Quote:
Originally posted by Sacamuelas
Lrd-
I am sorry to hear about your families trouble. Economic and political debate aside, it is never easy when things affect a family member. So know that I have sympathy for them in their decision.
However, I am with GH on this one. It is her choice to stay on your family land and attempt to maintain the "way it has always been". Nothing wrong with that idea, however there should be no public legislation created to protect and isolate them from the effects of a potentially poor decision. If it is important for them to stay where they are then that is a decision that they made after weighing all the factors. Most Mississippians are actually striving to change the "way it has always been" (myself included).
Where in Mississippi? I can think of numerous reasons that businesses are relocation from rural MS that have absolutely nothing to do with overseas outsourcing. FWIW, MS just landed a new 100 million dollar Nissan factory plant in Canton. Your family may not be giving you the full story on their situation. It may not be on purpose, it is just that they may just be focusing on what they want to see as the problem.
If these rural farm towns in MS would get control over their civil court systems the companies might be willing to do business there again. You wouldn't believe the frequency of runaway jury awards and disability/unemployment/workers comp claims burdening the companies that try to operate there. We won't even go into the farmers that claim they are in bankruptcy for the last twenty years, yet everyone in their family has a $45,000 dually truck.
I have lived in MS for 25 years, and my wife has litigated corporate defense cases in these towns/counties. If there was ever a poster made as an example of a unfriendly environment for businesses and wealth, it would be the conditions you find in rural MS counties. I say this b/c I live here... Let's not get into a bashing of MS... I will defend her honor from attacks by you outsiders!! LOL
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I wrote a long reply, and then decided it was best to delete and start over. Let me try again, now that I've vented my spleen on my keyboard. I began this as an example to illustrate Ian's concern that I originally quoted, but I may have used an example I'm a little to close to. . .
When I said "my family" I wasn't referring to my immediate family. However, my ancestors helped settle the area where my mother was born. We have strong ties to the land, and, indirectly, I probably am related to a good number of the people in the county and neighboring counties. Thus I feel a sense of responsibility to those that live there. We were taught to be a part of the community; that it was our civic duty to look out for those less fortunate than we.
I fully understand that my immediate family can afford to keep their land because my grandfather insisted that all 10 of his children (all born before 1929) attend college. After the depression, he knew that you always needed a back-up plan, and that education was the equalizer for his rural Mississippi children. He even drove the school bus to make sure they went to school. My uncle can afford to maintain the family farm in Northern Mississippi because he has a good job in Jackson. He is willing to do that to save the land for his children. That also means that he isn't living on the land. It stays in our family because we rent the house and land to a young family, who can't afford to buy their own land. This works well for all involved. His daughter will be able to do the same, in large part because she and her husband are tenured professors at MS State.
The people I'm worried about are the ones who can't afford a college education, or can't afford the time away from work to get a college education. In the past, they could farm, work at the factories, the restaurants, the grocery stores, the dry-goods stores; or they could join the military. When the factories started closing the workers didn't have the money to spend on "extras" and within a few years the other businesses began to close. When the people were able to get jobs in Tupelo or Columbus, they could either move there or commute. I know exactly where Canton is. It will help those in that area, but does little to help those people who live in my mother's area who need jobs to survive.
I'm sure that there are farmers who work the system. That pisses me off. I get pissed off at anyone who takes advantage of someone else. I think that companies like WalMart are taking advantage of everyone: not just the people here, but the people who are now doing the jobs.
I worry about the people who are being lost in the cracks as we move from manufacturing to service industies. It will take time for this transition to take place, and in the meantime the community is being tried even further as they try to give what they can to help those in need. You are right. My family has chosen to live in this area when they could have moved on and become much more wealthy elsewhere. I'm not worried about my cousins, I'm worried about the children in my mother's classroom. These children will one day be responsible for our country.
There are people working to get jobs brought to the area, and I truly believe that they will succeed -- eventually. In the meantime there are families without jobs. And that affects everyone in the community.
I'm sorry if I got off track here.
Edited to untangle a sentence.