“Good Business Climates:” The Second War Between the States

When journalists discuss the rise of the Sunbelt, they often invoke the metaphor of war. The editors of Business Week, for example, argue that growth in the Southern Rim and economic decline in the Northeast is a prelude to “a second war between the states.” They warn against the outbreak of a “bitter and divisive struggle for income, jobs, people, and capital.” Kirkpatrick Sale, in a phrase reminiscent of 19th-century European balance-of-power politics, announced that...