American Austerity: Why the States Cutting Spending Are Doing Worse { Yeah right ]

www.theatlantic.com ^ | June 22 2012 | theatlantic.com

[unbiasedtruth]

I would have to go back and double check, but I do believe that Texas cut about 15-billion dollars from its two-year budget last year. Public education was cut by 5-billion for a two-year period. State government agencies were also ordered to cut their budgets by about 15-percent.

Also, just within the past month, the governor requested all state agency heads to plan on a budget with another 10-percent cut.

Texas state government is funded mainly through sales taxes, and that revenue has been increasing for the past two-years. And though some sectors of the economy, oil and gas and manufacturing, are doing well, there is weakness in the overall state economy. That’s why Governor Perry is telling state agencies not to expect a budget increase next year, but plan for another cut.