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The Resurgence of the South
American Thinker ^ | 04/01/2026 | Douglas Carswell

Posted on 04/01/2026 9:51:49 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

While New York and California are losing population, states like South Carolina and Alabama are not only gaining residents at a record rate, but are also experiencing rapid economic growth.

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A recent JL Partners poll captures a shift in perception: 36 percent of Americans now expect the South to lead economic growth over the next decade — far ahead of the West Coast (23 percent), Northeast (21 percent), and Midwest (19 percent). 

This is quite a transformation.  For as long as anyone can remember, the South seemed to be a byword for backwardness.  Since the late nineteenth century, American commerce and industry centered on the traditional business hubs of New York, Chicago, and California.  Each successive wave of innovation — automobile manufacturing and aerospace, chemicals and consumer goods, financial services and digital startups — seemed to happen outside the South.

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Starting in the 1980s, an initial wave of “Sun belt” states, like Texas, Georgia, Florida, and North Carolina, began to prosper.  But what you might call the “core” Southern states, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee and South Carolina, remained resolutely stuck in the slow lane.  Until now.

Over the past decade, economic growth in the South has exceeded the national average, and in states like Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, and South Carolina, significantly so.  Real GDP in 2024 rose 4.2% in Mississippi and South Carolina, 3.8% in Alabama and Arkansas, and 3.0% in Tennessee, surpassing the national rate of 2.8%.

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Manufacturing jobs might have disappeared in the Rust Belt, but many of those jobs went South, not to China.  U.S. industrial output has roughly doubled since the Reagan era, and much of that expansion happened in states like Alabama, which has added over 50,000 auto jobs since 2000 while Michigan lost them.


(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: economy; exodus; getwokegobroke; migration; resurgence; south; southshallriseagain
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Combined, Alabama and Mississippi now produce more vehicles annually than Italy or the United Kingdom.

The South is not just a manufacturing powerhouse; it’s rapidly emerging as a major financial service center.  Think “Y’all Street” rather than Wall Street.  Cities like Charlotte, Dallas, Miami, and even Nashville have become financial hubs in ways that once seemed unimaginable.  This shift is so pronounced that JPMorgan Chase now employs more people in Texas (around 31,000) than in New York.

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1 posted on 04/01/2026 9:51:49 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

The South has always hated socialism and cultural marxism.

Refusing to fall for the cult of Gaia was another major trap avoided.


2 posted on 04/01/2026 10:01:01 AM PDT by FLT-bird
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To: SeekAndFind

Come but get rid of your voting leftist habits.


3 posted on 04/01/2026 10:03:20 AM PDT by central_va (I won’t be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: SeekAndFind
great, so why are NY and Chicago home prices accelerating the fastest out of all metros?

https://www.spglobal.com/spdji/en/index-announcements/article/sp-cotality-case-shiller-index-reports-annual-gain-in-january-2026/

"Geographic divergence persisted, with New York (+4.9%), Chicago (+4.6%), and Cleveland (+3.6%) leading all markets while Tampa extended its decline to -2.5% year over year."
4 posted on 04/01/2026 10:04:14 AM PDT by millenial4freedom (Government was supposed to preserve freedom, not serve as a jobs program for delinquents and misfits)
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To: millenial4freedom

‘migrants filling up housing there.


5 posted on 04/01/2026 10:05:00 AM PDT by central_va (I won’t be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Alabama is awful! You Yankees and Californian dope heads don’t want to come here.

We talk to you even if you don’t want us to, like Forrest Gump on that park bench.

We drive pickups, Nascars and hunting UTVs.

We like to keep and bear arms and shoot them all the time.

We like huntin, fishin, and muddin.

We go to church every Sunday and Wednesday night. Everyone has their own Bible. If’n you don’t, someone will give you one.

We eat some of the craziest stuff, so long as it’s deep fried or taste great. Diets are ruined!

It’s so hot and humid in the Summer you will wilt. In the Winter, if we get a rare snow or ice storm, everyone acts like the Lord is returning.

The politicians are conservative. You don’t need to change a thing here.


6 posted on 04/01/2026 10:27:52 AM PDT by Alas Babylon! (Conservatives can't afford to sit out. Vote like your freedom depends on it, it does!)
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To: SeekAndFind
Related and interesting article...

The South Didn’t Just Rise Again — It Took Wall Street With It
Economic Collapse ^ | 3/28/26 | Belinda Johnson

Posted on 3/28/2026, 2:33:40 PM by CFW

7 posted on 04/01/2026 10:29:47 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd (Import the third world. Become the second world.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Save your confederate money cuz the south’s gonna do it again.


8 posted on 04/01/2026 10:31:21 AM PDT by bigbob (We are all Charlie Kirk now)
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To: SeekAndFind

It’s air conditioning.

Don’t gotta shovel snow.


9 posted on 04/01/2026 10:31:24 AM PDT by Regulator (It's fraud, Jim)
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To: SeekAndFind

Georgia is full. Go away.


10 posted on 04/01/2026 10:31:45 AM PDT by Hoboto (I blame Hippies.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Decade after decade there were snickers whenever someone said “The South will rise again”.

If we can re-train the Yankees, keep the California granola people right and show Muslims the hospitality they deserve (one-way tickets home) that’s no longer a joke.


11 posted on 04/01/2026 10:33:37 AM PDT by MikelTackNailer (be American or Be Gone)
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To: SeekAndFind

Life long Georgia resident except during my Army years. There is no place on earth I have been that made me want to say goodbye to my Southland. I grew up in the slow, easy life of rural southwest Georgia and still live in farm country far to the east of Atlanta. I was happy to see the lack of the word Georgia in the article about growth because we have had plenty here and need a break. Now if we could just celebrate our history without radical carpetbaggers interfering.


12 posted on 04/01/2026 11:04:52 AM PDT by Midwesterner53
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To: Alas Babylon!

From your next door neighbor to the east: and almost every home is armed with a lot more than ring doorbells. And we are legally allowed to use those arms should you arrive unannounced on our property.


13 posted on 04/01/2026 11:07:01 AM PDT by Midwesterner53
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To: SeekAndFind

Notice there was no mention of Virginia since they sold their birthright to the most radical wing of the Democrat party. They are as much South now as California.


14 posted on 04/01/2026 11:08:59 AM PDT by Midwesterner53
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To: millenial4freedom

A look large % increase from a beaten down market versus a small decrease from a previously surging market.


15 posted on 04/01/2026 11:09:40 AM PDT by TexasGator (1I1.)
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To: millenial4freedom

Look >> large


16 posted on 04/01/2026 11:10:53 AM PDT by TexasGator (1I1.)
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To: SeekAndFind

To me, this just means that all the big cities in the south, which are already Blue, will just grow more Blue, and gain House (and Senate?) seats, as time goes by. :(

Liberal ruin their own home states, then go and ruin other people’s home states. Kind of like muslim invasions?


17 posted on 04/01/2026 11:13:49 AM PDT by simpson96
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To: FLT-bird

FDR was a Socialist, so no. Excuses don’t matter. Bryan was also a near Socalist.so the South has not always opposed it. The Fed was a southern operation created by Sen. Carter Glass of Virginia. NOW , the South opposes it, and the Northeast has betrayed what it once stood for.


18 posted on 04/01/2026 11:44:07 AM PDT by cowboyusa (YESHUA IS KING OF AMERICA!)
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To: bigbob

Wrong, the South is now the most pro- USA region.


19 posted on 04/01/2026 11:45:05 AM PDT by cowboyusa (YESHUA IS KING OF AMERICA!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Historically the Democrat deep south of1870-1970 had tort laws that favored the tort lawyer over either plaintiff or defendant. That was a big barrier to progress. When Texas changed its Tort laws is when Texas began to grow beyond an oil pit. (FL never was “deep south” in the same way.)

The #1 thing holding back MS, AL and GA is their pro-tort lawyer system. It is no coincidence that to the extent that anyone runs the zoo known as the Democrat Party it is Morgan & Morgan, the biggest injury law firm.

MS, AL, GA will not grow like TX and FL until tort law is changed. (LA, TN are different from each other and have factors not common to MS AL GA.)


20 posted on 04/01/2026 11:48:03 AM PDT by spintreebob
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