USA Today: "Move to Texas." Ish.

By Robert Wilonsky Tue., Jul. 26 2011 at 8:24 AM

Categories: Biz, Campaign News, Politics

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In hotels all across the country this morning, folks are rising and shining to that bit of advice courtesy this state of the state, which, like everyone else, is just waiting for Rick Perry to jump into the pool of GOP candidates and begin talking about how The Great State of Texas is a jobs-making machine, y'all. For USA Today, the piece is a monster -- a 2,000-word advertorial selling everything from payroll gains (as in: "From June 2009 to June 2011 the state added 262,000 jobs, or half the USA's 524,000 payroll gains, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas and the Bureau of Labor Statistics") to the state's pro-bidness climate (which includes Perry "pushing through tort reform to limit frivolous lawsuits") to, let's be honest, its chief selling points ("Texas' laid-back lifestyle and lower costs").

But as has become the theme in recent weeks, there are plenty of folks who question Perry's role in the so-called Texas Miracle. 'Cause, like, this is the man who gleefully stood by while the Lege, on his orders, cut billions out of the public-ed budget. Or, as Scott McCown, head of the state's Center for Public Policy Priorities, puts it, "We're not preparing our children to compete in tomorrow's economy." Well, that depends -- I read somewhere that tomorrow's economy involves an In-N-Out on every corner.

Speaking of Perry, Time wonders who loses if Perry runs. Sorry -- the first comment beneath that piece beat you to it.

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What's that all aboot, anyhow?
Chicago *gak* sucks. *ptoooie*
When you grow up in a climate that can hover at 20 below zero for several weeks at a crack and a warm day in winter get to about +10 degrees, you might think differently.
Easy there, we are in agreement...I was noting Perry's 'accomplishments' as Governor, as imagined by his fervent supporters.
No, ya'll stay the hell away. We don't need any more of you.
Why would I like that ? and the feds have little to do with public education other than grandstanding & pandering
You think were in a budget crisis because of economic slowdown? We didnt slowdown that much. Perry/State Legislature cut the franchise tax and never replaced it with anything, they thought about it, but business rebeled and thus were left with even less services, which is fine but be honest dont blame the economy
So thankful to Rick Perry for discovering oil in Texas, making the geography large and affordable, building I-35, DFW and HOU airports, and the Houston ship channel...we are really lucky he done so much to make Texas favorable for employment.
Harrumph.
TimCov didn't claim to be a Libertarian -- you designated him that. He claimed to be fiscally conservative and socially liberal. (like a big chunk of Americans are). And if you are hard pressed to see where Perry is basing laws on the Bible, then you weren't paying attention during his campaigns or laws he signed.
Yeah, 8 years of Cheney as pres.
We share a border with Canada, and he'd probably invade because half the country speaks French. I'd suggest Europe. That's my plan.
office vacancy in Dallas is usually around 20%, even when things are good. 30% is far too high even for Dallas, but it's not like Manhattan, where anything even approaching 10% is a financial catastrophe.
Texas definitely wins if Perry leaves office for the campaign trail. The whole country loses if by some disastrous turn of events he gets elected. I don't think it'd ever happen, but I shudder at the thought. If so, I'm moving to Canada.
Very true...
Actually, Chicago is nice. I can't speak for New York or Detroit.
Unfortunately, we thought the same thing when W moved from Texas to DC. Look what that got us.
Every summer I tell myself this is my last summer here. I swear I mean it this time. Except I swore I meant it last time. But THIS time... I went for a run at 5am today and thought I was having a heatstroke. I definitely feel that I am over it.
I'll take Lake Michigan over the Calatravinity any day.
Shit's cheap here.
Ah, so no immigrants ever.
A lot of those buildings were erected by Canadians.
But the Texas Enterprise Fund will continue to dole out payback for campaign donations, I mean incentives for business relocations.
Yeah, when I said west of DFW, I was thinking of west Texas (think Abilene or Lubbock) or up around Wichita Falls where I grew up. That's some pretty featureless terrain. Glen Rose is nice and so is the area near Possum Kingdom Lake...at least before most of it burned down several months ago. I don't think I've ever been to Lake Mineral Wells. This time of year makes it difficult for me to see past the fact that our overnight low temp last night was a balmy 86 degrees and realize that better days are ahead. Though I know it's coming every year, it always seems a little worse than what I'd remembered. However, it'll be gorgeous again by some time in October and then all will be as it should be. At least until next summer when I'll begin to lament living here once again.
Go to New York. Leave Manhattan. Better yet, go to Chicago outside the loop, or Detroit. You'll get it then.
I'm really hard pressed to see where Perry is basing laws on the bible. I thought the traditional slur was to say that he was basing laws on the polls. As for forcing people to spend money on medically unnecessary procedures, the entire counterargument is one word, and kills both your fiscally conservative argument AND your socially liberal argument: Obamacare. Face it, guy -- if you can stomach a vote for Obama now that you've seen how he governs (as opposed to how he campaigns), then you are by no means a libertarian (ie fiscally conservative and socially liberal.)
Obviously we either have different ideas of natural beauty or have been to different areas west of Fort Worth. I happen to think the Glen Rose area and Lake Mineral wells are both very beautiful. Though, the heat is atrocious this time of year. I look at it as we have 3-4 months of it being to hot do something outside with 8-9 months of weather that is great for outdoor activities. I know sections of the country that have 4-5 months of great outdoor activity weather with 7-8 months of it being to cold to do anything outside. I'll take our weather over that.
We have some people renting the house next door to us and their accents suggest they're not from around these parts (I'm thinking somewhere in the Northeast). Not long after they moved in, I heard this one old man describing Dallas/Fort Worth to someone on the phone as if it was the land of milk and honey. All I could wonder was what kind of hell hole he'd lived in previously. Granted, the job situation may be better in Texas as compared to other areas of the country, but many areas of the state (especially DFW and points west) are practically void of anything resembling natural beauty and the weather generally sucks except for about four months of the year. I've lived here all my life and this time of year I usually start to wonder why. Jobs notwithstanding, I'm not sure why someone else would choose to move here.
I look at the 2000-2008 skyline additions and wonder what message you are talking about. Dallas is still woefully overbuilt in terms of commercial space, and some of the properties that you mentioned were foreclosed on for a second time in the recent downturn. No one learns lessons - they just undertake a different form of irresponsibility and bet that they can get their $$$ off the table before the fat lady stops singing this time around.
1. Perry is not a fiscal conservative. He believes in not even paying for the things most people agree government should do (like education and roads). He is just fiscally irresponsible. So, he is no improvement there. 2. Perry believes in basing laws on the bible and forcing people to spend money on medically unnecessary procedures. And, he would do the same things as President that you accuse Obama of doing. IMO, this makes him worse than Obama. Generally speaking, there are several Republicans who I would either vote for, or not vote against. But, Perry is the one candidate I will work to make sure does not get into office. I know that he will attempt to sell off as much of the country as he can to his Spanish masters.
I did not live here back then, but all you have to do is look at the Dallas skyline to see that the tallest buildings were build during the boom of the 80s: Fountain Place, Bank of America Tower, Momentum Place (now Comerica), LTV Center (now Trammel Crow Tower), Chase Tower, etc. Most of those were in foreclosure by 1990, I think, and Texas learned a valuable lesson.
Don't let anybody in until we finally finish all of the damn road work
1987--Losses at Texas S&Ls comprise more than one-half of all S&L losses nationwide, and of the 20 largest losses, 14 are in Texas. Texas economy in major recession: crude oil prices fall by nearly 50%, office vacancy is over 30%, and real estate prices collapse.
Can we charge newcomers a fee to come to Texas? Tie it back to renewing your license. If you have been in Texas over 10 year the fee is X; 8 years or less 2X; 5 years or less 3X; 3 years or less 4X
While the rest of the country suffered during the recession of '83 Texas was untouched.......until the late 80's.
And how does that work exactly, when Perry has to manage and educate the citizens of all 50 States? He's going to steal educated workers from Mexico? Bet you'd love that.
If there is any way to get you to vote for Obama, then you are neither truly fiscally conservative (no cites needed) nor truly socially liberal (war in Libya, expanding drug war, fighting gay marriage, expanding warrantless wiretaps, project gunrunner, etc).
I am fiscally conservative and socially liberal. I've repeatedly explained to people that the best way to get me to vote for Obama is for the Republicans to nominate Rick Perry.
Citing Krugman is pretty dumb (even on a board that leans liberal to the extent this one does) but generally speaking, he has a better track record than his detractors.
The "role" is to play no role. Whether he gets credit for continuing to govern in the way that his state expects him to based on its constitution and form of governance is up to you. Texas governs less than just about every other state. That's working for now because there's still a little of everything to go around, despite absolutely staggering disparities between rich and poor. The model won't be questioned until we're in 2015, and we're still looking at more 2011-style budget cuts, and the rainy day fund is exhausted because it's been pouring for more than half a decade.
Dont worry there will always be lots of good educated folks from other states ready to fill our needs, move here, make a great living and bitch about how much Texas sucks
If there is one constant in the world, it is that Paul Krugman is wrong about anything he publishes. If he mentioned that the sky was blue in a column you would wake up to a green morning tomorrow.
Or the general retardation of the gen pop in this country, eventually we will just elect who reality tv tells us to elect
Lemon maybe you should actually know something about economics before you come up with this low paying job business. Lets say you get partial credit and yes there are lots of fast food jobs, lots more than there used to be. But who do you think their customes are ? Right hundreds of thousands of other people with jobs!
<i>But as has become the theme in recent weeks, there are plenty of folks who question Perry's role in the so-called Texas Miracle. </i> You mean, as the Journolist 2.0 directed the narrative shall be?
Considering how the creationists keep fighting to dumb down Texas school books I can't help but wonder if Perry isn't doing us a favor by slashing education budgets, it's a twisted world we live in.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/18/texas-tales/
Please Please do not move to Texas - stay where you are and deal with your own problems we have enough of our own
Perry's seeming popularity says far more about how week the current candidates are than anything else. The right wants anyone but Obama. Or the declared candidates. Or the undeclared candidates. I wonder if they are desperate enough to coalesce around Perry before they realize what they are buying. That might actually be what is so appealing about Perry, that they don't know much about him yet.
Boldest and grandest. Withstanding every test. Ish.
While there are some good jobs in those listed as added, I can't help but think that too many jobs pay poorly a la fast food jobs. We already have plenty of people here. People who think about moving here, please think again!
Note to future Texans: You may want to postpone your move to Saturday, when it's going to cool down to 101°.
Yeah, but Texas wins, temporarily, as Goodhair hits the campaign trail and goes away. If only he'd up and quit like the Undefeated.