-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
According to a Wall Street Journal article, Richard Fisher, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, using Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data, found that since June 2009 37% of all net new jobs in America were created in Texas. Even though Texas is an energy state benefitting from high oil and natural gas prices, Fisher touts Texas’ business friendly environment, its right-to-work laws, and its “tort reform”– a $250,000 cap on punitive damages.
The WSJ article even calls Texas “fiscally responsible.” That’s the same Texas with a $27 billion budget shortfall. The WSJ article also uncritically cites Texas’ statutory limits on mortgage borrowing, a regulation of the financial industry they would decry if Obama proposed it.
While the 37% figure is accurate, the details are what’s interesting. Texas has the highest percentage of minimum wage worker in the country. As the chart below shows, the level of minimum wage jobs has increased during Perry’s reign.
The median hourly earnings for all hourly-paid wage and salary workers in Texas stood at $11.20 per hour in 2010; nationally, the median was $12.50.
Texas also ranks number one in the percentage of residents without health insurance. Texas’ percentage is almost 28%. Massachusetts, with Romneycare, has the lowest at 4.7%.
According to The Economist, the state-level Gross Domestic Product of Texas grew by 2.6% last year, equal to the national average. New York grew by 5.1% and California by 1.8%.
Here is a listing of the Perry economic portfolio touted as a model for the whole country:
- Highest percentage of minimum wage jobs.
- Highest percentage of residents with no health insurance.
- A budget deficit of $27 billion.
- Lower than average wages.
- Average growth in GDP.
So, if you want a low paying job with no health insurance, Texas is your choice.
kderosa,
As soon as you realize you have no control here or over me, the sooner you’ll realize the futility of trying. Or maybe not. I’ll respond or not to your nonsense any goddamn way I please and if you’ve got a problem with that, I’ve already told you to whom you should address it. I do not take you seriously.
Now run go tell JT I said that and you think it was a personal attack.
I triple dog dare you.
Gene H
For someone who doesn’t take me seriously, you sure feel compelled to respond to every one of my comments. You were making good progress last night, now you’ve reverted back to comments whose sole content is a personal attack. A weak personal attack, mind you, but a personal attack nonetheless.
mespo,
Yes. I think the Bard would approve.
kderosa,
You still mistake me for someone who takes you seriously.
@mespo
What acrimony?
What leads you to think I’m concerned in the slightest?
I find it all very amusing and slightly pathetic.
Look, if you feel that what you’re doing is working for you, by all means continue onward.
What’s wrong there kderosa? A little concentrated acrimony over your every word got you testy? Sauce for the goose, I’m afraid.
I think a good cry might help the regulars get over the recent unpleasantness and get us moving on to more productive endeavors.
@Gene H
Your arguments/comments would be greatly improved if you responded to what I actually wrote, instead of what you wished I had written.
Roco,
There’s “capital P” Progressive and “small p” progressive. According to The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, there were three Progressive Parties:
1. A U.S. political party that was organized by Republican insurgents in 1911 and supported the presidential candidacy of Theodore Roosevelt in 1912. Also called the Bull Moose Party.
2. A U.S. politcal party organized in 1924 that supporetd the presidential candidacy of Robert M. La Follette and was active in Wisconsin until 1946.
3. A U.S. political party formed in 1948 to support the presidential candidacy of Henry A. Wallace.
*****
progressive (noun)
1. A person who actively favors or strives toward better conditions, as in society or government.
I’m definitely a “small p” progressive.
Mike Spindell:
Collectivism is collectivism no matter what you call it. Progressive is just another word for share the wealth.
Gene H:
Query: Would an oft protesting lady qualify as a “Whiny Wench”?
Typo second verse: wile = while
The lady doth protest too much, methinks.
Mike, the lyrics are so appropriate for all that is going on in Congress, as well as elsewhere.
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“the “progressive/socialist” movement starting with the communes which were quite common in the mid 1800′s and based on Fourier and Prudhome’s [sp?] works.”
Roco,
Wrong. The American Progressive movement was not socialist and its most influential figures were Frederick Jackson Turner and TR, when he was playing historian. See Chapter Two of Slotkin’s “Gunfighter Nation” and the accompanying notes referencing their beliefs.
Mike, let it go, just let it go.
Dedicated to kderosa, Roco and their lack of self awareness.
OS, you are applying Occam’s butter knife to the facts at hand.
The simple explanation is that you and the others are feeling much frustration in not being about to adequately defend your opinions and arguments. That frustration is manifesting itself in unhealthy vindictiveness, conspiracy theories and personal attacks instead of a more productive learning opportunity and introspection which might, hopefully, lead to improvement.
Mike Spindell:
I am sorry you feel that way. You have accused me of much more than being a collectivist or socialist. Those are lame to what you and others have accused me of.
While not a history major, I do know something about the history of the US and the “progressive/socialist” movement starting with the communes which were quite common in the mid 1800’s and based on Fourier and Prudhome’s [sp?] works.
Kderosa cannot just walk away from anything without commenting. Mike and Elaine, he is very much what you claim he is….