AMERICA'S GROWTH CORRIDORS: The Key to National Revival

[tangent4ronpaul]

http://www.manhattan-institute.org/h...m#.UTQzxDCG2tO

Full report available at link

Much of the discussion about American economic recovery and growth in 2012 focused on the usual suspects: regions on the Pacific and Atlantic coasts and on the shores of the Great Lakes. But the best recent economic record, as well as the best prospects for future prosperity, are to be found elsewhere in the United States.

We have identified four regions of the country that we call "growth corridors." What they lack in media attention they make up for in past performance and likely future success. Over the past decade-and, in some cases, far longer-these regions have created more jobs and gained more population than their counterparts along the ocean coasts or along the Great Lakes.

The four growth corridors are:

1. The Great Plains region, made up of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas

2. The "Third Coast" stretch of counties whose shores abut the Gulf of Mexico and which range through Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida

3. The "Intermountain West," consisting of counties in the north of New Mexico and Arizona, parts of eastern California and western regions of Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado, as well as the non-coastal eastern regions of Oregon and Washington and all of Idaho, Utah, and Nevada

4. The "Southeast Manufacturing Belt" of counties in eastern Arkansas, all of Tennessee, and large swaths of Kentucky, the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and southwestern Virginia

These regions have different histories and different trajectories into the future, but they share certain key drivers of economic growth: lower costs (particularly for housing); better business climates; and population growth. Some have benefited from the strong global market for commodities, particularly food, natural gas, and oil. Others are expanding because of a resurgence in manufacturing in the United States.

In this report, we describe the growth corridors in some detail and explore what their success means for the country as a whole. Part 1 describes what the corridors are, in terms of geography, population, and history. Part 2 explains why they are succeeding while America's traditional economic powerhouses are growing at relatively anemic rates. Part 3 explains how the growth corridors are advancing, noting the key industries in each. Part 4 considers the contrast between the growth corridors and the rest of the nation and explains why the growth-corridor mix of culture and policies is crucial to the future success of the United States.

To be sure, New York, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Chicago will remain the country's leading metropolitan agglomerations for the foreseeable future. But an important urban story of the coming decades will be the emergence of interior metropolitan areas such as Houston, Dallas–Fort Worth, Tampa, Oklahoma City, and Omaha. On a smaller scale, fast-growing Lafayette (Louisiana), Baton Rouge, Midland (Texas), Sioux Falls (South Dakota), Fargo, and a host of other smaller cities will continue to expand. We may also witness the resurgence of New Orleans as a leading cultural and business center for the south and the Gulf Coast.

This ascendancy of the growth corridors follows one of the great principles of American history. The "most important effect of the frontier," as Frederick Jackson Turner noted, was how it promoted democracy by spreading opportunity. [1] The expanding frontier-then rural, now metropolitan-reinforces the fundamental individualism at the core of American culture.

Equally important, the corridors reveal the most immediate way to propel a broad growth trajectory for the entire United States. By restoring a strong growth path, as well as the optimism that accompanies it, the corridors could help bring about a resurgence whose benefits will extend far beyond their boundaries to touch the entire nation.

-t

[acptulsa]

And what do they all have in common? They're insulated, they're old fashioned, they're largely ignored by the powers that be, they tell Washington to get stuffed every chance they get, they are resolutely not trendy and they preserve American tradition.

In other words, Flyover Country is paleo-American, and that is the key to what success we can eke out of this insane new socialist country.

I'm sorry to see someone in the Northeast Corridor noticing. This could only lead to them screwing our success up. Hopefully, they'll yawn and go right back to ignoring us. That is our only hope for building on our success.

[Michigan11]

Well Florida should be taken off that list. It's a strange state that is basically Gods waiting room. In reality any place could boom if we got rid of Big G but most of those on the list are not booming and may be temporarily gaining from the people moving but usually geography has a part to do with it such as coastlines and waterways and least amount of Big G. Lol. I have seen these charts or articles and I think you hear this lately cause our main hubs of commerce are looking so anemic that... Well anyways I would love to live in Montana or that region but but....

[Michigan11]

What worries me is where are the growing new industries today. I know tech was really taking off in the 90's and that is still around but it's different now in a way I may not have the words to describe. I'm still looking for those garage inventions that turn into industries and a confirmation of take-off. I know this country has the ability and the people here that are working on it but where are they in private?