General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Good Lord. Now my state has a ballot to secede that's been approved. [View all]kentauros
(29,414 posts)I'm trying to pop this equally ridiculous bubble that the rest of the United States would survive the secession of even one state!
We are the "United States of America", not the "Sometimes and/or Preferably Not United States of America"
You also seem to think that the remaining few ports could easily take on the surplus of tonnage. It would be a logistics nightmare shutting down just one port, and even more of a nightmare redirecting the surplus to the other ports. You'd have to expect a considerable number of goods to have their prices skyrocket, further impacting the economy in the U.S. negatively.
And then there's the number of oil and chemical plants in Houston. You wouldn't be shutting those down and moving them to other ports. It takes at least two years just to design and build one from scratch. So, oil, chemical, and plastics prices would also skyrocket.
By the way, while I'm not a link-hoarder and don't know where to find the exact info, it has been well-established by many other DUers that Texas pays out more in federal money than it receives.