Mike Randle, Editor

Southern Arrogance: Now that's an Oxymoron

The South's economy continues to dominate the U.S.'s economy. The region remains at the top of every gross regional product category the Feds track including manufacturing, service, construction, utilities, wholesale trade, retail trade and foreign trade among other categories.

But are political leaders, economic developers and the general citizenry of the South gloating over their No. 1 regional position? Not hardly.

The fact that the South has been No. 1 for over five years in every business producing sector the federal government tracks is why I was taken aback by a question posed to me this spring by a reporter from the San Antonio News Express. He asked, "Is the South poised to become the leading economic region in the U.S.?" Again, I was stunned by his question. "Poised?" I asked. "Did you say, poised? Tell me you did not say poyyyyzzzzzdah." I emphatically told the reporter that the American South was poised to become the No. 1 economic region in the U.S., uh ...... in 1978.

In early June I spoke at an economic development conference in Baton Rouge that was sponsored by Entergy. There, I tested many Southern economic developers and politicos with questions regarding the South's advancing economic condition when compared to the three other U.S. regions. For the most part, those folks didn't realize how dominant the South is when it comes to its position in national and international economic affairs. Some of the answers to my questions really surprised those in attendance.

For example, I asked the large crowd of Southerners if they knew how many of the 1.5 million jobs lost in the U.S. since 2001 came from the South. The first who responded guessed that of the 1.5 million lost jobs in the U.S. since 2001, 200,000 came from the South. One guy said he believed over 600,000 came from the South. Finally, one man was sure that of the 1.5 million lost jobs in the U.S. over the last three-in-a-half years, 1.2 million came from Southern companies closing up shop or from their mass layoffs.

Needless to say, none of the people at the conference that answered the lost jobs question got it right. Of the 1.5 million jobs that have been lost since President Bush took office, not a single lost net job came from the South. In that time, the South has seen a 1.5 percent increase in net job generation. While that's barely in the black, at least it's not in the red as has been the case in the other three regions since 2001.

The fact that no net jobs were lost in the region in what had been one of the most laggard U.S. economies in memory is backed up by the fact that business failure rates in the South are by far the lowest of any region. In fact, the latest data shows that business failure rates in the South are 1/3 of that found in the West, the perceived U.S. regional economic leader.

Looking back over the last three years it's clear the South weathered the economic downturn very well, especially in comparison to other U.S. regions. Because of that, you'd think some haughty behavior would break out among political and economic leaders in the region. But arrogance is hard to find down here.

Being humble, if not conditioned that the South has always followed other U.S. regions -- not led -- is apparently firmly entrenched in the minds of many native Southerners even today. For 120 years the South was the poorest, most backward, most underachieving region of all U.S. regions. Twenty-five years ago that all changed.

In the last 25 years the South has added tens of millions of residents, seen its median household income rise much faster than any other U.S. region and has dominated the other three regions in job and investment creation. Yet, when talking to folks in the South, you wouldn't think we've accomplished anything more in the last 25 years than what we accomplished in the 25 years before that.

Arrogance, skepticism and overconfidence, all negative byproducts of success, have not hit the South yet. That's a good thing for your expanding operations. Because the folks charged with finding a suitable site, maximizing your incentives and collecting talented labor for your project still have their hat in their hand.