One battle the Confederate flag is still winning

If you want to know what Southern heritage is all about, don't follow the debate over the Confederate flag.

Follow the money, says Michael Lind, a historian and native Southerner.

While the Confederate battle flag may be coming down in places like South Carolina, there is one part of the Old South's heritage that is becoming more popular.

"Southernomics," an economic policy honed in the Old South, is spreading across the United States, says Lind, author of "Land of Promise: An Economic History of the United States."

The Old South didn't just give the nation the Confederate flag, "Gone with the Wind" and mint juleps. Its leaders refined the practice of exploiting workers, busting unions and being stingy with investments in public services. Each tactic was designed to create a desperate and powerless workforce that could be exploited by Northern and overseas businesses, Lind and other historians say.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/10/us/conderate-flag-southern-economics/index.html