What is the secret of America’s success? Federalism. Thanks to the genius of the Founders, each state is allowed to do things differently, which enables innovation. It is so exciting to see Mississippi now leading the way with bold, free-market reforms that have begun to unleash growth, providing a model for other states to follow.
After decades being last, Mississippi is has started to see some remarkable results: * Explosive Economic Growth: In 2024, Mississippi’s real GDP grew by 4.2%,
ranking 2nd nationally, outpacing California (2.1%), New York (1.8%), and Texas
(3.9%), per the BEA’s Q4 2024 data. Nominal GDP jumped 6.7% ($2.58 billion),
also 2nd in the nation.* Surging Incomes: Personal income growth ranked 4th nationally in Q3 2024.
From 2000 to 2022, per capita income soared 140% (3.6% annually), from
$21,500 to $46,200. With our low cost of living, Mississippians are enjoying one
of the most rapid increases in living standards in America.
* Global Competitiveness: Being a British immigrant, I was fascinated to see that
in 2023, Mississippi’s per capita output surpassed the UK’s. Even better, this
year, we’re projected to overtake Germany’s per capita output.* Investment Boom: Over $20 billion in new investment projects have been
announced in the past couple of years. That means private dollars are investing
in the future of our state because they think we have a great future.
This economic renaissance didn’t happen by accident. Growth is a direct consequence of the kind of free market reform MCPP has been advocating for:* Historic Tax Cuts: In 2022, Mississippi passed the largest tax cut in state history, phasing in a 4% flat income tax by 2026.* Labor Market Deregulation: By reducing red tape, we’ve empowered businesses to hire and innovate, boosting job creation (some estimates suggest 56,000 export-related jobs in 2022 alone).* Conservative Budget Responsibility: A steady budget surplus has been important.* Low cost energy: Mississippi managed to avoid a lot of the renewable energy policies that have pushed up costs in places like California. We need to maintain this new momentum – and to do that there are plenty more policy changes we must make. Education standards are not as good as some would like to suggest. It is vital that we allow school choice. There are far too many red tape restrictions holding back the local economy, especially the protectionist rules in the healthcare sector. Most important of all, perhaps, our state leaders need to restrain public spending, which has increased rapidly. We need to ensure that we continue to control spending so that we maintain modest budget surpluses. But let’s take a moment to recognize that Mississippi is actually doing rather well. So much so, in fact, that other states might have something to learn from what our state leaders have got right. Douglas Carswell is the President and CEO of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy. The Mississippi Center for Public Policy sponsored this post.
24 comments:
as a $46,000.00 per year State employee, " I'm not feeling it"....
Still last - you can't fix stupid.
I assume our legislature will vote to not accept pay for the special session since they did not do their jobs during the regular session? They certainly wouldn't tolerate such lazy behavior from a state agency.
@2:34PM: Not even close to last... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_GDP
Violent crime is also growing in leaps and bounds, in addition to corruption.
That isn't federalism.
I was feeling you in 2022. I left state employment and joined a private enterprise where I earn $20k a year more. You can too. You don’t have to suck Tate’s rancid tit. Get A Real job.
State employee here, the Woolfolk building smells like old bread, mildew and depression. God help us!
On what planet does the writer of that article exist? Other states are following Mississippi's lead? Are you kidding me? Prove it!
There are some State Employees who aren't worth $12,000.00 a Year. Don't be 1 of them and you would probably have opportunities reaching higher.
Defund the per diem
4:00 - How's that prospect of retirement looking?
@7:35 Looking pretty good since I moved outside of the land of ZOG mercenaries. Hey, your PERS is going to collapse before you retire. Trump just wiped his chin after pleasuring Netanyahu and promised another $100 billion American taxpayer dollars to Israel over the next 10 years.
Wikipedia as your source? i expect more out or Tate’s lackeys.
None of Mississippi's "GDP" would ever happen if it weren't for a freaking ocean of Federal Dollars.
"None of Mississippi's "GDP" would ever happen if it weren't for a freaking ocean of Federal Dollars."
Which Federal dollars are (responsibly) diminished under Trump. MS, especially including Jackson, needs self generated revenue from encouraging private business investment which ain't gonna happen with freshly shot up bodies found daily and a population that values its lives too much to ever go downtown, rotten public schools, war ravaged infrastructure and a third world airport. Who wants to do business in Zimbabwe?
Wait for federal money to halt…it will look like a zombie movie soon
That federal teet is drying up, but all of those generous taxpayers in west/south/north Jackson will supplant those lost funds.
Glad to see this kind of support for California phasing out gas cars.
Exactly.
Mississippi’s recent economic surge is significantly driven by the rapid expansion of data centers across the state. These facilities require extensive land and draw heavily on groundwater resources to support their high-powered operations.
Key Projects:
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is investing $10 billion to develop two major data center campuses in Madison County—the largest private-sector investment in Mississippi’s history.
Compass Datacenters has committed $10 billion to build eight data centers over the next eight years in Meridian.
C Spire, a Mississippi-based telecommunications company, previously invested $20 million in a state-of-the-art data center in Starkville.
These developments underscore Mississippi’s rising profile in the digital infrastructure space, especially as demand for data storage and AI-driven computing accelerates. However, this rapid expansion raises serious concerns regarding water usage and energy consumption. For example, Entergy Mississippi is building a 754-megawatt natural gas plant to power Amazon’s data centers, demonstrating the immense electricity needs of these facilities.
As Mississippi continues to attract large-scale tech infrastructure projects, careful management of environmental resources will be vital to ensure long-term, sustainable growth.
The bottom line is this: the surge in growth is primarily driven by the region’s vast open land and access to aquifers—groundwater that is critical for cooling data centers. This key factor is notably absent from your assessment, yet it is the true engine behind the expansion.
The bottom line is that the growth is due to the vast open land and aquifers, groundwater that is used to cool data centers. This is not included in your assessment for development, which is the driver.
"These developments underscore Mississippi’s rising profile in the digital infrastructure space, especially as demand for data storage and AI-driven computing accelerates".
What a crock of shit! It's because of cheap land and the desperation of Mississippi to bring "businesses" to the state regardless of any actual "growth". Who wrote this garbage? Tate?
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