Gary Winslett: The American Dream Has Migrated South

Reason Podcasts

Middlebury professor Gary Winslett argues the South—not China—poached the Rust Belt’s manufacturing base by out-competing it on policy. Subscribe YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@reasonJustAskingQuestions/featured Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/just-asking-questions/id1719355507 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5SpySKAH3LuVyxXk0MF7tl Text and links to sources available here: https://reason.com/podcasts/2025-05-22/gary-winslett-the-american-dream-has-migrated-south/ Why did the Rust Belt really lose its manufacturing base? Middlebury College political scientist Gary Winslett has a provocative answer: It wasn't China or robots. It was Georgia, Texas, South Carolina, and Florida. In a recent Washington Post op-ed, Winslett argued that the South's pro-growth policies—not foreign competition or automation—were the real drivers behind the industrial shift. That makes for an uncomfortable narrative in a political environment where both parties have a stake in telling more convenient stories about trade and globalization. Winslett explains how factors like Right to Work laws, housing construction, regulatory efficiency, and immigration made the South more attractive to manufacturers. The conversation moves beyond nostalgia for lost factories and asks whether the American dream now lies in places like Nashville and Raleigh—and whether we're too busy looking backward to notice. Chapters: 00:00 What really happened to Rust Belt jobs? 05:11 The politics of manufacturing decline 10:22 Nostalgia and the rise of southern manufacturing 15:20 Unionization, right to work, and labor policy 20:43 How immigration and housing fueled Southern growth 26:02 Why the Rust Belt didn't adapt 32:21 Permitting, regulation, and business friendliness 38:36 Trade deficits and service exports 44:05 The myth of manufacturing as America's future 50:01 Remote work and the class divide 56:26 Upward mobility and bipartisan economic failure