Is Texas (Or Any Other State) A GOP "Economic Miracle" ?

Republicans have been claiming that their economic policies are best for this country, and they point to the state of Texas as evidence of that -- calling the Republican-dominated state an "economic miracle". And at first glance, a new report by the Phoenix Global Wealth Monitor would tend to lend credence to that. The report, which lists the number of households with a liquid wealth of at least a million dollars (excluding such assets as residences, real estate, and 401k plans).

The report shows that the number of millionaire households in Texas is growing, and has set new records for the state in the last three years. Currently Texas has 456,949 households that have a liquid asset of at least a million dollars. That's about 4.89% of the 9,336,438 households in the state (or not quite 5 out of every 100 households).

That may sound impressive, but it's not really. That 4.89% only puts Texas in 22nd place among states with the highest percentage of millionaires per household -- a very mediocre rating. Here are the states with the highest and lowest percentage of millionaire households:

HIGHEST PERCENTAGE OF MILLIONAIRE HOUSEHOLDS
1. Maryland..........7.70%
2. New Jersey..........7.49%
3. Connecticut..........7.32%
4. Hawaii..........7.18%
5. Alaska..........6.75%
6. Massachusetts..........6.73%
7. Virginia..........6.64%
8. New Hampshire..........6.48%
9. Delaware..........6.20%
10. California..........6.04%
11. New York..........5.79%
12. Washington..........5.74%
13. Minnesota..........5.56%
14. Illinois..........5.54%
15. Colorado..........5.54%

LOWEST PERCENTAGE OF MILLIONAIRE HOUSEHOLDS
50. Mississippi..........3.63%
49. Arkansas..........3.73%
48. Idaho..........3.76%
47. West Virginia..........3.82%
46. Kentucky..........3.84%
45. Tennessee..........3.99%
44. Indiana..........4.02%
43. North Carolina..........4.11%
42. South Carolina..........4.15%
41. Oklahoma..........4.16%
40. Alabama..........4.20%
39. Montana..........4.30%
38. Nevada..........4.35%
37. South Dakota..........4.37%
36. Michigan..........4.38% 

These two lists are very revealing, especially when you look at which party holds the governor's mansion in those states. Note that the huge majority of the states with the most millionaire households are governed by Democrats, while the huge majority of the states with the least millionaire households are governed by Republicans. Maybe the GOP should think twice before using this as a measure of their party's economic success.

Turning back to the supposed "economic miracle" the GOP has created in Texas, there are some other facts they won't tell you about. Like the fact that the percentage of Texans working at or below the minimum wage is far greater than the percentage of millionaires -- about 7.5% in 2012 (according to Labor Department figures). Only one state has a higher percentage (Idaho at 7.7%), and no state has a larger number of workers earning at or under the minimum wage. And this doesn't count the large number of workers making just slightly above the minimum wage, or the fact that those low-wage jobs are growing (since most new jobs being created today are low-wage jobs).

Add all of this to the fact that Texas still has the largest number and percentage of people without health care coverage (because they are too poor to buy health insurance, and the state refuses to expand Medicaid), and it is clear that Texas is no "economic miracle". What the Republicans have accomplished in Texas would more accurately be called an economic disaster. And the same is true in most other states they control. The Republican economic policies have not worked any better on the state level than they have on the national level.

It is time to kick the Republicans out of power -- so the national and state governments can return to a saner and fairer economic policy.

NOTE -- There are currently 6,145,533 households in the United States with liquid assets of at least a million dollars (about 5.16% of the total number of households in this country).