When the question implies an answer that is wrong

This Blogger asks a loaded question,

Mississippi: Why is the Poorest State the Most Conservative State?

I want to answer him...

Corruption. Third world countries are third world because of corruption. Look at oil rich countries with a few wealthy and masses of dire poverty. Corruption. This is not a matter of conservative or liberal policies. This is at the core a problem with SEVEN linchpins:

First, MS residents get 2.10 from the government (US) for every dollar they send to Washington. We as a nation POUR money into MS. Mississippi politicians are not willing to change if we keep sanctioning their activities by throwing money at them.

Second, there is too little economic activity... and too many people for the level of economic activity there is. Mississippi is an economic desert. It would be like moving 2 million people to Nevada. There's nothing there there. Most of the state is forested. 2.1 million people and no economic reason to stay there. Many should leave the state for better opportunities. I know that sounds cruel, but the fact is some places can't support the population and MS is one of those. I left North Dakota when I could no longer make a decent living there. Sometimes the grapes of wrath are important.

Third, most of the people live along the Mississippi river. Like a rolling ghetto. The rest of the state is very rural and not in as much poverty. This concentration of people has become part of the problem. Too many people with no economic reason to be there.

Fourth. MS is one of the top three most corrupt states in the union. That is not a fault of conservatism, that is the fault of a lack of outrage. IN a soft way, MS corrupt like the City of Chicago..except it's spread out more. The poverty is the same. When a few own and control everything, poverty results. This is not the fault of conservatives, this is the fault of a lack of wisdom. Like in Chicago, right wing or left wing, corruption depends on uninformed voters easily swayed by empty promises. This has been going on in poverty centers for a long time.

Fifth...the human capital quotient is pitiful. EVEN IF a job provider wanted to come, the human capital is not there. The same problem we have in Chicago. Lots of people unqualified and unable to do what needs to be done in the economy. It's not about education, People get diplomas but can't read. People get degrees but have no skills. I am constantly trying to hire people to do important work, but find a lack of capable qualified people everywhere.

Sixth. The culture. The high rate of out-of-wedlock births is the state’s single biggest challenge, because children born in such circumstances often are more likely to live in poverty and are more likely to drop out of school. The state ranks at or near the top of lists for bad health indicators — infant mortality, high blood pressure, tobacco use and obesity. High blood pressure, illnesses from smoking and side effects of obesity can be expensive to treat, and they can hamper people’s productivity. Less healthy people than other states, a very high rate of unwed motherhood are part of a self destructive culture that feeds poverty.

Seventh. Policies (not conservative) are sanctioning stasis. Mississippi has a higher-than-average dependence on government transfer payments as a source of income. The transfers are government payments to individuals through Social Security, disability, welfare or unemployment. It's a drug they can't get away from. Even if economic activity was somewhere else, they can't afford to go.

With cotton at an all time high, Soybeans at an all time high, High Chicken consumption and forest products being produced there is some hope. Yet modern agriculture doesn't employ as many as it used to. And people don't like to work on farms.

There is a hangover from days past. MS will never really be a great economic engine. States with less corruption and better human capital like Georgia will outbid the state for investment. As long as the good old boys have their hands in everyone's pocket...I'm not going there.

Don't blame conservative policies, they are the only hope. We just have to remove some of the things that keep things the way they are. Truth needs to be told. I have a heart to help the city of Chicago out of it's poverty trap by exposing the lies and liars that keep people in chains. They are in MS as well... just a different political party...