AUGUST 21 / Bill Hobby on the Economist on Texas

OUR LOCAL editorialists may not have read the Economist's generally favorable review of Texas, but former Texas Lieutenant (and former Rice Thresher editor) Bill Hobby did. He sent this letter:

SIR -- I enjoyed your leader contrasting Texas with California ("America's future", July 11th). But you set up a false choice. America's future is best secured by balanced public spending and the idea is a middle course. California spends way too much. State and local spending per person is 12% above the national average, although its higher-education system is the envy of the nation. Texas spends way too little, 17% below the national average, and has a weak education system. Its health and human services are among the poorest in America.

If spending in Texas was [read were] at the national average the state could spend $23 billion more a year on education and human services. With that kind of money, plus the federal matching dollars it would bring, Texas could have several first-rate universities, strong public schools and community colleges, and health and human services that aren't an embarrassment. For a prosperous future, you don't want to be California or Texas. You want to be between the two.

When King Solomon talked about splitting the baby, he was joking. Mr. Hobby -- a respected old-school Texas Democrat -- is not.  

Sometimes, however, you've gotta just choose sides. And Mr. Hobby's side, in truth, is with the spenders. "More" is always "more," even when it's coupled with some abstract upper limit: "but not as much as California."

Most other states are, in fact, somewhere between Texas and California. If that were the secret to prosperity, why aren't most other states more prosperous than Texas?

As for describing our human services as an "embrassment," are we certain that Mr. Hobby is not a ghostwriter for the Houston Chronicle editorial board, which is perpetually embarrassed by Texas?

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More on the Economist report here. 

UPDATE: Thanks for the link from Kevin Whited by way of Diigo and from blogHouston.