The Jobs of Texas

George Rebane

Just a short update on how individual states can still affect their own fortunes as long as they have the brains and will to do so.  After all, allowing the several states to improvise and compete in how they solve their own problems of local governance is part of the genius of our Founders.  California, of course, has shoved that genius up where the sun don’t shine and we are where we are.

Today’s WSJ reports the results of a recent study by the Dallas Fed (here).

… since June 2009, when the recession ended. Texas added 265,300 net jobs, out of the 722,200 nationwide, and by far outpaced every other state. New York was second with 98,200, Pennsylvania added 93,000, and it falls off from there. Nine states created fewer than 10,000 jobs, while Maine, Hawaii, Delaware and Wyoming created fewer than 1,000. Eighteen states have lost jobs since the recovery began.

From the nearby graphic our California is not even lumped with ‘All other states’ because it lost a net 11,400 jobs.  Today we find that “Texas accounts for 45% of net US job creation” and “is also among the few states that are home to more jobs than when the recession began in December 2007.”

So how did they do it?  Well let’s see if we can guess which state “has no state income tax. Its regulatory conditions are contained and flexible …, is fiscally responsible and (its) government is small. Its right-to-work law doesn't impose unions on businesses or employees” and it “is open to global trade and competition”.

Only the hard left rejects that “capital—both human and investment—is highly mobile, and it migrates all the time to the places where the opportunities are larger and the burdens are lower.”  That lesson has been absent in the Golden State for over a generation now, and like insane people everywhere, we expect things to change for the better by doing even more of the same.

What can little Nevada County learn from this data and constructively do, as we contemplate developing our own economy?

And what does all this say about multi-cultural democracy unleavened by education?  But never mind, that query we’ll save for another time.

Comments

[Steve Enos]

California exports grew for the 18th month in a row. More good news about California!

Here's the link to the full story:

http://www.sacbee.com/2011/06/10/3690105/california-marks-18th-month-of.html

[Paul Emery]

George

Do visitors from south of the border get included in the jobs figures? Also, just a reminder that Texas also leads the nation in the percentage of uninsured which makes me believe that a good percentage of the new "jobs" are not substantial or permanent. It's good information though. Anybody want to move there?

[George Rebane]

SteveE - the "good news" will be reflected in the net jobs created, which today still continue to be negative. Do you think it is the interpretation of such export stats and the Texas' percentage of uninsureds that keeps the Sacramento lame brains happy about their policies?

PaulE, illegal aliens from south of the border don't count in the job stats of Americans. Their fugitive existence here has and continues to be a totally different subject on these pages, and the national dialogue. Attempting to roll them in with legal residents is another part of what is tearing at the country. Americans are still sucking hind tit in California.

[Paul Emery]

With the passing of the Newt there's some buzz about Texas Gov Rick Perry jumping into the race but he is pretty much out of the picture as long as he keeps company with the likes of the American Family Association.

[Bob W]

All I can do is just shake my head. Very revealing. I don't enjoy it but I need to read this once in a while to keep me grounded in reality. Like Gamblers or Alcoholics in denial.

[Account Deleted]

Well Steve, that's good news about California but you might notice that the increase is from last year, when it was in the toilet. What is the inflation corrected dollar amount from each year going back several years? It's a positive sign but we have a long way to go. Meanwhile the leg. just passed more anti-business laws such as the employer not being able to check the credit history of prospective employees. The bottom line is that California is a net exporter of jobs and will continue that way as long as it is viewed as business un-friendly.
For Paul - I'm not familiar with the AFA. I looked at the web site, but don't see any connection with Rick Perry. Meanwhile Pelosi just stated that Weiner can stay in office because he hasn't broken any laws. I'll take Perry over pervert any day, but the left likes to have openness and diversity. To each his own.

[wmartin]

"Also, just a reminder that Texas also leads the nation in the percentage of uninsured"

I notice that California is 44th out of 50 in that statistic, at least in 2009.

[Paul Emery]

I give Texas high marks for music. Austin is the place for new country music. It's no secret to me that Texas has a favorable tax climate for business. I've had several friends in the audio manufacturing business that relocated there many years ago and never came back.

Perry is very tight with the AFA which is is a Christian group that whose spokes person is a guy named Bryan Fischer, who is director of Issue Analysis for Government and Public Policy.

Here's one of his recent rants “Homosexuality gave us Adolph Hitler, and homosexuals in the military gave us the Brown Shirts, the Nazi war machine and six million dead Jews.”

I don't have time to list details but it was a pretty big news story a couple of weeks ago. You just can't hang out with that ilk if your serious about running for President.

[Russ Steele]

Well, Texas Gov. Rick Perry must be going to run for President, the left has launched a concerted attack by all the usual suspects and they are all reading from the same talking points, that Rick Perry is "really tight with the AFA" an anti-gay group. Paul, did you get the memo with the talking points, or did you arrive your position independently?

[Russ Steele]

...oops.. "or did you arrive your position independently" should read or "did you arrive at your position independently?"

[Steve Enos]

First off I think Weiner should go and he should have gone days ago.

Scott you posted... "Meanwhile Pelosi just stated that Weiner can stay in office because he hasn't broken any laws".

Is that what Pelosi really said or did she say it was up to Weiner and the voters in his district?

I can't locate any statement where Pelosi said "Weiner can stay in office because he hasn't broken any laws".

Pelosi did not call for Weiner to step down but Pelosi has asked the House Ethics Committee to investigate whether Weiner violated House rules by using "official resources" to maintain illicit online relationships.

On the other hand Rangel has said it's fine for Weiner to stay. Rangel has even made statments defending/supporting Weiner, but not a suprise from Rangel.

Please help and provide a link to Pelosi making that statement you posted.

Thanks much!

PS: Weiner should go and should have days ago.

[wmartin]

"Well, Texas Gov. Rick Perry must be going to run for President, the left has launched a concerted attack by all the usual suspects "

LOL. That's a good call. A quick google of Bryan Fischer and Rick Perry shows up a gajillion Left-oriented blogger sites with similar content. Much of it posted this last week.

I honestly don't think that it's any kind of conspiracy run by George Soros from his cave in the Alps. It's just that if your personal reality largely stems from grazing the net for the outrage of the day, these things spread really quickly. It's a kind of flash mob of opinion.

[wmartin]

"Weiner should go and should have days ago.

Posted by: Steve Enos"

Is Weiner planning on pulling out?

[Account Deleted]

Well, Steve - the point is you know he should go and I know he should - so why hasn't Pelosi picked up the phone and told the Weiner to clean out his desk? I can't find it on-line yet but it was an audio and she was stammering and stalling and basically she was defending the Weiner because "he hasn't broken any laws" and since she has said it should be up to him and his constituents, I put the 2 together as I wrote it. Not trying to make anything up, but that's the gist of it. Has Perry said he supports the statements made by Bryon Fischer? I can "connect" all sorts of politicians with all sorts of crack pot statements made by others. Right now, it looks pretty silly to try and make Perry look bad because of what some one else said. Obama bragged about how he looked up to that racist so-called Christian preacher for 20 years and it didn't seem to slow him down one bit. All he had to do was suddenly disavow the man with one sentence and all was forgotten. Not promoting Perry as I don't know a whole lot about him, but let's try to stay focused on who and what Perry is and what he says.

[Paul Emery]

I got the initial information from the Washington Post and the Christian Science Monitor and ended up here and a couple of other places. If you are serious in running for president you have to be careful of the company you keep. Pretty easy to find.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xiabcp_bradlee-dean-with-bryan-fisher-afa-on-hitler-the-ss-and-homosexuality_news

[Account Deleted]

OK - he thinks Hitler was gay - nothing new there. Does this guy advocate violence or law breaking? How does this reflect on Perry? As I said, I'm not promoting Perry, but meanwhile - Pelosi takes her sweet time to figure out what normal humans figure out immediately : http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/12/nyregion/pelosi-calls-on-weiner-to-resign.html
Way late but welcome news.

[Steve Enos]

Scott... this in the media today, a bit late, but at last happening:

Democratic leaders say Rep. Weiner must resign
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic leaders are now calling on Rep. Anthony Weiner to resign after the New York lawmaker embroiled in a Twitter scandal admitted he had online contact with a Delaware teenager.

National party chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz says Weiner's behavior is "indefensible" and his role in Congress is "untenable."

The Florida congresswoman says "this sordid affair has become an unacceptable distraction" for everyone.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California says Weiner "needs help" and he should get some "without the pressures of being a member of Congress."

Looks like Pelosi is at last talking that Weiner needs to go.

[Paul Emery]

Scott

The point is that Bryan Fisher was talking as policy spokesman and representative of the AFA and that Governor Perry is teaming up with them tor a big media pray fest in August. There is no doubt that the AFA is a homophobic organization and no one serious about running for president can be that tight with such a group.

Yes, Weiner should go and he will so the Dems can find a replacement that's electable. It will be a special election. This is a pretty good overview.

http://www.politickerny.com/2011/06/08/names-emerge-as-weiners-replacement/

[Account Deleted]

No Paul, they are not homophobic. If you and I are against 12 year olds and 45 year olds getting married, it's not because we're afraid of 12 and 45 year old people. You don't like the AFA and their positions and policies. You might try using reason and facts rather than name calling. Openly card-carrying communists and socialist groups march in unison with the major unions and Obama is bought and paid for by those unions, so what about that connection? I'm not name calling, mind you, just following your logic.

[wmartin]

"There is no doubt that the AFA is a homophobic organization and no one serious about running for president can be that tight with such a group."

Just how is this different from Jeremiah Wright?, besides being a double standard of course.

[Mikey McD]

spoke with a contractor buddy just yesterday that said "construction in ca is doomed. You would not believe what they are going to make us do for global warming laws [ab32]. We are looking into schools/homes/jobs in Texas. It would suck to move, but we may not have a choice."

[Paul Emery]

wmartin
I can see a similarity. The difference is that Obama didn't partner up with Wright for a major media event while he was considering a run for the pres. Obama had to explain his association and the voters made up their minds.

If blaming homosexuals for the rise of Nazi Germany and the holocaust isn't homophobic what is?

“Homosexuality gave us Adolph Hitler, and homosexuals in the military gave us the Brown Shirts, the Nazi war machine and six million dead Jews.”

Give me a break Scott. I'm not saying Perry is but his pulpit mates sure are!

[George Rebane]

Interesting thread here on homosexuality and homophobicity. I think everyone knows what a homosexual orientation of sexuality is, but do we all know what is required of a person before he can correctly be labeled a homophobe (we’ll skip the mangling of Latin semantics here)? I’m sure my conception of a homophobe is very politically incorrect.

But it seems that the broad and politically correct definition of homophobe is anyone who cannot successfully defend himself against any charge (gratuitous or not) of conceiving or expressing that a person’s interaction with his/her asexual environment is affected or influenced in any way by his/her homosexuality. In short, homosexuals are in every way just like heterosexuals except when they behave sexually.

Therefore, if you let it be known or surmised that a homosexual may behave differently from a heterosexual in certain asexual situations or environments, then the pejorative ‘homophobe’ is attached to you, and you bear the full brunt of that which may even extend beyond social sanctions to legal sanctions being brought against you. Such an appellation will have nothing to do with the fact that you have never discriminated against homosexuals in any of your professional or private dealings.

In sum, the ground truth that is issued ex cathedra from the media and legislatures is that no arguments or presentation of evidence are permitted to counter that homosexuals and heterosexuals have indistinguishable behaviors in asexual situations and environments.

Is that a correct understanding?

[Paul Emery]

Call it what you will, I won't get into an argument about definitions. It's a very bizarre historical perspective and why would you want to say it other than to bash gays. This guy, Bryan Fischer is rally a piece of work. Here's his explanation
.
"gays caused the Holocaust." False. What I spoke is the simple truth: the Nazi Party was responsible for the Holocaust. If the question is then further asked, who was responsible for the Nazi Party, the answer, as a matter of simple historical truth: homosexual thugs. The Nazi Party was actually formed in a gay bar in Munich, and virtually all of Hitler's early enforcers in his rise to power were homosexuals."

"Ladies and gentlemen, they are Nazis. Do not be under any illusions about what homosexual activists will do with your freedoms and your religion if they have the opportunity. They'll do the same thing to you that the Nazis did to their opponents in Nazi Germany."

You can't make people like this up they are so bizarre.

If you want more from Fisher go here.

http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/fischer/110609

[Account Deleted]

Paul - there is no double standard here. That was my whole point. J Wright ascribes to a hateful and cruel racist sort of religion and Obama went on and on how he spent 20 years under him and how he learned so much about life and his values. Then he runs for president and suddenly he somehow can erase 20 years in a statement to the press. Obama was already a Ill. solon and a Senator by then. R Perry isn't even running for pres yet because of one person who made some statements (I personally found a bit of a stretch, but there is some historical truth), you tar Perry with the broad brush. I think the hypocrisy is with the left. I can easily connect Obama with commies and fellow travellers, yet to call Obama a commie is a screaming no-no. You can't have it both ways - if Perry can't have his one day event with the AFA, then Obama must give back all the money he gets from the SEIU and denounce their ties.
I know that there are homophobes and I don't like their attitudes or their claim to Christianity. BTW - you might check out J Wrights ties to Nation Of Islam and their loving views on homosexuals. Remember - Obama bragged about his wonderful 20 years of sitting under Wright and how it shaped him. That gets erased in a press statement? Or was it all BS and Wright's church was just the place to be for an up and coming Chicago ward healer in that district? Why don't we let Perry have his say and see if he is running for pres for real?

[wmartin]

"Or was it all BS and Wright's church was just the place to be for an up and coming Chicago ward healer in that district?"

Bingo. That sounds like the truth to me. Not being a mind-reader, it's hard to tell though.

Elections from here on out are interesting beasts. The increasing lack of privacy in everyday life (aside from Obama's school records of course) will tend to filter out candidates with any 'history' at all. The power of massive media buys combined with the sophistication of modern campaign marketing is a quite different situation from 100 years ago and the backroom power brokering that was the primary source for choosing Presidents.

A thing I find a bit scary, regardless of the political beliefs (assuming they really have any) of the potential President, is the combination of the current power of the job with the current mechanism for choosing them. We are at a point now where a person with exceptional speaking skills combined with a first rate marketing campaign can go from relative nobody to Emperor of the World in 18 months time.

This is all combined with the fact, or it looks like a fact, that a large fraction of the country really feels that most major problems in their lives can be solved by just choosing the right wise men who institute the right wise policies.

A whole lotta bad things could happen with that setup in place.

[George Rebane]

On the mark wmartin. Today more than ever, but the 'man on a white horse' syndrome started some time ago. Consider the ascendancy of Abe Lincoln. Of course, ol' Abe didn't have the power of today's presidents who end-run Congress. But Abe started us on the hard road to power concentration in Washington.

[stevenfrisch]

Hmmm.....never really thought about it that way.....Lincoln was an almost unknown element to most New Englanders, who preferred Seward, and Lincoln really only ascended to power because the other alternatives, who were regional favorites, had ticked off powerful constituents. If not for the Lincoln-Douglas debates and Lincoln's shrewd convention management Seward would have been President.

[Todd Juvinall]

Paul, are the 1 1/2 billion Muslims considered homophobes?

[Paul Emery]

Well spoken wmartin. You can add Sarah Palin' ascendancy to that equation. The fact that nearly 60 million voters felt confident she was qualified to be President is frighting. Obama was not my first choice amongst the Dems by any stretch and his qualifications are fair game.

Todd

Your retort about Muslims is not relevant to the observation that if Governor Perry has any aspirations of running for President he has to watch the company he keeps. Brian Fisher and the AFA are quite bizarre and represent a pretty small group of bible thumpers who are using gay bashing to rile up their flock. Pretty disgusting.

[Todd Juvinall]

Come on Paul, answer my question. Quit dodging.

[Paul Emery]

Todd

My answer is no. That's like saying all Christians are homophobes based on the literal interpretation of selected scriptures in the Bible some groups observe. The group I have cited defiantly are but that doesn't mean the Methodists, for example, feel that way.

The religion of Islam is as diverse as Christianity. I have been reading quite a bit on the history of Islam and it's extremely complex and diverse. Just because you asked me that question doesn't mean that's what you believe of course. If it is you had better do your homework before you come back to class.

[wmartin]

"You can add Sarah Palin' ascendancy to that equation."

Absolutely. On paper, her resume is as light as Obama's, plus she also has that rare ability to work a big house.

Maybe one difference between the two might be that Obama claims to be able to solve my problems while Palin claims that she wants to quit bugging me so much, but I'd have to pour through the speeches to see if that was really the case.

This last Presidential cycle was funny in that both sides put up an experienced adult plus a relative child, but their places on the ticket were inverted. You can argue that, as usual, form won over substance in the case of the top slots, but part of the problem had to be McCain's lack of manly vigor. To some extent, we like our Presidents to be a kind of Harvest King, and he just seemed too worn out.

[George Rebane]

My main nod toward Palin is that she held two executive posts before her VP candidacy, and was noted for going after entrenched special interests in a visible manner.

Obama had held no executive positions, knew how to work entrenched special interests, and ducked two gigs as (state and national) senator. And I'm not prepared to go into his upbringing, 'academic' career, and the people he surrounds himself with. These, of course, reflect my own ideology, and I totally understand how the progressives view the latter as very positive preparation for the leader who will take us all into their fundamentally transformed new world.

[Todd Juvinall]

Here is why the lamestream media and the leftwingnuts hate Palin.

Smart
Attractive
Family oriented
successful
pro-life
doesn't take their crap

She was right on Paul Revere telling the British to watch out, but we can see that the press didn't even know that, either did Bernie Goldberg on O'Reilly. What a hoot!

[Paul Emery]

I agree Martin. McCain's year was 2000 and actually I would have seriously considered voting for him in that cycle but that was before Rove slimmed him in Carolina paving the way for Bush 2. The rest is history. I doubt seriously that McCain would have invaded Iraq.

At this point Romney looks like the Repubs guy and he will give Obama a good run if the TP's can hold their nose and vote for him. Anyone else looks like easy pickins' for Obama

[Greg Goodknight]

George, I'm afraid you are in error regarding President Obama's executive experience. He was President and Chairman of the Board at the Chicago Annenberg Challenge. Worked closely with the grant writer who started it all, Professor of Education and all around great guy, William Ayres, who iirc was the Chairman of the Curriculum Committee.

They spent something like $150 million implementing Ayres novel theories about the impact of community organizing on local schools without any discernible impact on educational outcomes, but Obama did get into the Illinois political big time before the money ran out.

[George Rebane]

I stand corrected and, no doubt, the country is better off for it. Thanks Greg.

[Greg Goodknight]

The Spendulus bill was maybe 10,000 times as big as the Chicago Annenburg Challenge Foundation funding, and did almost as well.