James_Nov-Dec_2025_web - Flipbook - Page 18
the state, giving Georgia a key role
in America’s energy transition.
Aerospace remains strong, with
Gulfstream in Savannah and Lockheed Martin in Marietta anchoring
legacy strength.
The challenge is ownership.
We’re great at attracting factories,
not at creating homegrown giants.
Too much of the high-value R&D
and capital still lives elsewhere.
Film, TV & Creative
Industries: B+
The film tax credit turned Georgia
into Hollywood East. Major studios
have built a durable ecosystem,
but most of the profits and creative
control still flow west. Georgia is a
great host, not yet a true headquarters for culture. Still, the industry
has diversified the economy and put
Georgia on the global map.
It’s worth noting that as the
state moves toward a low- or noincome-tax model, the film credit
will likely take a hit and may eventually disappear. I invest in film and
know the industry well, but I must
admit that no income tax is more
important than a film credit. It’s still
expensive to produce here, though
not compared to the intensely business-unfriendly capital of Southern
California. And if needed, soundstages can always become warehouses. It’s an interesting scenario.
Finance
& Fintech: B
Atlanta’s fintech cluster is real.
Nearly 70 percent of U.S. card
transactions pass through Georgia
companies. But venture-capital and
private-equity depth remain thin.
Too many Georgia-built firms end
up owned somewhere else. Talent
and infrastructure exist for Atlanta to be a global financial player.
What’s missing is bold leadership
and deeper capital pools.
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Real Estate &
Construction: B-
should own more of the brand that
goes with it.
Metro Atlanta has boomed, but
growth outside it is uneven. Construction costs remain high, and
zoning politics create headaches.
Georgia is still a good bet, but
developers need clearer rules and
faster permitting.
The broader issue is concentration. Too much of Georgia’s
commercial energy is packed
inside Atlanta’s core. The surrounding business hubs— places
like Alpharetta, Peachtree Corners,
Roswell, and even outlying areas—
remain underdeveloped relative to
their potential. Each of these markets could support serious corporate footprints, creative campuses,
and mid-sized headquarters if state
and local leaders prioritized infrastructure and incentives.
Atlanta doesn’t need to keep
building upward; it needs to build
outward. By spreading business
concentration and encouraging
new commercial clusters, Georgia
could relieve congestion, stabilize real-estate prices and extend
prosperity beyond the city center.
The next phase of growth should
be about integration— connecting
suburban and regional markets into
a single, functional metro economy.
And let’s be honest: giving corporations a reason to exit Atlanta
proper would be a huge win for
business-friendly politics.
Energy & Utilities: C+
Agriculture &
Food Systems: B
Poultry, peanuts, cotton and pecans
remain Georgia’s backbone. Apart
from White Oak, why don’t we have
more beef? If we had more processors, we could produce more. Poultry is the clear winner. The problem
is thin margins. The opportunity
is in moving up the value chain—
branding, agritech, and food manufacturing. We feed the world; we
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Plant Vogtle’s nuclear expansion
is both a victory and a warning. It
secures energy supply but at an
enormous cost to ratepayers. Renewables are growing, but Georgia
trails its neighbors in solar and
wind. What’s the answer? More
nuclear? It’s expensive, but I believe
it’s the way forward for clean, abundant energy. The next decade will
demand cleaner, cheaper power if
we want to stay competitive.
Labor &
Workforce: BRight-to-work laws and population
growth help, but the skilled-labor
gap is widening. Technical training
and retention are critical. Too many
Georgia-trained graduates leave for
bigger markets. We need to build
talent density, not just cheap labor.
We also need to spread out and not
focused in the core, politically left
leaning city.
Technology
& Innovation: C+
Atlanta’s tech scene is improving,
but we’re still chasing regional hubs
like Miami and Austin. Georgia
Tech is world-class, yet commercialization lags. The state must build
real venture depth and stop exporting its best founders. We should
have venture initiatives at every
state university in Georgia— otherwise we lose.
Banking &
Capital Markets: C
Georgia once had banking giants.
Now most are gone or merged away.
Local capital is still weak compared
to New York or Dallas. Venture capital exists, but we need more. Private
equity and real estate are large, but
we need more depth and leadership.
