Talk Elections

As you may recall Alabama passed a law against illegals.  Do you think that that law will cause a decline in the hispanic population there?

I'm sure the two Hispanic people in Alabama probably weren't going to vote anyway, and even if they did, it wouldn't have mattered: it's Dixie, after all.

Initially, yes there will probably be a decline or at least some stagnation.  Once it's know how well or to what extent the law will be enforced and how easily it can be circumvented we'll know more.  It's hard to say what the long term affects will be so soon.

Looking at the census trends so far, (http://2010.census.gov/2010census/data/) its hard to say. Alabama already has a relatively small Hispanic population (3.9%) relative to states like GA (8.8%) or even AR (6.4%). 

Alabama seems on pace to lose a house seat in the next decade or two.

Yeah, I think its barely holding onto 7 districts. The upper part of the state around Huntsville is starting to grow pretty decently though.

what makes you say that?

What parts of the state are stagnating?

Wouldn't the Huntsville area provide growth?

Really?

I find that kind of surprising as I thought that the growth and regentrification seen in other Southern states like VA, NC, SC, and GA was starting to go into full force effect in Alabama?

Virginia has the benefit of DC-oriented companies doing business there because of the favorable tax/regulatory environment relative to DC and Maryland.

North Carolina has the Research Triangle, an indigenous banking industry (Wachovia, etc) that benefited from the growth of the financial sector from the 1980s to the present, an indigenous airline industry that has benefited from various mergers (Piedmont Airlines growing into US Airways), and excellent universities (UNC, Duke, Wake Forest).

South Carolina has coastal areas excellent for tourism and retirees and growth of Charlotte suburbs on their side of the state line.

Georgia has Atlanta and all that Atlanta entails. They were smart enough in the '70s to put all their "history/heritage/tradition" foolishness behind them after they realized no one invests in a state perceived to be racist and backwards.

Alabama doesn't have any major native industries, its public universities are nothing to write home about, tourism is confined to the Gulf Shores area where the beaches give you a great view of a bunch of offshore oil platforms in murky water, and their recent "Let's get rid of all the Mex'kins" legislation has only reinforced every negative perception the rest of the country has about them. The only good thing that ever came out of Alabama was the band Alabama. 

I agree.

I can see nobody here knows a thing about Alabama. The growth rate, which is readily available at census.gov, is just slightly below the national average. The state has invested heavily in golf tourism, which has paid off well. NASA has a huge complex in Huntsville. Birmingham has a ton of banking. Mobile's port is one of the most important in the country. And they just built this building, not bad for a smaller city.
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Phallic buildings, eh?

Thing is, NASA's cutbacks are likely to get steeper, not be reversed.  The new private spacecraft builders aren't choosing to locate in Huntsville, though of course the legacy ones such as Lockheed Martin remain there for now.  But if the Dragon and Cygnus spacecraft both prove to be a success later this year, then American spaceflight will be privatized and Huntsville will be history, possibly as soon as 2020.  It never was all that convenient to build heavy-lift rockets there and then move them to Canaveral and the proposed Space Launch System isn't that much more capable than the Falcon Heavy that SpaceX is building.

If the SLS ever takes off, it will be because of pure pork.  Even if we insist on maintaining government-funded human space flight going over the next few decades without a real mission for it, there are cheaper alternatives than Huntsville.