Sun Trust left Atlanta to go all the way up north to Charlotte as part of its merger, and is still keeping a large office presence in Atlanta. While I could not care less about SEC education, you are 100% wrong about where businesses are moving to. In the past 3-5 years, Atlanta alone has picked up new corporate headquarters for Mercedes, Porsche, Pulte Homes, Prince Tennis Raquets, Norfolk Southern off the top of my head. Aside from the big three of Delta, Coke and Home Depot, you also have Newell Rubbermaid, Intercontinental Exchange (owner of the NYSE), International Hotels Group, Cox Industries, Chick-fil-a, Focus Brands, Spanx, Shaw Flooring, Mohawk Flooring, NCR, First Data, and countless others.
Nashville picked up Bridgestone and a huge hub for Amazon. The Triangle area of NC has a ton too. Charlotte as a banking city speaks for itself. Companies and factories are moving to Birmingham, Greenville, and throughout the region because of pro-business climates, non-union states, and low cost of living. I guess what I am saying is you are 100% off base in the South being some kind of rust belt. If you substituted the South for Big 10 country, then I could get on board with it, but your statement is just entirely wrong.