Mississippi

Mississippi Forklift Parts - Mississippi is a U.S. state located within the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, that flows along its western boundary, whose name was derived from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi that translates to the "Great River." Mississippi is heavily forested outside of the Mississippi Delta region, that had been cleared for cotton cultivation during the 19th century. These days its catfish aquaculture farms produce the majority of farm-raised catfish consumed in the United States. The magnolia grandiflora tree is the state symbol.

The state of Mississippi is surrounded by the state of Tennessee towards the north, Alabama to the east, and Louisiana to the south. There is a small narrow coast on the Gulf of Mexico which borders the state of Mississippi, while the states of Arkansas and Louisiana sit across the Mississippi River.

Together with the Mississippi River, the other major tributaries comprise: the Yazoo River, the Big Black River, the Pearl River, the Pascagoula River, and the Tombigbee River. Major lakes consist of Arkabutla lake, Ross Barnett Reservoir, Grenada Lake and Sardis Lake. The largest lake within Mississippi is Grenada Lake.

The state of Mississippi is completely composed of lowlands, the highest point being Woodall Mountain, in the foothills of the Cumberland Mountains, 246m or 806 feet above sea level. The lowest point is sea level at the Gulf coast. The mean elevation within the state is 300 feet (91 m) above sea level.

Much of the state is part of the East Gulf Coastal Plain, that is normally composed of low hills, like for example the Pine Hills in the south and the North Central Hills. The Pontotoc Ridge and the Fall Line Hills within the northeast have somewhat higher elevations. Yellow-brown loess soil is found within the western areas of the state. The northeast is a part of fertile black earth that extends into the Alabama Black Belt.

The United States Census Bureau's 2007 report, had indicated that the state of Mississippi was the poorest state in the US. In the Delta, a lot of the cotton farmers have large mechanized plantations; some of these do receive extensive Federal subsidies. Though many of the states other people still live as landless, poor, rural workers. Out of $1.2 billion from the years 2002 to 2005 in Federal subsidies to farmers within the Bolivar County region of the Delta, 5 percent went to small farmers. There has been little money apportioned for rural development. Small towns are struggling. Over 100,000 individuals have left the region in search of work somewhere else. The state had a median household income of $34,473.

Despite Mississippi's fiscal conservatism, in which food stamps, Medicaid, welfare, and other social programs are usually cut, eligibility requirements are tightened, and stricter employment criteria are imposed, Mississippi still ranks as having the second highest ratio of spending to tax receipts of any state. During the year 2005, citizens of Mississippi were given roughly $2.02 per dollar of taxes in the way of federal spending. This ranks the state second highest nationally, and represents an increase from 1995, when Mississippi received $1.54 per dollar of taxes in federal spending and was third highest nationally.