that before as 50 year old American who knows the history of the country. The early rich states were on the east coast. If there was a blip for a couple of decades sometime in the early 19th century that briefly pushed MS above VA, MA, or NY, which would be the only possibility, you should probably tell us when and why that happened. And remind people that this was when the largest city in the country was smaller than what we would consider a small college town today.
Do Alaska! Talk about a weird economic system!
I’d like to see a video about how Minnesota has a high quality of life and good economic while being in the Midwest.
Great to see Vessi sponsoring people now!
So, what state do you plan to cover next? No rush, but I gotta suggest the greatest of all states: Oregon.
Growing up in Alabama, the state joke was that our state motto was, "Thank god for Mississippi." Because if not for Mississippi, we'd be last place at everything.
Alabama or Louisiana
This made me laugh thanks 😊
Kentucky is up there too
@@GotTheBestLigmaCant froget West by god Virginia
@@theintrospective255 Louisiana? New Orleans is awesome
At the South has SEC football
Born and raised in MS. No one in my family graduated college. It was a given that you go to work as soon as you are legal. They would say You didn’t need a “fancy degree with all the book smarts”
Luckily, I earned an electrical engineering degree and escaped the poverty. I am now a successful software engineer married to a medical doctor. I succeeded in spite of everything.
Good for you mate, hard work forever pays
And sad to say, this is what a certain group of people is trying to push on young people now - you don’t need no education, just learn how to service air conditioners. Not that there’s anything wrong with that if that’s what you want to do, of course.
what made u do the electrical engineering to software jump? i’m interested in the same careers and i’m 19
@@LiverPrime1 I interviewed for Electrical Engineering jobs but ended up getting an offer for an Electronics Engineering position at a career fair. The role involved hardware and software engineering, but I ended up doing more software work over the years. I really enjoyed it and threw myself into improving and learning more.
@@paulmichael7194What do you think of Brett Favre?
"Americans are really in to a little competitive rivalry" Boy that's the truth. Every state has a bag full of insults about a nearby rival state. I'm from Alabama, and whenever we mention the ills and troubles of our state we say "Thank God we're not Mississippi."
It's the same with Michigan and Ohio. But God forbid someone from say Pennsylvania talks snack about Michigan, I will bear arms lol
Maybe that's good. Most places in the world have a bag full of insults about a neighboring nation, and that's worse in every way.
I live in Maryland. People here don't talk much trash about other states. Instead people here compete with Texans for the award of "most arrogantly proud of their state".
no, no, we say "thank god we're not in Mississippi" here in Canada too
Puerto Rico becomes a state:
Mississippians: 'Thank God we're not Puerto Rico"
I live in MS, and my solution is to bail and head to a better state. My subdivision doesn't even have sidewalks. Nice trees, though.
10/10 worked great for me
To be fair, much of the US no longer has sidewalks. Americans largely are unable/unwilling to walk anywhere
@@mikea5745hence the obesity rates
@@mikea5745 more unwilling than unable. I absolutely hate neighborhoods with no sidewalks. You're running in the street trying to to be folded by a car or you're risking running on someone's lawn. No thanks
The sidewalk situation in Mississippi is ridiculous 😡
as someone who lives in a developing country, it's crazy to think that low income Americans are richer than average income in my country.
Yes but goods in your area are probably priced to your average income. Goods in mississippi are priced to the average american income whilst simultaneously they make the least.
@@TheGImp1214 Groceries in Germany are cheaper than in Kazakhstan
Which country? I live in Spain from California.
@@TheGImp1214not true, I’m an American living in a developing country and while wages are 90% less, the prices of basic food, fuel, and rent are only between 10-30% cheaper and luxury fruits, tech etc are even more expensive than in America. So while the cost of living is a bit cheaper, it’s not really much cheaper.
@@neversariumKazakhstan is landlocked. Imports are going to be expensive
The American internet collectively agrees that Mississippi is the worst state to visit, the worst to live in, and the worst to do business in. It’s just…depressing.
As EE said, someone has to be last on any list.
@@Unknown-jt1jo The part EE left out, its all because its almost 40% black.
The interesting thing is that ignorance is bliss. Many Americans are under the assumption that Mississippi is very racist and stuck in the times. I can't speak for most of the state, but on the coast, it's not as bad. Coming from NY, I had the same impression, but figured if I'm to travel the world, I need to keep an open mind to the possibilities that I could be wrong or was told wrong.
I thought it was Alabama before this video.
@@Monkeyspank88Someone who is from NY as well and travelled to almost 40 States. The North East is the most racist part of the country I've been in. I've dealt with more racism in Westchester, NY than Jackson Mississippi. And the claim just doesn't really make sense when you take a step back. The States people point to like Mississippi or Alabama have some of the largest black populations.
Its refreshing to see someone take an unbiased look at Mississippi and not just throw a petty insult at them.
Thank you for your professionalism.
Especially since the reason Mississippi is in the shape it is in is all about petty, destructive and greedy actions. Like 100% greed....and a disregard for human life.
I agree. He is spot on from what I seen of Mississippi. I lived in Desoto County, Mississippi and from what I saw south of there, he has it. Some people describe Mississippi like being in a 3rd world country and I think is very unfair. It is much like the deep rural south, but almost everywhere in Mississippi except northern Desoto County and maybe Jackson. I didn't mind my 10 years living in Mineral Wells, MS but I don't want to return either.
you agree that Mississippi was once the richest state because of the cheap labor it had to work the plantations?
@@rgekam5814the elephant in the room they hate to atone for nor truly discuss.
I read an article about the downfall of the bike maker Schwinn. One of the dumb moves that led to its demise was opening its main production factory in Mississippi to avoid having to use union labor. And while it’s labor costs were lower nobody considered that most of the parts they used to build bikes came from Asia and Mississippi is a long way from the Pacific Ocean. And as the video say’s Mississippi roads aren’t great and there aren’t a lot of highways. So Schwinn’s transportation costs went way up (more then the money they were saving in labor costs) and Schwinn closed the plant and declared bankruptcy a few years later.
Never heard that but it makes some sense. Some of these companies can be so shortsighted and only look at one column of the balance sheet.
Actually you're very wrong, as a MS native and semi driver, i can tell you MS roads are top 10 in the nation, though speedlimits are stupidly low.
@@Jonathan-hx6oy - the Schwinn factory went under over 30
Years ago so hopefully Mississippi has used some of the federal cash they didn’t give to Brett Favre to improve their roads by now. But it doesn’t change the fact that Mississippi is a long way away from Asian suppliers
@@andrewward5891 i didn't argue the supplier problem. Just said MS roads are top notch. In the 30 yrs I've been driving MS has always had very good roads (except Jackson the state capital their roads are a trail
Oh, so it cost more to ship to Mississippi than Wisconsin? I think not.
When I was a kid, my family drove through Mississippi on the way to New Orleans.
I’d forgotten what we saw in Mississippi, so I asked my dad, who did all the driving. He replied, “There was nothing worth remembering.”
Stuckeys?
That's why half the state moved to Illinois in the first half of the 20tb century
And then Illinois moved to California and now Texas.
It's interesting how states in the US rise and fall.
And that's why Chicago leads the country in shootings!
@@ElectrostatiCrow Pretty soon, there's a good chance people will start leaving the Sun Belt due to climate change.
@@Unknown-jt1jo "Pretty soon"? Try 400 years..
@@somethingelse9535eh, could be 20 years, could be 2,000. The only thing we’re certain about is that the models are wrong
I was born and raised in Mississippi. After graduating from Mississippi state with a BS in computer engineering i lived in the state for a few years. There weren’t too many job opportunities for my degree and the ones that were available were boring and didn’t pay as much as jobs in Texas, Florida, or even TN. I moved to Nashville in 2014 and have been happy ever since.
How is that Nashville host of living?
@@Thegeneralms1better than any shithole in MS. Imagine living in a place where your tax dollars are spent on infrastructure and amenities. Half of MS doesn't even have sidewalks 😂😂😂
Nashville is booming and I'd strongly recommend anyone with a stem degree should move there.
So, developing an economy for the sole benefit of a few very rich people has negative outcomes... Interesting...
Republican governors for 28 of the last 32 years. That trickle down economics is working so well
The State's ruling class rails against Big Federal Government and Federal interference - while simultaneously receiving a disproportionate amount of Federal Government money. Go figure.
average red state behavior
@@rudyardganuelas6254sure just blame the republicans. Meanwhile democrat governors such as Gavin newsom are ruining their state
@@rudyardganuelas6254 Lol. Mississippi was poor when it was run by Dems as well. I wonder what demographic MS ranks first in? 🤔
Most people I know from Mississippi left, that’s very telling even the wealthier residents left for better opportunities, more money, more favorable politics
Only the deplorables remain
I went to university in Mississippi. There’s a very sad reality that the state spends a lot of money in their public universities to train graduates at Ole Miss, Miss State, or Southern Miss, only for those students to leave the state for higher paying jobs in Atlanta, Nashville, or Dallas. Mississippis is essentially subsidizing their neighbors as they continue to out develop them.
and the Blue States subsidize the Red States
Between Military bases, welfare benefits, congressional votes that hold back national development and being an international embarrassment because of racism. I would say that Mississippi is subsidized by the rest of the nation.
@@darrinm486 you’re completely missing my point. The point is that what money MS DOES spend on investment in the future doesn’t even stick around to benefit the state, and go off to benefit others. It’s class brain drain which EE has discussed before.
and it will continue to happen until people have a reason to stay, there's a correlation between farming and low population, there's no real jobs and industry keeping people from leaving for jobs in other cities
@@novadawg6913 Not to belabor the point, but I imagine an important factor in why the brain drain happens to begin with is that, well, it's not very appealing to a lot of people.
I think a lot of the issue is that it's politically very conservative/evangelical and that does push people away. Why would a woman, for instance, want to move to or stay in Mississippi if she has the means to move around? If she goes there/stays, she runs the risk of being jailed for getting an abortion, even if it's medically justified or her life is on the line.
It's not the whole reason for the brain drain, but I feel fairly confident in saying they absolutely will *not* solve the problem if they keep trying to stick to regressive policies that harm people.
An area that you lightly touched on was brain drain, but that also should be labor drain. From the 1910 to 1970s Mississippi lost hundreds of thousands people that migrated north as part of the great migration. well documented statements, letters, speeches made in Mississippi, regarding how business owners at first did not care that their black labor was leaving, but then we became frustrated and concerned as many industries faced labor shortages, and had to raise wages. Antagonism or further sped up migration during the 20s and 30s. Its behavior as a state in the 50s and 60s further drove people out of the state further hurting industries. The book Red Summer: The Summer of 1919 and the Awakening of Black America by Cameron McWhirter details some of this, as well as articles written in the Chicago defender, and the crisis from that time.
Apparently the government is taking questionable, stances and passing laws that actually are further exasperating the brain drain because they’re encouraging younger populations to move to secure more rights and access .
You reap what you sow, as they say.
I’m from Alabama and our motto has always been, “At least we’re not Mississippi”
Hahahahahahaha
I'm from Louisiana and our motto has always been at least we're not China
I live in Mississippi and we say the same about Arkansas
Mississippi, the Detroit of states.
@@baronblitzer2125Arkansas is much nicer than Mississippi especially North West Arkansas.
An interesting factoid I learned recently: If the UK were to join the US as a state, it would be in last place in GDP per capita. Behind Mississippi. So don't feel bad, Mississippians. You're still richer than the UK.
True. But think it's hard to compare directly. Still think I would live on a higher standard in for example Bavaria or Denmark than Mississippi even if they are poorer counted in USD.
Tbh you shouldn't envy Americans. Envy countries with good quality of living, like Denmark and Finland
Yes. Fareed Zakaria noted that fact on Bill Maher I believe. I knew that the UK was having a tough time but that really put it context.
This isn't remotely true?
Median household income would be a better metric than per capita GDP. Still better would be the Human Development Index. Merged with the Gini Coefficient (a measure income inequality) you get the "Inequality Adjusted Human Development Index." Honedtly, I consider *all* these measures important, so all should be considered. I dont happen to know how the UK stacks up to Mississippi in all these measurements, but I considered it worth putting out there. In any case, the typical Londoner probably has a better standard of living than the typical resident of Jackson, Mississippi, so there's that.
Mississippi was simply meant to be an entry for spelling bees.
It never was supposed to become a real state.
Really? Even as a joke, sounds lame; if any state had that title, it'd probably be Connecticut or Arkansas. Even worse if you actually feel it's true.
@@Khyranleander Oh, chill out, FFS. You'll live longer.
@@hughjass1044To be fair, living longer than the average Mississippian is not that much of a reassurance.
@@Khyranleanderbro has no chill
@@hughjass1044 If they are not from Mississippi, that is :)
I absolutely need to see all 50 US states ranked
Economically? That already exists.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_GDP
Look at the "per capita" rankings.
By Economics Explained!
That’s what I meant haha. Raw data isn’t as fun as a video explaining some of the history as to why a state is the way it is.
@@Unknown-jt1jothat’s just GDP as he explains that doesn’t tell the whole story
Define "ranked." The low population states that do things like grow food may not turn out well on a GDP chart.
"The Past is never dead, it's not even past" Mississippi writer William Faulkner
Born and raised in Mississippi and I moved to Texas.
It’s unbelievable how much better our lives are! Better pay, less crime, less poverty, better way of life, so much more opportunities.
Generational poverty snapped in one move just from moving away from that state!
Yep, wages are a joke here. Jobs that require a bachelor's degree pay 27k a year.... farcical. Family is the only reason people stay in Mississippi.
no wonder people leave, when they can get paid 2-3x as much in other states for that job
Never been to Mississippi, Louisiana or Alabama and probably never will. I have o reason to travel down south. I will stay in the Midwest thank you very I! Nice, fair assessment of this backwards state.
But the cost of living is much less.
@st101005 That is a factor, in no world should a job requiring a 4 year degree pay less than the average annual salary in the state. Rural states are very regional. Some areas do well, others languish.
@@st101005And yet it’s the most impoverished state in the US? So how is that relevant?
I live here (I would leave, but unfortunately genetic disabilities have ruined that for me), but when I could work, I worked pest control, it introduced me to some of the saddest living conditions you could imagine(that and traveling thru the Delta when I was younger, there is a reason it's famous for its Blues music), I mean rooms with holes to the outside covered in rodent and roach waste, people living in sheds and shotgun shacks. This state will never recover, it simply doesn't have anything to offer, and the politics are so corrupt here, nothing ever gets done (for examples: Jackson's long Trash issue and the regular boil water notices.) (Also the GDP is misleading, drive around here and you'll see that(We have a high proportion of old money in places like Brandon, that artificially inflate the GDP)) (I also treated Mansions.)
Good point about the old money skewing the avg! I grew up near rural Pike Co and the poverty can be bad, but the morale can be even worse.
The gulf coast is a little better. I was stationed in Pascagoula for a little while. I didn't dare travel upstate LOL. The downside there is they get hit by hurricanes a lot. But federal money bales them out a lot of the time. Biloxi didn't seem too 3rd world to me, the casinos keep it going.
@@jimmym3352 I'll put it like this, the gulf is the exception, besides special communities, the rest of the state is extremely poor, I just had to comment so people don't take the exception as the rule.
MS is the best place in the world for producing musicians and has produced the best blues musicians.
I’d be singing the blues too if I lived in Mississippi
It’s called blues for a reason.
poverty and depression are excellent soil for art
There's a saying in the US, especially amongst other southern states, "Thank God for Mississippi." The state places so low on several rankings that it spares other states the shame of coming in last place.
I live in MS, and my main complaint is the heat. Escaping northward after this year.
Understandable
The increase is something that will only get worse in coming years due to climate change. It is projected that agriculture will become virtually impossible for the South in general as temperatures climb to intolerable levels for people to work in an outside environment.
Is humidity high with all that water, in summer ?
@oleopathic Florida man here. I can't speak for Mississippi but the humidity here is pretty bad. We're basically one big aquafir.
I have friends that just retired to Mississippi to lower their living expenses. I guess it's all a matter of preference.
The video clip at the very start isn’t Mississippi. It’s the Mississippi River just outside Dubuque, Iowa.
What a spot. And what a spot.
Plenty of inaccuracies from this channel - as you'd expect given that they mostly make videos about the USA from the other side of the world.
May as well be.
Same with 5:48 . That is of Davenport, Iowa
Scandal!!
Mississippi making West Virginia look better
Yeah tbh after Mississippi WV is definitely the second worst state the place ranks bad in a lot of categories to say the least with the highest od rate in the country by a mile.
@@josephhoover4542 How is it that WV is broke but still has toll roads? 😅
Of the top 50 states in the USA as ranked by GDP per capita, Mississippi clocks in at 52nd place.
They're also including DC and Puerto Rico - frankly, they should also include Guam, the Virgin Islands, etc.
It's really just that bad
Yea that confused me
MS has achieved the impossible! It managed to drop to a negative ranking.
It doesn’t rank behind Puerto Rico. It’s about 10k above PR.
You only briefly touched upon this, but as long as half the state wants to oppress the minority 40% it is hard for the overall state to advance. The governor fighting against progress in Jackson is a perfect example.
Correct. Dude is focused on using TANF money to build a volleyball court for Brett Favre's daughter, making sure confederate soldiers are memorialized, and bullying trans kids going to the bathroom.
Mississippian here and glad we're getting this coverage. What the video doesn't cover is GDP per county or city, instead pouring over the entire state (wrapping us all into an average) which is why we get such a bad rep. That being said, Mississippi's best kept secret is its coastline which is probably intentional. Cities like Biloxi that provide us with beaches, backbays, rivers, and casinos would have you second guessing this video as a whole. But as soon as you navigate north of the Gulf Coast, you run into the BFE locations with nothing to offer. I'll even include Jackson in that statement.
Mississippi is entirely supported by other, almost entirely Northern, states. So please understand how much it pisses everyone else off when you people complain about *your perception* of our cities.
Mississippi is a FAR bigger drain on me and my tax dollars than northers cities, Ukraine aid, 'trans' rights, or women's healthcare.
You should do Puerto Rico, it is poorer than Mississippi and way more politically complicated but part of the US.
Nah Mississippi we need Help
Don't stop our Spotlight! You don't understand
Well Puerto Rico is no state, yet...
@@DeWellstein yes that is a very well known fact
@@charlsssoooo Except for that viral video of the old guy telling a girl not to wear a Puerto Rico shirt in America.
Cheers from Moldova 🤙
Sounds like you're the Mississippi of Europe.
@@Unknown-jt1jo honestly would like to be because Moldova is a quite poor country but we at least try know with the actual government to get rid of corruption and become an EU member.
What's it like to border Transnistria? Do most of you speak Russian or English as a second language?
We speak both of them )
@@millevenon5853 first of all it depends on the age, there are a lot of people like me who were born after 2000s who speak Russian very well as second language but the main language is Romanian, as the native one. Besides these two most of teenagers speak English quite good...so it's not Italy where people not just don't want to speak with you in English but they don't know it at all.
To speak about Transnistria, we are a peaceful nation so we aknowledge the fact that this conflict could be solved just through peaceful methods. This is not a country, this territory is a part of Moldova and sooner or later it will be gotten back and will be de facto a part of Moldova.
Do Massachusetts next it has one of the most fascinating economies in the US consistently finding its core industries simultaneously on the cutting edge and the chopping block every couple decades.
It's a bit surprising watching this, because Mississippi is usually paired with Alabama often. But, outside slavery, a lot of what's emphasized in the video, isn't really that true with it's eastern neighbor. Alabama tends to surprisingly start things earlier than its southern peers, but is a bit inflexible with the innovations and gets passed by other states quickly after. Examples being rocket science, incentivizing foreign manufacturing investment, and office parks
Arkansas’ state motto is “Thank God for Mississippi”! We are only the 49th poorest!
Nah Arkansas is actually the 47th poorest now WV and Louisiana bumped it down 😂
Congrats! You're second-best (from the bottom).
i grew up in Mississippi. They have modern farming now but the problem is cotton and catfish are still cheaper coming from India and South Korea. You could slash the min wage to $1/hr and it still would be cheaper to buy it from overseas. So I guess the problem is, its poor, but not poor enough to be competitive with other producers, and not rich enough to become a major service provider like TX or CA. And with how bad things are looking in India and S.Korea, that's probably not going to change anytime soon. If I ever get to retire, which I probably won't, I'd like to move back there. I'd move now but there's no jobs there, why I had to move away in the first place.
Your story perfectly echoes mine. I had to leave to get a good paying job. I still love my Home state, but it has a lot of problems and seems to consistently be working to make those problems worse. Brain drain is a huge problem there, and I'm embarrassed to say that I also made that problem worse. But at the end of the day, I had to look out for myself and Mississippi wasn't providing.
Ok the catfish example is incorrect over 95% of US catfish comes from inside the country with Mississippi producing 50% of that. Now cotton that is alot different imports and Texas are the big producers.
The issue in Mississippi is like the creator said little investment in technology, income inequality and look at maps of race majorities by county and income you will see another issue.
I’m also from Mississippi and have also moved out of state and also thought about going back when I retire. But I fear the state will be wayyyy too hot to live in when I’m that old. It’s only getting hotter lol.
@@nathanatreidies1118 maybe they put import taxes on the Korean catfish since then but my uncle had to close up his catfish farm back in the late 80s. My grandpa worked as a cotton farmer but he never got paid much and most of the neighbors on our road were either farmers or old retirees, or just unemployed. I've seen Google street views of the same place and it looks even WORSE now than it did back then!
@@7tmichael has it got real bad? i do remember the hot summers it could get up to 95 with 90% humidity which is nearly unlivable. if it's getting worse than that then hellfire if i could live there.
People saying that Mississipi is still wealthier than most of developed country, should realize that it shows how flawed the GDP per capita metric is.
USA is a massive cash machine, but it's développement is very much average.
Meaning that the money USA generate doesn't contribute to Americans life as much as Europeans.
Most likely due to massive inequality and unefficient investment.
Mississipi HDI is about the one of Latvia or Slovekia.
So not awfully low for Europe, but still in the bottom table.
That being said, the lack of economic productivity of Europe compared to USA is not to be overlooked either.
Look at American vs. European consumption.
Americans have bigger homes and larger Christmas lists.
HDI doesn’t measure development. It is an average of income, life expectancy, and educational attainment. The reason the HDI is relatively low in both Mississippi and somewhere like Latvia is the brain drain lowering educational attainment. If measuring levels of infrastructure or other sorts of economically productive metrics, it would essentially just be Irish-adjusted GNI, measuring the level of real production within the country’s (state’s) borders.
GDP is totally fine for measuring economic productivity. It's flawed for measuring human well-being.
@@Unknown-jt1jo Sounds like what poor countries say
Is there not some truth to it? I would love to hear your take. Traveling across the the US and now outside, it's becoming clear how income (and importantly, cost of living) only tell part of the story.
"Because no kingdom should be made on the backs of slaves" - Moses in "Prince of Egypt"
The people who don't want to live in Mississippi can travel for 15 minutes and be in a different state at least. The real problem is the people who stay in Mississippi want it to be the way it is.
Well more than 15 minutes, in most cases. The capital, Jackson, is 45 minutes from any other state, and central Mississippi is over an hour and a half.
@@steve470 People live in Central MS? It's just a bunch of dry counties.
Not wrong on jackson though. Closest other city coming to mind is Shreveport, which I'd take Jackson over that every day of the week.
I moved from FL to MS a few years ago (moved back to FL recently), and I would point out all the garbage that happened there like terrible communication, terrible infrastructure, and just the poor quality of life. I’d always get told “what are you talking about? That happens everywhere else.” I’d try so hard to explain, and they’d look at me like I was crazy. Those people really are hard set on keeping the state the way it is. I’d say “there are much better places than here”, and they’d be like “MS is the best state, I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else”, and I’d find out they’ve never even left MS. From flying confederate flags to griping about how evil the Democrats are, they’re never going to get anywhere.
@@tnmsfl2007 they are just fooling themselves in the end, like a frog in a well that has never explored the world, they actually think their state is better than anywhere else, just really sad
@@tnmsfl2007 I have come to the realization, that the wealthiest Mississippians are to insecure and dumb to make it any place else. This place has turned away countless Fortune 500 companies over the last 80 years. With the premise they don’t want one segment of the population being fairly compensated. The reason being what are we going to with out underpaid cheap labor. If it is the worst place in the country it’s there doing. The funny part is the wealthiest people in the state are poors in the rest of the world
As someone who grew up in Okolona MS just South of Tupelo. In the 70s 80s and early 90s. Mississippi had a booming furniture Industry. Which paced it 900 miles away from 75% of.the population. And then NAFTA happened.
Yes, I grew up in the same period. Every small town around Tupelo had furniture factories until Clinton killed them all with one stroke of a pen.
I was being trained as a teacher in Jackson and lived in an Airbnb. There were gunshots every other night within a few blocks of where I lived. The people were nice and the food was delicious, but it’s also VERY dangerous. The roads are also in the worst condition I’ve ever seen (and I’ve been in third world countries). I’d say over half of the buildings were abandoned and/or run down, and many of the ones that weren’t were turned into museums, which, to me, is a desperation move to draw tourist money. The tap water was always brown in color and absolutely disgusting. I just really hope Jackson gets on its feet, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon.
In this over inflated economy, i'm actually glad I live in Mississippi. The cost of living is extremely low compared to most other states, and there are opportunities everywhere to earn $70k and up annually in trucking, which, of course, is my line of work. Mississippi ain't no jewel, but we never said it was and we don't expect it to be.
Built a few apartment complexes (actual ghettos) in Mississippi a few years ago, the cops would roll in there every single day and kick in a door like clockwork. It really seemed no different than an occupying force in war.
Poverty breeds crime, which breeds that, which breeds more poverty, which breeds more crime.
I grew up there, it is police overreach. They set up random checkpoints and stop all cars in the middle of nowhere for no reason. They’ll tell you they’re “looking for a suspect” but check the drivers license of every car that passes through
@Dap1ssmonk No, it's just ghetto blacks. Why is West Virginia so much safer while also being very poor?
The cops see it as a war too. No regard for the law, just open season on minorities.
Absolute corruption.
Those low income areas attract unscrupulous people
Hey EE! Could you (or do you?) make a website that contains the leaderboards for viewing? Along with some of the metrics and data you use? I’d be interested in looking at that.
It's just local economics on a national scale. Massive brain drain and transfer of wealth is occuring all over the nation, impoverishing rural areas to concentrate wealth in metropolitan ones. This is occuring everywhere in the US, but Alabama and a few other states are so predominantly rural that they are mostly losing out on this trend.
same issue in Canada
Yes, cities are exploiting the labor of rural areas because cities use more capital to scale their labor.
Don't cities transfer more wealth to rural areas than the other way around? Most Americans have lived in cities for over 100 years. The wealth is concentrated in them due to being population centers with decades of high productivity.
Yeah, and those rural areas only make things worse by doubling down on the reasons people are fleeing them, rather than adapting,
@@Dim.g0v The general trend is that young people move from rural areas to cities. Scale that up enough, and suddenly your young people that you've just invested 12+ years into schooling are suddenly gone, and not replaced with anybody- meaning you now have a shortage of labor. Even worse is that a good percentage of those people leaving, are people who are smarter and have more opportunities elsewhere, so it mixes with brain drain as well. Over the last 30 years, my county has nearly halved in size (despite having very healthy birth rates) and many of those who left were people that could have greatly improved the local area.
The flow is starting to reverse now, though. Because of all the people leaving, many properties have been left vacant, and property owners are willing to get rid of them for just a fraction of what that property would have previously been worth. I was able to snag a 5 bedroom house for $24,500 for instance (granted it has a lot of problems, but even after paying extra in upkeep and repairs it's still very cheap), while at the same time I'm able to compete in an online job market just as much as people who live in major cities.
Had an opportunity to visit their capital city in late 2019; Jackson felt like an overgrown town rather than a bustling metropolitan city, although the same is true for many state capital cities in America-- but at least those states usually have other major cities. The airport was so far out of town, perhaps because they were expecting it to grow out more?
It is an overgrown town.
Jackson is the murder capital of the nation. I grew up just north of there though I had to leave for decent work. I won’t step foot in that city.
@@SMaamri78 That's false, it might suck but it's not even in the top 20 murders per capita
@@henlo1910it has held the honor in the past, if it doesn’t now. As has New Orleans
Politicians redlining is the cause of that. Most of the surrounding cities were once a part of Jackson. White flight took effect and really messed up the city's economy.
Always appreciate these vids
One of the main principal reasons Mississippi is the way that it is, is that it is one of the most apartheid states in America. It’s so deeply rooted in its antebellum and culture of racial segregation that no major industry wants to relocate there. It’s simply bad for business.
It is a welfare state and it is completely happy with itself being that way because all federal funding is controlled by the old southern state aristocracy that has been in power since the state was founded. They have a very small middle class population and a large lower middle to lower class population and purposefully pit them against each other on an unapologetic level and proud of it. The aristocracy has been successfully able to control their economic wealth by convincing middle and lower class whites to vote against their own interests by exploiting their “fear of the others” to drive anger and resentment towards those others(especially their black population )for not prospering economically and it has been a proven success since the end of Reconstruction. The state is anti education,union,environment and infrastructure. The things that are necessary for economic development. And the state government is just fine with it staying that way. A poor,uneducated and complacent population is easily manipulated and controlled.
I’ve lived in Mississippi all my life. I love it here. Been all over the US and wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. Some people are just too soft to live here.
Although I moved from MS, I will always love that place. Great scenery, less traffic, low-cost of living, southern food and hospitality.
There are a lot of places I would love to live. We live small town Mississippi. Kids in private school and we love our community. Little if any crime and we are happy here. If they could delete Jackson off the map. I think the whole state would look better
Hey! Over here in Arkansas we're very grateful to Mississippi for keeping us off the bottom of all the rankings.
I live in South Mississippi. I make $30 an hour at the HVAC company i work for. The beach is beautiful.
What kind of HVAC work do you do?
As a Mississippian I approve of this video
😊
*The American South did not "rise again" until the invention of industrial air conditioning (cooling)* that enabled the construction of
modern industrial plants. As stated in the video the geography (many waterways and a lot of flooding, not to mention tornadoes and
hurricanes) is a drawback to modern infrastructure. However Mississippi's fertile farmland is very helpful to a farming economy.
Now that the Internet is in use, schooling via computers and Online access could be used to increase the educational level of people
in Mississippi. However, it would require federal investment and organization to provide, at the very least, local modern schools.
Rural areas often have very high transportation costs for a school bus fleet and also, the children are required to spend quite a lot of
time each day on those buses. This is detrimental to young children in the lower grades (K, 1-4) who often are bullied on buses with
mixed age groups. *As a general rule, young children do best at a school nearby their home; where their school and playmates live*
*near each other and where the parents/caregiver can walk to and from school with the child*
This video is one of the most fascinating videos you’ve made.
"Why Mississippi Is the Worst State in the USA."
how DARE you say something so controversial
yet true
It’s only controversial to most Mississippi residents the rest of us know that is the worst and has been for decades.
it's funny how they get offended and act like it's not true that it's the poorest state
I hope you do some videos on the states of Australia. I don’t know a lot about them individually, we mostly just hear about your country as a whole.
I currently live in Mississippi. I lived on the coast and a bit further up now. I have lived here since 2009 when I got stationed here. I am originally from NY. One thing I have learned is to always keep an open mind, even if people claim that something is something. Yes, it is dirt cheap down here. Racism isn't as prominent as I thought it would be, but then again i havent been all over the state yet. And it is waaaaay greener here. Cities are small, as well as the towns. This leads me to believe that there are plenty of opportunities here for anyone to grow and start a business. A few things that caught my attention in this video were the poets. In Pascagoula, the port is way bigger than that. And there is a small port in Gulfport for commerce. Growth is going anywhere fast because people are stuck in their traditions and family. Businesses are being passed down to kin. Versus people starting a new businesses to stir up the economy. I see a lot of potential in this state. Where and how it can be tapped into, that's the challenge.
Do the poet's work the docks?
@littlewink7941 For the Gulfport location, I do not remember. I haven't been there in a while.
im glad you like it here and see potential. I've lived here all my life and I like it just fine, but like any state their could be improvements. I live in madison ms and actually have nice job and do well for myself. we aren't all poor
every rural state has potential, if it was that simple, then they would all be developed, there's no real jobs and industry keeping people from leaving, so they move to other cities and don't come back, potential doesn't matter if there are no jobs to encourage people to stay and work
@danielzhang1916 you just proved my point. Make it more industrious, and jobs will come with it. I agree that there are opportunities everywhere. It's definitely not hard here to start a flourishing business venture or create an industry. Mississippi, as poor as it is, is also probably one of the cheapest states to do so. It just comes down to who has the drive and means to do so.
Never thought I’d get excited at a new economics video to watch 😭
Awesome! You had a few shots from my former town of residence. Natchez MS
why are former french colonies always so impoverished and in a horrible destitute state like this? i cant find one example of what used to be a french colony that is in any way thriving anywhere around this planet
And Bret Favre decided to steal from the poorest of the poor. Shameful.
My parents left Mississippi in the 70's for the northern cities. Both of my parents were educated people and didn't see much opportunity for themselves or myself if they stayed. So they left. Never looked back. Today, I look at my old home state and wonder at what could've been had the white population in the state not been so hateful towards its black residents. It might still be the richest state in the country, with blacks and whites sharing that wealth for generations, instead of its poorest. By the way, since blacks have never had legislative power in Mississippi, all the dysfunction that you see was brought to you by its white residents. They gerrymander voting districts, and generally make it all around as difficult, even in 2024, for black residents to vote as possible. If there exists a plurality of good conscientious white people living in Mississippi, they must live in the states most isolated regions. Where nobody's ever seen them. Nina Simone had it right when she sang "Mississippi Goddam". That said, if the state ever changes its way, socially and politically, I know plenty of folks who would love to come home and start building again to make Mississippi what it could be. I'm one of them. Until that day though... Until that day. 😓 My heart breaks because it misses home.
I’m a Mississippi resident, so from my perspective, it always seems like this state is in a perpetual economic limbo. A huge part of the problem here is that there are very little white collar jobs. Outside of law, government work, engineering, and medical work, most everything is blue collar work. A lot of workers here come from either a long line of farmers, or blue collar workers. Those who are college educated, or are currently in college (myself included) have little incentive to stay here when there is little opportunity. It really sucks because Mississippi is, at least in my opinion, a great state with amazing people, and some of the best food on Earth. I hope things get better here, but to be honest, the damage has already been done.
I would definitely recommend doing an analysis on Minnesota. It’s one of the “sleeper” states that actually do very well in terms of economic and social development
Minnesota is almost always near or at the top of every ranking. Those color-coded maps ranking something will usually have the top states as West Coast (incl Hawaii), Northeast, Colorado, and Minnesota in a variety of order.
@@JorgeHernandez-gm5fk Minnesota is 17th by GDP per capita. Not bad, but not exactly mind-blowing.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_GDP
@@Unknown-jt1jo MN had the most fortune500 per capita for a long time(no longer holds the title). One the lowest cost of living relative to average income. Also receives some of the least proportional federal aid.
@@BasedEngineer You can always cherry-pick random facts that make your state look good.
@@Unknown-jt1jo It is not cherry picking, and it's not "my state" I live in GA, it's called being objective. Many of the metric charts where you see Mississippi at the bottom in contrast it's almost always Colorado, Minnesota, and New England at the top end.
Pascagula is mainly oil port and ship building gulfport is banana imports not very deep water ports or protected harbor
My grandfather did alot of work to bring car manufacturers to Mississippi. He was even allowed to take pictures of the inside of the main Honda factory when he went to Japan.
As an American, all I can say is 'Thank God for Mississippi'.
So you can feel better about your own state ?
They make everyone else look good!
This is good, but I think you overlooked some of the impacts of desegregation and white flight. Jackson was a major city prior to the civil rights movement
I would love to see a video done on Washington State!
It’s funny that Mississippi has the same GDP as Germany but the quality of life is way lower for most Mississippians
I can't get my head around that unless it's economic output is tied to the defense industry propping up the GDP.
So, it's not really comparable to a self sufficient country.
@@klaymatic3751 There are many explanations. One simple one is number of hours worked. Americans work longer, and have fewer vacations, than Europeans, which results in a higher GDP.
@@klaymatic3751 well as explained in the video, Mississippi has a low level of public services, poor education and low infrastructure development. Having those things raises the floor
GDP gross domestic product. It’s the lump sum pot of production, it doesn’t take into account of that production is highly concentrated and not equal shard among a population. How many oil kingdoms have autocratic that are among the riches people on the planet…. With population that are among the poorest.
Mississippi is an awesome state in my opinion. The thing that makes it seem so be bad is that a larger part of Mississippi is rural. There aren't many big cities to balance off all the small rural areas. I think it's one of the country's best kept secrets. I love it out there. People joke but Mississippi has been advanced in a lot of areas. They were one of the first states to unofficially decriminalize marijuana. My brother has lived there since 2006.
Very interesting and kinda earie that point you made that they considered slaves like capital so when machines came about they were like "we have already". Kinda dark but interesting to view from that prospective
Driving a truck through Mississippi, you could FEEL the poverty and lack of education.......
I hope you will do all the states.
Mississippi’s GDP = $140B. Oakland County (Michigan) GDP = $120B
The gulf coast of Mississippi is much different than the rest of Mississippi. Helps that from Gulfport or Biloxi that you are only an hour and 30 minutes from Mobile or NOLA. Much better K-12 schools on the coast, less racism (in my opinion), and easier to find a job that actually pays something.
I grew up there. Love Mississippi. Will defend it.
Defend it with what? The doomsday stockpile of Kraft Mac & Cheese that’s buried under your trailer?
The trajectory of my family change for the better when my great grands and grands left Midnight MS for the the north when my was an infant after WW2.
The North Eastern part of Mississippi (Olive Branch, Lewisburg, Southaven) is absolutely booming! The schools in these communities are 1st rate!! The infrastructure, roads are excellent. Job growth in the area, small business creation are increasing, with a well educated labor force. Factories are beginning to locate in this area, providing good paying jobs. New home construction is everywhere. Cost of living is low, property taxes are low. Mostly conservative! Beautiful land areas.
That's the Northwestern part. If you are on a phone, it was probably just auto correct. 😁
The reason I heard that all of the American Manufacturing jobs were in the north initially was because those were the only places in the country where people could work indoors year around without air conditioning. Now that AC is prevalent we are seeing plants put in across the country as long as there is an appropriately educated worker base, but at the time it was literally impossible to build a manufacturing plant in Mississippi and get more than 6-7 months of work a year out of it.
I don’t know what to tell you, automate and use control rooms. Most southern states court foreign companies to come in and build a plant using tax incentives and utilities guarantees.
It was more that the north had a strong mercantile and light manufacturing basis before industrialization took off, as opposed to the heavy focus on agrarian and cash crops in the south.
Add in that capital was more easy to move around as you weren’t having your money tied up in slaves and you have a quicker ability and the market forces to push towards industrialization
After that it was inertia that kept them there until the 50s
I guess it could be argued that since northern US climate wasn’t conducive to cash crops, it created the mercantile base needed
@@Dustyjazz_ It’s more complex the north east was industrializing during the civil war while the mid west had just begun industrialization.
@@hereticalgames3695 both regions had the same thing occurring, a lack of money tied up in cash crop agriculture, and a preexisting industrial base, not to mention now the heavy influx of skilled migrants from Europe following the 1848 revolutions
The south wasn’t a place people wanted to go to, there just wasn’t the economic opportunity as most of the industry revolved around slavery, and when it died the southern economy struggled to recover capital to begin industrializing, just to then be outcompeted by the more mechanized north
I’m saying it wasn’t caused by it being too hot in the south to work in factories, but there were more factors, including the different national foundations, that led to the north industrializing nearly a century before the south
@@Dustyjazz_ dumb side note apparently the south had a hookworm epidemic for almost its entire history.
I live in Mississippi, and ive been seeing alot of negativity in the comments about living conditions and quality of life. I feel like its fair to let people know even tho its the poorest state its also the cheapest to live in. I dont need to make a whole lot of money to own my home. My mother worked for $15/hour and raised me and my brother no problem, paying a house note and car note at the same time. Government assistance helped us occasionally but rarely. I make near minimum wage and i comfortably pay all my bills and even have extra money for weekends out or vacations if i feel like saving up. Nothing about my education has held me back, i could have gone to college but it wasnt what i wanted and seemed like a waste of money when i could live comfortably without an education.
I was in Northeast Mississippi last August. I wasn't there long, but it seemed like a nice place. I was exploring my family history (my great grandparents were from there) and was in Corinth, Booneville, Tupelo and Fulton. At least in that part of the state the homes looked nice, there were lots of chain businesses and the roads were good. Coming from California I was expecting worse, but I didn't see it. I hear the region along the Mississippi River is worse though. Oh, one thing I didn't see was a single homeless person. I'd see a half dozen homeless addicts and mentally ill just going to the grocery store in my California town.
The fastest growing county in Mississippi is a county in the memphis metro. More about flight out of memphis than anything else.
Homeless people and people with mental illness can't really survive in Mississippi, they head to places where they can survive (e.g. California). You'll find a lot of people in single wides in the boonies holding on with little resources, not technically "homeless", but it isn't what I would call a good life.
Productivity as a way of measuring wealth is a nonsense measure, as shown by comparing Germany to Mississippi XD. We should measure productivity plus the value of the services that the state provides together and then we would have something that allows us to compare economic wealth.
I love Biloxi
So crazy to see Vessi on here! I’ve loved mine since the company came to life here on the west coast of Canada. They are truly waterproof.
I used to work with a business consultant who lived in Gulfport Mississippi. He was interesting, he saw it on the bright side. He said he had a great house on a big piece of land and a happy family.
When it comes to america the GDP per capita just doesn't mean anything anymore. Mississippi's is way higher than Frances, on a similar level to Germany, yet the standard of living is so astronomically lower that it's literally incomparable. Huge wealth inequality in the US just destroys the figures.
Something doesn’t past the smell test. Mississippi is on the level of Finland, UK, Canada and better than Australia, but I can pretty much guarantee that nobody will move from Australia to Mississippi or consider it a lateral move to go from UK/Finland/Canada to Mississippi.
Of the 20 largest economies in the world we have yet to rank Italy.
Testing and expanding knowledge is what we do!
I live in Mississippi. I’m so ready to leave once I get done with school. It’s just getting more and more expensive while wages are still low. The state is not improving at all, rather, the large metro areas are booming while the rural areas get worse.
Everyone who isn’t Mississippi: 😎
Mississippi: 😎
Mississippi is only wearing sunglasses because it's so hot outside.
@@Unknown-jt1joWrong they can’t even afford sun glasses.
@@Unknown-jt1joEvery state down south is hot asf in the summer!
Took my fiancé to MS from California where she’s from. Her reaction was “it’s not as bad as you made it sound, besides the colored fountain at the county courthouse it’s fine.”
You can, literally, walk around North Korea and say the same thing as a tourist.
@@journeylife7491 You can't literally walk around North Korea as a tourist. It is not allowed
Of course a liberal from Commiefornia would say that. 😂
@@handleyobusiness you think keeping relics to segregation in a place that’s 30% black is a good thing?
Not to mention that Huey P Long built a bridge across the Mississippi River north of Baton Rouge that prevents ocean going vessels passing into the State of Mississippi.
Where is that road that was on both sides of the river/canal? It looked awesome
You should do Puerto Rico!
I was raised in Mississippi. I would also be one of the examples of "brain drain". I love the state for many reasons, but most outsiders will never understand why the locals actually like the state. It's complicated. But one thing these types of videos never really unpack is that there are two sides to all of these statistics...poor blacks and whites versus everyone else. The large number of poor people skew the statistics towards the bottom of every list, but many folks that live there are just like people everywhere else in the country. The idea that people never leave the state, or are unaware of things outside of the state is absurd. It is cheap to live there, and the sense of family and community is stronger than many outsiders could possibly understand. I have lived around the country and the world. People will always misunderstand Mississippi, and many of the locals are just fine with that.
How about that Brett Favre - what a prince of a guy, huh..... ?
@@csnide6702 He has more money than you ever will.
My son moved to Mississippi for a well paying job. He makes close to 100k to start. Been there several times. Its actually a very nice place to live. Not crowded and you pretty much can get everything you can thats available in the other 4 9 states. Its a good place to retire too. Best kept secret.
I get it, Mississippi isn't the most desirable state to live in! However, south miss and north miss are pretty good spots, its the in-between!