General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: "American by birth southern by the grace of God" [View all]RainDog
(28,784 posts)The right-to-work laws in the south have attracted businesses - but this trend, for capital to go in search of cheaper and cheaper labor - is a national (and, thus, worldwide) trend, as well.
There's a good book that talks about this called.. Capital Moves, that traces RCA's move from New Jersey, iirc, to the midwest to the south to just over the border of the U.S., with Mexican workers in Mexico and management living just over the border in the U.S. This is the expression of unregulated capitalism.
Free trade with a lack of protection/regulation for people who work for wages is, ultimately, self-defeating for democracy, because greater economic equality is the best indicator for a strong democracy.
This reality has long been a part of the problem for southern economics, combined with the legacy of a system of "capitalism" that enslaved people and controlled every part of their lives for the sake of industry.
That situation is where a lot of the problems in the south come from. With the legacy of slavery, poorer whites have chosen to identify with those who don't hold their economic interests at heart, simply because it makes them think they're better than those who have been treated the worst in the region. This is the religious right tea party at this time.
But the situation isn't unique to the south, or the past.
We all enjoy tech products that are often made by rural people in China (many of them women), who are locked into work ghettos at night to keep them out of the city and available as cheap labor.
When money and status drive decisions, rather than human rights, we get dysfunctional systems. They've always existed. We are at a time and place where we can see these for what they are and work to create more just systems.