The South Once the poorest part of the United States, the 13 states that comprised the slave-holding Confederacy can now boast the fastest economic growth rate of any US region in the 1990s. Low labour costs in these traditionally anti-union states, along with their lax environmental regulations, also attracted big employers, particularly textile makers. Surging growth in Florida, Georgia, Virginia, and the Carolinas has caused deterioration in quality of life, however. Sprawl, pollution and dilution of the region's distinctive identity are causing some communities to question the assumptions that helped Dixie boom. Prosperity has also not been evenly distributed throughout the region.
Poverty remains severe in pockets of West Virginia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
The Lone Star State has achieved what GCC oil-producing countries are striving to accomplish. Diversification into high-tech industries is what mainly accounts for Texas's whopping 6.8 per cent growth rate last year. The North American Free Trade Agreement has also provided a big boost to the border state's economy. The Port of Houston now handles more Mexican goods than does any port in Mexico itself. It is by far the most deprived of the places visited by President Clinton during his 'poverty tour' in July.