States' (bragging) rights.

• Author: Mooneyham, Scott
• Position: CAPITALGOODS - Economy

A remarkable thing, commerce. Despite the best efforts of those paid to lure it to various states, it just won't respect lines on a map. So it was when Peoria, 111.-based Caterpillar Inc. announced in February that it would build a new plant and bring 1,400 jobs to Athens, Ga. The decision was trumpeted by Georgia officials as affirmation of their economic-development policies, quality of life, education system and so on.

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Tar Heel officials, who had hoped the plant would land in the south-eastern part of this state, had a number of excuses why that didn't happen, ranging from the corporate tax rate to the need for a new, deepwater port. Amazingly enough, no one brought up incentives. In exchange for bringing the plant to Athens, state and local officials in Georgia agreed to provide tax breaks and other extras totaling $75 million. That includes land, water and sewer lines, roads and property-tax relief. But North Carolina was prepared to match that--the state Department of Commerce acknowledges it was considering offering a package valued at $70 million to $90 million.

Look at the map, and it appears that success in one state and failure in another may not have had much to do with what either did or didn't do. At least nothing they did lately. Athens is roughly the same distance from Savannah, Ga., and Charleston, S.C., cities with deepwater ports. As a site-selection consultant told the Wilmington StarNews, that positions Caterpillar to play those ports against each other. As he didn't explain, both--unlike North Carolina's ports at Wilmington and Morehead City--are served by competing rail lines, which can also be pitted against each other to lower costs. Athens lies 30 miles from two interstate highways and about 70 miles from the transportation hub that is Atlanta.

The region around Atlanta extending north to Chattanooga, Tenn., is today what it was 150 years ago, when Grant and Sherman plotted to capture it: the gateway to the Deep South, Midwest or Atlantic coast, depending on which direction you're heading. Geography and infrastructure built to take advantage of its location have attracted commerce from many states, not unlike the regional economies that have grown up around Charlotte, the Triangle and Triad.

You wouldn't know that listening to politicians and those they tap to lead the state's efforts in economic development. To them, industrial recruiting seems a zero-sum game. Win, and you claim all the...