Samuel Moss Griffith, CSA
First off, a confession: I am a Texas native. I estimate I’ve spent about one-fourth of my life there, and my family bonds to Texas run strong and deep, ever since my great-great-grandfather and his brothers were run out of Arkansas by Federal marshals (my family called them “carpetbaggers” and “Northern aggressors”) after the Civil War.
So I have a keen interest in Texas politics, and the Texas economy, even though it has been 25 years since I last lived there.
Paul Krugman
Paul Krugman has written a column which is relevant to some of the discussion we’ve been having here this past week. I know Krugman is a polarizing figure, but he is a Nobel Laureate and as such his ideas deserve discussion, I believe.
I will do my best to summarize his thesis in three sentences after the jump.
Texas, like most other states, is in a deep economic hole. Because the legislature meets every two years, the true impact of the current Great Recession was not seen in the previous budget, but now the chickens have come home to roost. Despite a relatively robust economy, (dare we say) liberal economic policies (particularly related to housing), and Draconian spending cuts, the economy is still in trouble.
Is this finally a beat-down of the supply-siders? A victory for Keynesians? The end of the Austro-economic empire? Discuss.
Related Articles
- Paul Krugman: Don’t Believe Texas’ Economic ‘Miracle’ (huffingtonpost.com)
- KRUGMAN: Texas Proves It — The Republican Dream Of No Regulation, Low Taxes, And Balanced Budgets Is A Crock (businessinsider.com)
- Krugman Debunks the “Texas Miracle” (firedoglake.com)
- Texas’s Busted Budget Shows Failure of GOP Theory (newser.com)
- Krugman vs. the Whippersnappers! Immigration and Inequality (newsweek.com)
- Krugman on the ‘Texas miracle’ (americablog.com)
538 Refugees 
First off, a confession: I am a Texas native. I estimate I’ve spent about one-fourth of my life there …
We all have crosses to bear ~ some more than others …
Texas, like most other states, is in a deep economic hole.
Well then, one can easily see why they want to secede from the Union as it would solve all their problems! 😛 No more military bases, NASA, govt. subsidies etc. etc.
Texas sounds a lot like SC, only bigger. 😀
And looking again at these statistics just where are they going to cut and how much worse will things get?
http://statehealthstats.americashealthrankings.org/#/country/US/2010/Overall-State-Ranking
shiloh,
Don’t make me come down there!
Remember, 45% or so of BOTH Texas AND South Carolina are fellow travelers.
Don’t make me come down there!
I’m up in Ohio er high in Ohio!
fellow travelers ?!? Communists ?
Whereas it is true over the past 40/50 years as OH/MI/PA/IL/NY etc. pop. growth has stagnated or decreased, TX/GA/FL/SC/NC etc. pop. growth has increased from northern transplants.
One of the reasons FL is a swing state and Gasp! VA/NC went for Obama in 2008. Read a longgg time ago that 20% of FL’s pop. are Ohio transplants.
carry on
Kevin Williamson performs the latest slap down of Mr Krugman:
http://www.nationalreview.com/exchequer/256614/no-paul-krugman-texas-not-broke
For some reason, Mr. Williamson waits until the end to discuss the #1 cause of Texas’ and nearly every other state’s budget problems – the rampant growth of Medicaid.
Because our Dem governor is unlikely to take on this fight, Texas’ GOP governor and legislature should be the first to tell the Feds that the state is capping its contribution to Medicaid. Ask for a waiver to do so. If one is not fore coming in 30 days, cap the spending anyway and dare a Dem administration to cut off its government dependent constituents.
This madness has to stop someplace. Why not Texas?
Population 1960:
OH ~ 9.7 million … 2010 ~ 11.5 million
FL ~ 5 million … 2010 ~ 18.8 million
GA ~ 4 million … 2010 ~ 9.6 million
TX ~ 9.5 million … 2010 ~ 25 million
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Bart, when will your 538 madness stop …
Bartles, a congresswoman was shot today soooo just for now, give your incoherent winger ranting a rest!
Who the hell is Kevin Williamson, when was he right on anything, and why should anyone give a rat’s ass what this turkey says?
For anyone interested, Kevin D. Williamson is:
(King’s College is another of the no-standards-but ultra-religious “colleges” that have sprung up for the education of people whose intellects cannot withstand a brush with a real university.)
Just imagine how impressed I am with this bit of Barting.
This Williamson guy, a deputy managing editor of National Review, is NOT able to get all HIS facts straight. SO we question anything else he writes without independent verification.
Sales tax here in Texas is 8.25%, NOT 6.25%. (Why do they ALWAYS err where it benefits THEIR argument? Or is it an error?) He left out the local option that, by far, most Texans pay.
Michael:
There is no reason to give Krugman any respect outside of his economic specialty – which is not macroeconomics.
This evening, Krugman again showed he is nothing more than a hateful ideologue. After misrepresenting and then celebrating hard times in Texas, this hack then blamed conservatives for the AZ shootings today.
I am still waiting to see specific proposals for spending cuts from Bart.
Are you saying that Medicaid, and Medicaid alone, should be cut to balance the Texas budget?
Please supply figures.
An article I was reading today about Texass:
http://www.texastribune.org/texas-taxes/2011-budget-shortfall/
Texas is screwed, anyone want to bet they default? Anyone want to bet they somehow blame it on ‘liberal’ policies?