Seeker Blog

Robert Guest led the Economist’s 1 March Survey: The American South [the report summary is free content, the details are subscriber only].

Guest was interviewed in a short podcast — well worth a listen. Here are a few of his points:

The interviewers lead question: “What surprised you the most?”

1. First, the same thing that strikes me everywhere in America, … I hear about the great poverty and I go to the poorest places I can possibly find, and they strike me as quite prosperous. Everybody’s got cars and air conditioning, and far from not having enough to eat, the poor people tend to eat a great deal more than the rich people. There is no one anywhere in the South that strike anyone from any other part of the world, except possibly in Europe, as being poor. Although when Americans talk about it, they’ll talk about the poor and benighted and all that type of thing — that’s simply not true anymore.

2. Second, race relations are much more mature …racism is no longer the defining obstacle to their getting on in life.

3. “How has New Orleans been such an unfortunate exception?” … New Orelans is arguably the worst-run city in America. The politics there has been tinged by racial animus, and you’ve had some really, really awful people elected there. E.g., William Jefferson, the congressman who was just reelected, despite having been caught by the FBI with $90 thousand in foil-wrapped wrapped bundles in his freezer. The reelected the major, who so hopelessly bungled the situation after hurricane Katrina. It’s a very dysfunctional city…

4. “What would need to happen for education to improve?” Pretty much the same things that need to happen everywhere. … some of the schools are atrocious, and the problem there is not one of money, there’s plenty of money in the system. The problem is one of organization, … a lot of schools are run for the benefit of the teachers, rather than the students. Teachers are almost impossible to sack … very few people want to work in a system where merit is not rewarded …it is a system that actually repels good people going into the profession.

Recommended!