More On The Fraudulent "Texas Miracle"

The state of Texas has enacted more of the Republican economic agenda (i.e., trickle down economics) than just about any other state. And the national Republicans, not to mention the Texas Republicans, now like to talk about the Texas "miracle". They would like for everyone to believe that the regressive taxation (poor, working, and middle class Texans pay a much higher percentage of their income in taxes than do the rich or corporations) and environmental deregulation (Texas is the biggest polluter in the nation) has resulted in a booming economy producing a massive amount of jobs.

Of course they overlook the uncomfortable fact that the Texas unemployment rate is over 8% (higher than 23 other states) and most of the new jobs are minimum wage jobs without any benefits. In fact, Texas has the highest number of and percentage of minimum wage jobs in the nation (and the number of minimum wage jobs grew by 150% between 2007 and 2010).

The sad fact is that it is just as hard (or harder) to find a job in Texas as anywhere else in the country, and if you are lucky enough to find a job it is more likely that job will be a low-paying job that won't support a family. Texas may be an economic heaven for corporate moguls, but it's a tough row to hoe for the rest of the state's citizens (who are less likely to have health insurance, more likely to drop out of school, less likely to attend an adequately funded school, more likely to have teen pregnancies, more likely to have water shortages, less likely to be a union member, and more likely to have sub-par wages).

And there is a second part of the Texas "miracle" that Republicans would like you to know about. They brag that Texas Republicans have been able to balance the Texas budget without raising any taxes. They make it sound like the state government is stable and healthy and has no problem paying its bills. Again, this is nothing more than an outrageous lie.

The truth is that the Republicans have mismanaged the state's finances so badly that the state was facing a $27 billion deficit for the next biennium. And instead of plugging that $27 billion hole, the legislature (with the complicity of the governor) simply covered much of it up with smoke and mirrors.

They "balanced" the budget by ignoring some obligations (like Medicaid), delaying making some other payment obligations (like payments due to schools), slashing already underfunded social programs, stealing money from funds dedicated to other purposes (like cancer research) and raising fees for state services and licenses (sounds like a tax raise to me). In other words, they didn't balance the budget at all. They just kicked the economic can down the road a bit.

But that's not all. Both Texas and national Republicans, while holding Texas up as an economic model, have viciously attacked the federal government for its increasing debt. They don't want to raise the debt ceiling because they say the federal government has already borrowed too much, and should pay it debts as it goes. Some want a balanced budget amendment so the federal government would have to balance its budget every year -- like states such as Texas does.

We've already discussed the failure of Texas Republicans to really balance the state budget, but it gets even worse than that. Texas doesn't really pay everything in full every biennium. Texas borrows money just like the federal government does. And believe it or not, the Texas debt has grown even faster than the federal debt. Between 2001 and 2010 the federal debt grew about 234%. That's a lot, but not nearly as fast as the Texas debt grew -- over 281% during that same period.

In 2001 Texas had a debt of $4,608 per person ($843 below the average for all states). But in 2010 Texas had a debt of $8,943 per person ($380 above the average for all states). And considering that Texas has one of the fastest-growing populations in the nation, you can easily see how fast the rate of borrowing has increased. While claiming to believe in pay-as-you-go, Texas Republicans are actually creating an ever-increasing burden of debt for future generations.

In short, the Texas "miracle" is not just a lie -- it's a damned outrageous lie. Republican "trickle-down" economic policy was devastating for the nation and it has been just as bad for the state of Texas. It has never worked and it never will.