What is the significance of the Sun Belt's GDP?
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Anonymous
| I have seen several news articles today about states in the Sun Belt boasting a higher GDP than states in the Northeast and higher than the national average. I thought Red States don't contribute as much to the economy as Blue States. Or is it Red State governors trying to show why their economic policies work better than those of Blue States and cities? Is the transfer of wealth to the Sun Belt due to the Pandemic and remote work? |
Anonymous
| No, it's a myth that liberals tell themselves that red states are taker states. The Sun Belt has been a huge economic driver for decades. |
Anonymous
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The ten states with the largest positive balance of payments (the biggest takers) are:
Virginia ($111,785,000,000) Kentucky ($63,229,000,000) Florida ($50,999,000,000) Maryland ($49,942,000,000) Ohio ($42,004,000,000) Pennsylvania ($41,516,000,000) North Carolina ($35,437,000,000) Alabama ($33,033,000,000) Arizona ($30,907,000,000) South Carolina ($28,209,000,000) 5 red. 2 blue. 3 swing. |
Anonymous
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A $100 Billion Wealth Migration Tilts US Economy’s Center of Gravity South
Some 2.2 million people moved to the Southeast in just over two years. That’s roughly the population of Houston. From this article: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-06-29/millions-move-to-the-south-as-us-economy-favors-its-wealth-job-opportunities?sref=Ptu9QECN&leadSource=uverify%20wall#xj4y7vzkg |
Anonymous
If you share those articles with us we might be better able to discuss the topic? |
Anonymous
I'm one of those people! It's been great. |
Anonymous
I noticed you didn’t mention that the ten biggest donor states are all blue except for Utah and Nebraska. https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/donor-states |
Anonymous
The counties Biden won contribute 70% of the country’s GDP.
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Anonymous
What's your point? The OPs point is that most of the economic and population growth is occurring in the south. The article also shows that the NE in particular is losing population and wealth. It is irrelevant that the NE has more wealth currently. The point is about the trend and what it means for the future. Let me put it another way. If your salary is declining each year, while your less well off neighbor's salary is increasing each year, that means that your relative status is changing. You can say, okay, but the NE is still richer. Yes. And it doesn't negate anything the OP is saying. |
Anonymous
| I am the OP. I just think it's because Baby Boomers retired to the Sun Belt states. I am confused how that is considered GDP. |
Anonymous
Yep, even the red states have blue cities. |
Anonymous
No one consults these graphs when evaluating job offers. A large majority of the US job growth during and after the pandemic has been in the south, and that probably does have something to do with the policies in the south vs the north. But at an individual level, no one pulls out charts like this. They evaluate the job offer, and consider things like cost of living, state taxes, weather, etc. Most people don't have 100M in the bank. Most wealthy people are just regular millionaires, with regular 7 figure houses and regular lives. So even if you make a million per year, you have radically more spending power in the south vs a place like NYC, or SF, where all the wealth has historically been concentrated. But regular millionaires also tend to have portable, mostly remote jobs, and all the facts point to what the OP posted about, that they are moving into the sunbelt. Any way you cut it, it's an economically appealing proposition to the vast majority of people, including "1 percenters," and also happens to provide better weather, closer access to warmer and more beautiful beaches, etc. |
Anonymous
That only makes sense if you completely discount job growth and real estate prices. If working people were stagnant, and it was all retirees, you wouldn't have hot job markets in the south, rising real estate prices, etc while those those key markers are declining in the north. |
Anonymous
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Lots of boomers retiring. That wealth growth in the South is likely coming from more pension and SS income. There's a difference between GDP that is coming from those sources and GDP from the growth of industry and businesses. It would be interesting to know how much of the growth is from retirees and how much from working people moving. |
Anonymous
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I wonder how much is from remote workers. |