re: Southern Economies at a glance

I mean you were the one that made the comparison.

That was pretty ridiculous of me.

Comparing the Falcons to the Saints is like comparing the size of industry in New Orleans to Atlanta's - it's just not fair.

It's kinda like comparing the roster of the crappiest Astros club team to the Red Sox.

How many Fortune 500 companies does new orleans have?

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You're talking about oil for crying out loud. Congrats on having it under your slab homes. Without it, Louisiana would be poorer than it already currently is.

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We aren't as focused on oil and gas like they were in the 80's.

What you said is like saying if the bulls didn't have Jordan they wouldn't have won 6 titles

Don't be mad that Georgia has no culture

I think that Bobby Jindal would make a good President. Unfortunately, he's probably too facts-driven and not showy enough to ever win. I love the man.

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Less well-known has been the growth in other upstart locations. Perhaps the most dramatic player is third-place New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner, where information employment is up 28% since 2009. The information sector in the area, where I am currently working as a consultant to the regional development agency, GNOIC, is very broad-based, including companies in digital effects, videogames, software development as well as a burgeoning film and television industry. The recent decision by General Electric to place its new technology center and its 300 new technology jobs in New Orleans is another sign of the Crescent City’s emergence as a viable information hub.

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Forbes On Information Technology Growth

I'll note the numbers are still small, but 28% growth =/= IT jobs running away.

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The New Orleans metro area’s population of college graduates grew by 44,000 from 2007 to 2012, a 20.3% increase, nearly double the national average of 10.9%. (The percentage of college grads in the U.S. stood at 19.4% in 2012, up from 18% in 2007.)

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LINK

Double the national average in growth of college grads. Must be coming for all the waiter jobs.

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New Orleans’ story, of course, is unique; the jump certainly is partly due to the return of evacuees to the city after Katrina, and some scoff that the region is destined to return to its historical pattern of exporting its educated young. But right now the American Community Survey data seems to indicate otherwise, as does the decision in recent years by numerous technology, videogame and media businesses to establish operations in the metro area, including General Electric GE +1.68%, Paris-based Gameloft and the satellite communications company Globalstar, which in 2010 moved its headquarters from Silicon Valley to Covington, a prosperous suburb of the Crescent City.

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Yup. No technology based jobs. They all are running to Houston.

No $2.3 Billion Investment in Biomedical Research Either

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"I'm so proud of what's going on here in New Orleans. It's why we chose the name Renaissance," said Dr. Tarun Jolly, founder of Renaissance RX. By identifying through DNA testing how patients metabolize specific drugs, Renaissance RX enables physicians to tailor prescriptions to each individual's needs.

Renaissance RX launched in the BioInnovation Center, and its rapid growth means that it has just about outgrown the facility. Started with four employees in October 2012, the company now employs 58 employees with a contracted sales force of 250 to 350 and another 300 DNA collectors working in 44 states.

"I'm now recruiting people from California," said Jolly, 38. He's also collaborating with the University of New Orleans to create a training program to meet growing local biotech demand for talent.

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USA Today On How There Are Only Jobs In The Tourism Industry. If by Tourism, you mean Biomedical.

These sectors are just getting started, but if you can read and understand complicated mathematics like "rates of change" and "big numbers are larger than smaller numbers" you can actually see the growth of new sectors. Tourism is a great backbone to have, it certainly hasn't hurt Vegas. In terms of other industry there is catch up being done. The growth isn't awesome today but is happening and should continue as the influx of educated people continue into the area.

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I don't know about Jindal as president, I haven't even been a fan of him as a governor.

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He's bad at politics. Jindal would be perfect in like a HHS role. Smart guy with ideas, put his policy wonkness to work.

He'd make Obama look like master of dealing with Congress. Jindal can't even get his own party to go along with half his proposals. He's been far too cloistered and so has his administration. The economic policies he got through early on have been mostly beneficial but he wasn't strong enough to keep the GOP from splitting into Camp Vitter and Camp Jindal.

It's left a rather "meh" at best Governor.

Louisiana fricking killing it.

Baton rouge is booming like crazy, just wait till all the area from downtown till campus becomes high income rather than poor and crime riddled. Pushing all that area to the north will create a ton of jobs, housing, and money for the city.

Then once they build the railroad from BR to NOLA both cities will be booming along with all the area between them. Not to mention that the coast has always been well off with it's resources. Whole state doing work.

It's certainly better than many degrees. It's a good thing too. Welding school is much cheaper and can get a guy a middle class living without the debt of college.

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Louisiana is about to boom economically. Motherf'n hydrocarbons.

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This.