Texas: Conservative Paradise, 25 Billion dollars in the hole.

[Sallow]

No Unions, piss poor education, terrible public services and basically a gimme state in terms of the Fed, it's STILL in the hole.

Krugman's take:

Op-Ed Columnist
The Texas Omen
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: January 6, 2011

How bad is the Texas deficit? Comparing budget crises among states is tricky, for technical reasons. Still, data from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities suggest that the Texas budget gap is worse than New York’s, about as bad as California’s, but not quite up to New Jersey levels.

The point, however, is that just the other day Texas was being touted as a role model (and still is by commentators who haven’t been keeping up with the news). It was the state the recession supposedly passed by, thanks to its low taxes and business-friendly policies. Its governor boasted that its budget was in good shape thanks to his “tough conservative decisions.”

Oh, and at a time when there’s a full-court press on to demonize public-sector unions as the source of all our woes, Texas is nearly demon-free: less than 20 percent of public-sector workers there are covered by union contracts, compared with almost 75 percent in New York.

So what happened to the “Texas miracle” many people were talking about even a few months ago?

Part of the answer is that reports of a recession-proof state were greatly exaggerated. It’s true that Texas job losses haven’t been as severe as those in the nation as a whole since the recession began in 2007. But Texas has a rapidly growing population — largely, suggests Harvard’s Edward Glaeser, because its liberal land-use and zoning policies have kept housing cheap. There’s nothing wrong with that; but given that rising population, Texas needs to create jobs more rapidly than the rest of the country just to keep up with a growing work force.

And when you look at unemployment, Texas doesn’t seem particularly special: its unemployment rate is below the national average, thanks in part to high oil prices, but it’s about the same as the unemployment rate in New York or Massachusetts.

What about the budget? The truth is that the Texas state government has relied for years on smoke and mirrors to create the illusion of sound finances in the face of a serious “structural” budget deficit — that is, a deficit that persists even when the economy is doing well. When the recession struck, hitting revenue in Texas just as it did everywhere else, that illusion was bound to collapse.

The only thing that let Gov. Rick Perry get away, temporarily, with claims of a surplus was the fact that Texas enacts budgets only once every two years, and the last budget was put in place before the depth of the economic downturn was clear. Now the next budget must be passed — and Texas may have a $25 billion hole to fill. Now what?

Given the complete dominance of conservative ideology in Texas politics, tax increases are out of the question. So it has to be spending cuts.

Yet Mr. Perry wasn’t lying about those “tough conservative decisions”: Texas has indeed taken a hard, you might say brutal, line toward its most vulnerable citizens. Among the states, Texas ranks near the bottom in education spending per pupil, while leading the nation in the percentage of residents without health insurance. It’s hard to imagine what will happen if the state tries to eliminate its huge deficit purely through further cuts.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/07/opinion/07krugman.html?_r=1&src=ISMR_HP_LO_MST_FB

Yippee-ka-yay Motherfuckers.

 

[Revere]

All government is broke.

 

[Sallow]

Oh it's the "But ma, everyone is doing it" defense..

Compelling..but..

No.

 

[Revere]

The welfare state is collapsing and the fanatics want a bigger welfare state.

 

[uscitizen]

It is all Obma's fault!

 

[Revere]

Perry is not slashing it fast enough.

 

[Sallow]

Texas is only a welfare state in terms of getting more back from the Federal government then they put in.

 

[Wry Catcher]

Texas will solve their problem for one reason alone. It is dominated with elected officals who are callous conservatives. Not giving a damn about people, and able to get away with dismissing human suffering with a causal, "it's all about personal responsibility" will give them cover.

 

[uscitizen]

Heck the reason Texas joined the USA in the first place was because the US would pay off their debt if they did.

 

[Revere]

California is dominated by True Believer liberals and is even deeper in the hole with no end in sight.

Thanks to people like Wry Catcher, who collect obscene public employee pensions.

 

[anuthervoice]

suck it!
Texas rocks
and really, you are in NY and looking for bad news from Texas.......
my kid can kick your kids ass in any given subject or sport......
and his mama can kick yer mamas ass

 

[Toro]

I posted this about a month ago.

I was surprised when I learned this.

 

[Sallow]

Texas will solve their problem for one reason alone. It is dominated with elected officals who are callous conservatives. Not giving a damn about people, and able to get away with dismissing human suffering with a causal, "it's all about personal responsibility" will give them cover.

They will save their asses like they've always saved their asses.

Hat in hand beating at the door of the Fed.

 

[Sallow]

suck it!
Texas rocks
and really, you are in NY and looking for bad news from Texas.......
my kid can kick your kids ass in any given subject or sport......
and his mama can kick yer mamas ass

I don't wanna be a grumpy gus or anything...but review the TOS.

Family members are a no no.

 

[Revere]

Texas is only a welfare state in terms of getting more back from the Federal government then they put in.

Nope.

http://www.taxfoundation.org/files/sr139.pdf

 

[Wry Catcher]

California is dominated by True Believer liberals and is even deeper in the hole with no end in sight.

Thanks to people like Wry Catcher, who collect obscene public employee pensions.

But, but, but ... envy is such a deadly sin. Even being stupid won't mitigate your sins, revere.

 

[anuthervoice]

suck it!
Texas rocks
and really, you are in NY and looking for bad news from Texas.......
my kid can kick your kids ass in any given subject or sport......
and his mama can kick yer mamas ass

I don't wanna be a grumpy gus or anything...but review the TOS.

Family members are a no no.

 

[Sallow]

suck it!
Texas rocks
and really, you are in NY and looking for bad news from Texas.......
my kid can kick your kids ass in any given subject or sport......
and his mama can kick yer mamas ass

I don't wanna be a grumpy gus or anything...but review the TOS.

Family members are a no no.

Besides..my "kid" is a big hairy dog used to hunt tigers in the wilds of Korea.

You really wanna go that route?

 

[rdean]

No Unions, piss poor education, terrible public services and basically a gimme state in terms of the Fed, it's STILL in the hole.

Krugman's take:

Op-Ed Columnist
The Texas Omen
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: January 6, 2011

How bad is the Texas deficit? Comparing budget crises among states is tricky, for technical reasons. Still, data from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities suggest that the Texas budget gap is worse than New York’s, about as bad as California’s, but not quite up to New Jersey levels.

The point, however, is that just the other day Texas was being touted as a role model (and still is by commentators who haven’t been keeping up with the news). It was the state the recession supposedly passed by, thanks to its low taxes and business-friendly policies. Its governor boasted that its budget was in good shape thanks to his “tough conservative decisions.”

Oh, and at a time when there’s a full-court press on to demonize public-sector unions as the source of all our woes, Texas is nearly demon-free: less than 20 percent of public-sector workers there are covered by union contracts, compared with almost 75 percent in New York.

So what happened to the “Texas miracle” many people were talking about even a few months ago?

Part of the answer is that reports of a recession-proof state were greatly exaggerated. It’s true that Texas job losses haven’t been as severe as those in the nation as a whole since the recession began in 2007. But Texas has a rapidly growing population — largely, suggests Harvard’s Edward Glaeser, because its liberal land-use and zoning policies have kept housing cheap. There’s nothing wrong with that; but given that rising population, Texas needs to create jobs more rapidly than the rest of the country just to keep up with a growing work force.

And when you look at unemployment, Texas doesn’t seem particularly special: its unemployment rate is below the national average, thanks in part to high oil prices, but it’s about the same as the unemployment rate in New York or Massachusetts.

What about the budget? The truth is that the Texas state government has relied for years on smoke and mirrors to create the illusion of sound finances in the face of a serious “structural” budget deficit — that is, a deficit that persists even when the economy is doing well. When the recession struck, hitting revenue in Texas just as it did everywhere else, that illusion was bound to collapse.

The only thing that let Gov. Rick Perry get away, temporarily, with claims of a surplus was the fact that Texas enacts budgets only once every two years, and the last budget was put in place before the depth of the economic downturn was clear. Now the next budget must be passed — and Texas may have a $25 billion hole to fill. Now what?

Given the complete dominance of conservative ideology in Texas politics, tax increases are out of the question. So it has to be spending cuts.

Yet Mr. Perry wasn’t lying about those “tough conservative decisions”: Texas has indeed taken a hard, you might say brutal, line toward its most vulnerable citizens. Among the states, Texas ranks near the bottom in education spending per pupil, while leading the nation in the percentage of residents without health insurance. It’s hard to imagine what will happen if the state tries to eliminate its huge deficit purely through further cuts.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/07/opinion/07krugman.html?_r=1&src=ISMR_HP_LO_MST_FB

Yippee-ka-yay Motherfuckers.

No education and no health care. This is the Republican "Recipe for Success".

 

[Harry Dresden]

California is dominated by True Believer liberals and is even deeper in the hole with no end in sight.

Thanks to people like Wry Catcher, who collect obscene public employee pensions.

so should Wry give it back?....would you if you put in your time with that pension being promised at the end and you worked and got there....would you give it back?....i sure as hell would not.....