Posted on 07/21/2011 6:57:32 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Gov. Rick Perry's presidential bid would thrust the Texas economy and all of its glorious complications into the national media spotlight. The record is gloriously complicated, indeed. From the right, you should expect to hear that Texas accounted for a third of national job creation between May 2010 and 2011; that more Fortune 500 companies call Texas home than any other state; and that Texas consistently wins every "top state for business" award out there. From the left, you should expect to hear about how the state has one of the country's worst records for children with health insurance, teen pregnancy, and graduation.
The New York Times Debate Room canvassed a group of experts to talk about what accounts for the Texas jobs miracle. Most of the participants paid homage to Texas' particular combination of nature and nurture.
Plentiful land makes real estate cheaper (nature), while conservative mortgage practices limited the housing (nurture). Natural gas and oil reserves make Texas rich (nature), while low taxes and regulations encourage businesses to locate their HQs (nurture). Its proximity to Mexico means lots of cheap immigrants (nature), and its right-to-work laws keeps non-immigrant labor cheap (nurture).
I'm not a Lone Star hater. Texas has thrived with cheap work, cheap homes, and cheap living costs. In the dawn of a recovery, these are virtues, and it does no good for liberals to pretend otherwise. But ultimately, I'm a believer that economic conditions matter more than policy, and Texas' conditions are perfectly suited to the moment.
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
How about a natural and expected result of not having an anti-business government that has become far too common across the country?
Two items the left HATE about Texas:
1) NO STATE personal income tax
2) Part Time state legislature.
I agree and it is not like Texas is doing as well as it should, they are doing well considering all the stupidity at the federal level. Once we are rid of Obama, I expect Texas to do much better.
The Atlantic: Dinosaur, Mirage, or Funded by Communists?
Idiotic article. Libs can’t stand the fact that a state they can’t get hold of and ruin is doing well.
As a Texas native who has resided in other states, what sets Texas apart is the Texas “state of mind.” Here people roll their sleeves up and get to work, in spite of disasters.
Yes, Texas is blessed with natural resources, as is the entire US. The difference is that Texans do not bog down our economy with intrusive regulations and taxes.
I do have reservations about Perry, principally that he often seems to be more about Perry than what is best for Texas.
Every State has a “monkey on the back” from the Federal government mandates. How they cope with this guerilla has a lot to say about their future. If they roll over they’ll always serve “the man”. If they take a stand like AZ, TX & VA they’ll provide a better environment for both businesses and citizens.
Main reason and the truth, rust belt, people need to move somewhere. China got their jobs, and the illegals got the rest.
Va, only shows growth from the dc bedroom area, where I live there is a projected decline in the need for class rooms.
We were checking out the unemployment rates of the fifty states and Texas wasn’t nearly as low as we expected.
Everyone should take this as a lesson.
If they think it’s possible to have a “peaceful separation” from the libs, think again.
There is no way anyone of the leftist mindset is going to allow anyone to peaceably leave their control.
Preemptive attack on Perry. They have such an abysmal record this kind of garbage is all they’ve got.
This is why the NLRB is on the warpath. They want companies to fear being sued out of existence if they try and move to Texas.
Its proximity to Mexico means lots of cheap immigrants...
Predictably, the writer fails to make any connection between those two, that cheap immigrant labor, or the large illegal alien populations in some states, and the predictably higher rates of teen pregnancy and lower graduation rates that result.
By failing to enforce immigration law, we import poverty and low education levels and all the problems that accompany those conditions. And I bet this guy is not at the forefront of demanding strict enforcement of immigration law.
Perry is going to be Bachmann-ized. Leno has already started in on him: “Rick Perry says that God wants him to be President...” I used to like Leno.
While doing research for a yet to be written book set in 1830s New York, I kept coming across references to “Texas Meetings” and newspaper ads and broadsides that fairly shouted “Support the Texians [sic]!” The east coast cities were already no place for young men with ambition and an independent streak.
Granted that accounts for a lot of the growth in NoVA, but McDonald has worked pretty hard to bring jobs to Central VA. My office building shares with Rolls Royce as they build a high-tech manufacturing facility for jet engines 30 miles below Richmond. South VA is still the challenge because so many manufacturing job in textiles have gone bye-bye.
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