One thing I've learned since living North of the Red River is that Oklahomans seem to have a love-hate relationship with Texas.
They HATE for the Longhorns to beat their Sooners.
They LOVE going down for the big football weekend, shopping in Dallas and generally spending Oklahoma dollars in Texas.
They HATE that Texas seems to steal our best graduates with offers of more money.
They LOVE (or at least the GOP up here) Texas tort reform.
The list goes on and on. But one thing is quite clear from the cloud -- I've only been here four years and I feel a loss too -- that hangs over this city and this state due to the announced departure/demise of Kerr-McGee.
That's one thing, I don't understand. Yes, I know all the big oil companies are in Houston. But it's darn cheaper to do business in Oklahoma City and in Oklahoma than there. Not to mention the quality of life -- we can breathe our air up here. But still there's an exodus that sounds like the sucking sound your vaccumm cleaner makes when you get something lodged in the hose. It sucks.
On the up side, the exodus of oil companies is making Oklahomans diversify and look for other industry to bring into the state. And that will be a great thing the next time the oil bust hits. So chin up, Sooners.
We....the people
3 years ago
2 comments:
Yeah, I'm sad about Kerr Mcgee, too. They funded a lot of arts community projects, and fundraisers. I don't think that money will be replaced by Anadarko. And I really wish we would hear more about the benefits to people who lost their jobs like with did the GM employees. But maybe that's the point...there's no real union pr machine because there wasn't a real union? just a theory.
C.
Oklahoma is always scrambling. Sooners are scrappy.
I was reporter in Oklahoma in the 80s and couldn't believe the layers of corruption built up in some of the counties and small towns. I've been gone for 16 years and they're still unraveling all the mess in McAlester. Sheesh.
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