The Texas Unmiracle - "the glowing portrait is false" (Krugman)

[jefferson_dem]

The Texas Unmiracle
By PAUL KRUGMAN

As expected, Rick Perry, the governor of Texas, has announced that he is running for president. And we already know what his campaign will be about: faith in miracles.

Some of these miracles will involve things that you’re liable to read in the Bible. But if he wins the Republican nomination, his campaign will probably center on a more secular theme: the alleged economic miracle in Texas, which, it’s often asserted, sailed through the Great Recession almost unscathed thanks to conservative economic policies. And Mr. Perry will claim that he can restore prosperity to America by applying the same policies at a national level.

So what you need to know is that the Texas miracle is a myth, and more broadly that Texan experience offers no useful lessons on how to restore national full employment.

<SNIP>

In June 2011, the Texas unemployment rate was 8.2 percent. That was less than unemployment in collapsed-bubble states like California and Florida, but it was slightly higher than the unemployment rate in New York, and significantly higher than the rate in Massachusetts. By the way, one in four Texans lacks health insurance, the highest proportion in the nation, thanks largely to the state’s small-government approach. Meanwhile, Massachusetts has near-universal coverage thanks to health reform very similar to the “job-killing” Affordable Care Act.

<SNIP>

So Texas tends, in good years and bad, to have higher job growth than the rest of America. But it needs lots of new jobs just to keep up with its rising population — and as those unemployment comparisons show, recent employment growth has fallen well short of what’s needed.

If this picture doesn’t look very much like the glowing portrait Texas boosters like to paint, there’s a reason: the glowing portrait is false.

<SNIP>

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/opinion/the-texas-unmiracle.html?src=tp

[geckosfeet]

1. What?!?! Rethuglican lies and deception? How can this be?

Waiting for the Krugman unrec trolls to try and spin this one.

[Ilsa]

2. The economy is not just about jobs.

Without decent health insurance, Texans end up paying more in local taxes to operate the emergency room-based healthcare system. Texans also have poorer health without the benefit of coverage. Add that to higher asthma and other pulmonary issues from dismantling the effectiveness of EPA regs (Bush's fault, and Perry supported). Texas isn't that desirable, economically, as a place to live.

Perry might argue that Texas must be a great place to live since it is growiing so fast. A lot of growth is influx from Mexico. I'm not certain where birth rates are in Texas compared to other states, but I suspect they are higher.

[TransitJohn]

3. I thought Krugman was under the bus?

I get so confused around here. :shrug: