Texas Budget Crisis Goes Overlooked

Bussiness Insider:

You know the story and you know the names: states like Illinois, New Jersey, New York, and California are supposed to be in huge financial trouble thanks to bloated governments, business-unfriendly regulations, and strong public sector unions.

Read the whole story: Bussiness Insider

Comments

[duncan36]

11:17 PM on 01/04/2011

This place is truly absurd. They build gigantic concrete 20,000 football stadiums for the high schools and have like 8 coaches for the high school football team while having some of the worst education standards in the country. Guess what they'll cut in the schools when the budget cuts filter down. Wont be new pads or weight rooms or big salaries for the coaches I can tell you that.
And if you bring this fact up to most people they would be angry....at you for suggesting that pouring so much money into high school football at the expense of education is retarded.
Pride cometh before the fall and for better or worse for Texas its coming.

[aosborneh2o]

09:34 PM on 01/04/2011

Texas is already a net taker from the Federal Government they denounce so much. I guess they'll be settling in to suckle a bit deeper at the welfare teat in the coming years?

Those of you on the right who couldn't help but jump up and down with excitement over attacking those on the left over California can now begin stuttering some sort of sad excuse about how Obama caused this... Go ahead, we're waiting and we know it's coming...

[pompous]

12:42 PM on 01/04/2011

This has not received the media attention that California has because on a global scale Texas' economy is half the size of California with roughly the same deficit. Nationally California is the largest economy with Texas being second. Texans should have asking some pointed questions of their republican leaders since they have been running deficits for the last two years not including 2011's, they have low taxes, less regulation, provide little services other than schools ( meaning the buildings this should not be confused providing actual education), they rely heavily on the federal government via military bases and NASA. Texas is not in the national spotlight for their budgetary blunder because it goes against the grain of conservative thinking that such a combination, in the long run, is a failure. This only demonstrates what we have all long suspected conservatives love not paying for stuff i.e. wars, roads, education ( Texas just recently sued the federal govt for 830million) etc. Conservative thinking is the guy that sneaks out of the restaurant with a full stomach stiffing the group for his lunch tab and portion of the tip.

[cef911f1]

08:45 PM on 01/04/2011

"Conservati­ve thinking is the guy that sneaks out of the restaurant with a full stomach stiffing the group for his lunch tab and portion of the tip."

That is an excellent analogy. F&F.

[BlueDog1]

10:12 AM on 01/04/2011

Yep the Unions did it............................NOT

[Raccoon1]

11:28 PM on 01/03/2011

Texas, the big-business model of Red State governance. They could probably make it if it weren't for the graft. After the oil companies, big businesses and the politicians are done destroying everything, they'll leave. Headed for a new land to destroy in the name of profits.

[johuyik]

10:31 PM on 01/03/2011

Hmm, could just drop education spending altogether. With what they're teaching their kids now who would notice?

[Boomerwoman]

07:34 PM on 01/03/2011

Texas will soon resemble a classic third world oligarchy: the rich and the poor and a struggling middle class. Good situation to watch and learn from and I'm very glad I don't live there.

[wikwox]

06:17 PM on 01/03/2011

Well talk about heart warming! Nothing quit like seeing Rick Perrys state get a dose of budget cutting medicine. It's almost too easy to attack Medicaid as Texas seems to glory in the scorn of the world but that won't do the trick, it's raise tax's time as the article correctly points out, theres no fat in the budget.

[Lahonda]

05:32 PM on 01/03/2011

Jeepers! A 25% shortfall. That's a lot of fessin' up to do in a short time.

Rick Perry's pomp and circumstance comes to a grinding halt.

[moose and squirrel]

04:45 PM on 01/03/2011

been saying it for a year now, but all the baggers think rick perry is some kind of deity. 

[TexasDem0]

05:32 PM on 01/03/2011

By deifying their icons, they attempt to put them above reproach. Since their policies are indefensible in the first place, it’s easy to understand why they scorn any actual discussion, or heaven forbid . . . facts.

[Randy Wetzel]

04:32 PM on 01/03/2011

Kinda puts a wrinkle in the panties of the tr0lls doesn't it?

[castlerider]

05:02 PM on 01/03/2011

That's one heck of a wedgie goin' on, there, by golly...

[joebaggadonuts]

03:27 PM on 01/03/2011

Maybe NOW they can secede from the union?

Seriously, one wonders at what irrational rationality they will use to pretend that the faux conservative philosophy of 'cut taxes and government and don't think about anything else and it will all work out great' was beneficial for Texas here. If I were a betting man, and I am, I would bet that they blame it on the Federal Government and the Federal Reserve. It's always better to blame someone else for a problem you are responsible for, right, Texas? Especially when there will be so many to deal with that weaving a story around them calls for a villain of National stature to carry so much guilt. It couldn't possibly be that Texans and their elected officials screwed their state by failing to plan for the future or to take care of their people. Nope, has to be that the Feds didn't construct a fence to protect them from the Mexicans, that the Feds jury rigged the money supply to the detriment of Texas, that the Feds didn't let the oil companies have enough freedom to make us all rich.... yada yada yada.

Good luck.

[halfpricefaustian]

03:06 PM on 01/03/2011

I talked to a neighbor yesterday who is expecting to see serious layoffs at the local school system. I don't doubt that property taxes will go up this year, but they will play the usual games with property valuations so they can pretend they are not tax increases.

[dporterdvd]

03:00 PM on 01/03/2011

Texas has an economic crisis and the Texas Repubs can't use unions as the scapegoat so they will just blame it on medicare and the poor. Way to ride 'em cowboys.

[dporterdvd]

05:54 PM on 01/03/2011

Real men find a way to help the downtrodden. They don't take advantage of them or kick them when they are down.

[texastrixie]

02:50 PM on 01/03/2011

What crisis? This is Texas. We will simply either gut Medicaid, freeze state employee wages, and lay off bunch of them to boot, or raise state fees (we raise fees, not taxes). Probably all three. There is no limit to how few services Texans can live without. Now if we did not have to worry about clean air and clean water, what a paradise we'd have.

[Raccoon1]

11:32 PM on 01/03/2011

Stay there and enjoy it. Please don't come to my state.

[pogo]

09:21 AM on 01/04/2011

Judging by the higher than national average cost per medicare recipient, it looks like Texans can only live without services they have to pay for.