Posted on 11/03/2011 9:18:32 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Rick Perry says Texas is the most successful state in America. He's right. Texan economic output exceeds Mexico's and Australia's and rivals India's. Rick Perry has been governor of Texas for nearly 11 years. Does the logic of politics lead us to conclude that the governor of the nation's most successful state, ipso facto, is the best man to be president of the economically gasping United States?
We are about to find out. Getting lost, however, among the governor's adventures in the lovely hamlets of New Hampshire is that Texas, with or without him, has a story the rest of the U.S. should hear—the parts of the country that want a better economy than they've got now.
Texas, unlike California, isn't America's most beautiful state. Through October this year, parts of Texas had 90 days of 100+ temperatures. Yet companies and people keep moving into the high heat of Texas.
Rick Perry's argument for himself is rooted in accounts of his efforts to bring companies to Texas. But the desire of businesses to sample Texas trail dust pre-dates Rick Perry. In 1990, one of the world's biggest companies, Exxon Mobil, left New York City for Dallas. Exxon's former CEO, Lee Raymond, says the move in part was indeed about costs and New York State's notoriously overbearing tax authority. But it was also about working amid a culture of competence. "It's just the attitude in Texas of getting things done and doing them well," he says.
Mr. Raymond remarks that the economic policies that in time trapped the Northeast and Rust Belt in spirals of decline never touched Texas. But this is about something beyond low taxes and no unions.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Isn’t the Texas governorship one of the weakest in the nation, by design? That’s the stick that the press used to beat up on Dubya in 2000, IIRC.
“Things are better in Texas”
OK, but for who?
http://www.firecoalition.com/article/index.asp?type=news&id=3649
i lived in austin for over a year.
there’s still a can-do spirit in texas that is lacking in california.
also, there’s ample room to grow. new houses are cheap by california comparison.
california continues, as mentioned in the article, to over-regulate and over-tax businesses until they move out of state.
Did this guy totally overlook tort reform?
Golly batman, is it possible that a standard issue politican does not do anything for business? Anyone that looks at Texas for about 2 minutes sees companies like AT&T, vErizon, Nokia, RIM, Texas Instruments and puts 2+2 togeather to see CELL PHONES and wireless products, what in the world did Rick Perry do to create that? Next the introduction of FRACKING for oil - again nothing from the government created that technical breakthrough. Yet those two industries must be worth 100 million a year in TX tax revenues...forget trying to figure out how many jobs.
Thanks for the article.
Here’s how it works. Perry is the chief executive in Texas and as such he is responsible for what goies wrong. This being the case he also gets to take the credit for what goes right.
No different then the presidency. When things generally suck the president takes the heat and he similarly takes the credit when things are good.
It’s the same all over whether it be government or private business.
This sort of an argument is a liberal one and no different then the one which says the success of a company has nothing to do with the entrepreneur who started it up, drew up the business model, secured the financing and put much of his own skin in the game. The credit should go, according to the daffy Left, to the workers which were hired since without them there would be no salable product.
It is. The Governor of Texas has little to no power over state politics, it’s more accurate to call the Governor of Texas the state’s ‘political figurehead’. The Lt. Governor of Texas on the other hand wield far more power and influence over the legislature and is the one with the real pull. Perry can only suggest legislation but has now power to implement it. It is a completely accurate statement to say that Gov. ‘Goodhair’ is taking undue credit for Texas policies that he basically had little to no hand in implementing.
You are exactly right.
The left so believes in dictatorships that they think one person can be responsible for all that is right or wrong in a state or country.
That is why they viewed Obama as some sort of messiah, and why they can’t figure out how the Tea Party works without a leader.
Have you noticed when people from texas think it is good perry did it, when it is bad the leglislature did it.
I lived in Texas from 2006-2009 after Katrina destroyed my business in D’Iberville, Mississippi. My first job there was supervising the passing out of free goodies to the Katrina “victims” of New Orleans at the unemployment/welfare office in Dallas. No, I’m not bullschmidting you! Wal-Mart gift cards, gas cards, food stamps, bus passes, nice laptops w/software and 1 year of ISP, child care, clothes, govt. cheese, etc., etc. BTW, I wasn’t eligible for these, as I wasn’t from NOLA.
That is correct; also note that the Texas economy is one of the strongest in the nation, in spite of the drag imposed by the illegal immigrant burden.
So can't we connect the dots, noting that when government stays out of the way, the economy booms?
THIS is the point Perry should be emphasizing.
It isn't about what he did to foster business, he is what he DIDN'T do to kill business, the way CA politicians have killed off businesses in this state. Politicians can't create jobs but they sure as he** can destroy them with high taxes and senseless regulations. By not doing anything to hurt business Perry, and the legislature, gets credit for creating a climate in which businesses can thrive. I can see that and I am actually a Cain fan, not a Perrybot.
By the way if you ever take time to read about the TransTexas Corridor you would see what kind of a governor and "not ruin things" guy he really was. Thanks for your comments - hope I have helped.
One, I am not from Texas, two, I merely said by not adding to regulations and taxes, or by not pushing the legislature to do so, Perry didn’t add to a bad business climate. As for acting as if I somehow support Perry, please read the last sentence in my comment and then review your own comment to me and see how stupid you sound. I said I am a Cain supporter and not a Perrybot. Clear now?
You're missing the forest for the trees. Yes Perry had little or nothing to do with creating them, but you left out the most important thing. He and the rest of the executive branch in Texas didn't interfere in their business with unnecessary and counterproductive regulations.
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