why have Saturn and the Jap Automakers built plants in the South?

why not Flint, MI?

many, many state and local tax breaks
+
state-built infrastructure (water, sewer lines, etc)
+
state sponsored vo-tech education to train factory/production workers.

I was Executive Director of an Economic Development Corp when the whole Saturn thing was going down. The state/state and city/city competition was absolutely brutal. From my city planning days I knew the awful truth: that no matter how many new homes and businesses were built, the total tax revenue would never pay back the public investment. But...because our State was as starved for jobs as any other, we put together a package and gave away the store, but Tennessee gave away a whole lot more. It consumed about two months of my time for nothing.

Yeah and not so many people would refer to them as the "Japs" in flint. Just kidding, look into the deal they got to open up shop...might have been pretty sweet

"Jap" is pejorative

Then you post "japs." Interesting.