. . . to struggle with the Texas Miracle. Does it exist? If so, what explains it?
A good newspaper would try to answer these questions. The Houston Chronicle never approaches them with an open mind. Rather, it declares that the Texas miracle does not exist and, inconsistently, that it is explained, at least in part, by things other than low taxes and a business-friendly legal and regulatory environment.
Leading the deniers is the snarky Ms. Falkenberg, who regularly whacks away at the governor of Texas as the very emblem of the things she and her fellow Clever Ones dislike about Texas, as here:
Every time [Rick Perry boasts] about the Texas miracle that never was, people roll their eyes and dismiss it as another Texan fond of tall tales and myths. (Lisa Falkenberg, "In eyes of U.S. [read United States], Perry is Texas," Houston Chronicle, October 10, 2011 (emphasis added))
Examples of alternative explanations for the Texas Miracle, at least partially, include these (emphasis added):
Texas's constitutional limitation on the size of home equity loans -- "intrusive" govenment restrictions without which "the Texas economy would look a lot less miraculous" (Loren Steffy, "Lending credence to the 'Texas Miracle,'" Houston Chronicle, August 29, 2011);
drug trafficking (Dan Freedman, "Drug trafficking a dark side of 'Texas Miracle,'" Houston Chronicle, October 15, 2011);
government spending on public-sector jobs and federal stimulus dollars (Peggy Fikac and Patrick Danner, "Government spending helped fuel 'Texas Miracle,' San Antonio Express-News, August __, 2011, republished at chron.com, August 26, 2011); and
the 1987 Texas education budget, which "may have more to do with the so-called 'Texas miracle' 25 years later than the low taxes-limited government formula" touted by Governor Perry (Joe Holley, "In '87, Perry went along with record tax hike that saved schools," Houston Chronicle, October 16, 2011).
What all these columns and stories have in common is a combative attitude toward the "so-called" Texas Miracle "that never was," going well beyond healthy journalistic skepticism and well into the realm of argumentation.
That to which the Chronicle is willfully bind has long been seen by outsiders, famously including the Economist ("Thanks to low taxes and light regulation, Texas is booming." This article was doubly offensive to the Clever Ones. Not only did it praise Texas; it also condemned the Chronicle's very most favorite state, California.)
Other things the Chronicle does not know and does not wish to know:
CKE, which runs Hardee's and Carl's Jr., has stopped opening restaurants in California, where the regulatory process can take up to two years. But it plans to open 300 in Texas, where the start-up time can be six weeks and opening costs $200,000 less than in California. (Steve Malanga, "How California Drives Away Jobs and Business," Wall Street Journal, October 15, 2011)
Rick Perry is not the subtlest politician, but he looks like Pericles next to the liberals falling over themselves to discredit job creation in Texas. . . . Let's dissect the Texas record. The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas reported this summer that Texas created 37% of all net new American jobs since the recovery began in June 2009. Texas by far outpaced every other state, including those with large populations like New York and California and those with faster-growing economies, like North Dakota. . . . / Texas is also among the three states and the District of Columbia that are home to more jobs today than when the recession began in December 2007. . . . / . . . . / Some of this Texas growth is due to high birth rates, some to immigration. But it also reflects the flight of people from other states. People and capital are mobile and move where the opportunities are greatest. Texas is attractive to workers and employers alike because of its low costs of living and doing business. The government in Austin is small, taxes are low, regulation is stable, and the litigation system is more predictable . . . -- all of which is a magnet for private investment and hiring. / . . . . / . . . . [The larger story is that Mr. Perry inherited a well-functioning economy and has managed it well, mainly by avoiding the kind of policy disruptions that his liberal critics favor in the name of this or that social or political goal. (Editorial, "The Texas Jobs Panic," Wall Street Journal, August 19, 2011)
Mr. Perry will fight on jobs. His campaign flaunts a startling statistic: that 40% of the net new jobs created in America since June 2009 are in Texas. In an August report, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas actually put it a bit higher. Texas, said the bank, created 261,700 jobs between June 2009 and June 2011. Those figures give Texas 49.9% of the nation's net job creation. (_____, "Reading the record," Economist, August 20, 2011)
The most rapid growth in 2000-10, 21 percent, was in the Rocky Mountain states and in Texas. The Rocky Mountain states tend to have low taxes, weak unions and light regulation. Texas has no state income tax, no public employee union bargaining and light regulation. / Texas' [read Texas's] economy has diversified far beyon petroleum, with booming high-tech centers, major corporate headquarters and thriving small businesses. It has attracted hundreds of thousands of Americans and immigrants, high-skill as well as low-skill. Its wide open spaces made for low housing costs, which protected it against the housing bubble and bust that has [read have] slowed growth in Phoenix and Las Vegas. (Michael Barone, "The Eyes of Texas Are Sparkling in the 2010 Census," Real Clear Politics, March 28, 2011)
Just hours after Rick Perry officially entered the presidential race last Saturday, liberals started to attack Texas's economic record. Paul Krugman got the ball rolling . . . : "So what you need to know," Krugman claimed, "is that the Texas miracle is a myth . . . ." / . . . . / But if population growth creates jobs, then why don't we see this nationally? The nation's working-age population has grown by about five million since the beginning of the Obama administration. Yet . . . the number of jobs has decreased by 2.91 million. Krugman claims that Texas has more jobs simply because its population has grown, but the reverse is really the case: The ability to get a job in Texas continues to lure Americans from other states, as well as Mexicans. (John R. Lott, Jr., "The Texas Miracle is No Myth," nationalreview.com, August 19, 2011)
After [Mr. Perry] launched his campaign with an extended brag about Texan job creation, there was a rush to cut Texas down to size -- to dismiss the Lone Star economic miracle as a mirage conjured by population growth, petro-dollars and low-paying McJobs. / But the more the Internet's hive mind worked through the data, the weaker the critique looked. Yes, Texas' [read Texas's] growing population has contributed to the job boom, but the boom has driven population growth as well. . . . [Thousands] of Americans have responded to hard times in their home states by moving to Texas in search of work. (Ross Douthat, "Messing with Texas," New York Times, republished (to its credit) by the Houston Chronicle, August 23, 2011)
Rick Perry says Texas is the most successful state in America. He's right. Texan economic output exceeds Mexico's and Australia's and rivals India's. . . . / . . . . / Rick Perry's argument for himself is rooted in accounts of his efforts to bring companies to Texas. But the desire of businesses to sample Texas trail dust pre-dates Rick Perry. In 1990, one of the world's biggest companies, Exxon Mobil, left New York City for Dallas. Exxon's former CEO, Lee Raymond, says the move in part was indeed about costs and New York State's notoriously overbearing tax authority. But it was also about working amid a culture of competence. "It's just the attitude in Texas of getting things done and doing them well," he says. / . . . . / . . . . Texas' [read Texas's] pro-business bias goest back about 175 years -- and never died. "It's just that they believe in the whole Horatio Alger myth down there," said [executive David] Booth. "It's hard to understand if you haven't lived here." (Daniel Henninger, "The Perry Paradox," Wall Street Journal, November 3, 2011)
For the Houston Chronicle, it's hard to understand even if you do live here. That's because while the bodies of the newspaper's editors and columnists are in Texas, their hearts, minds, and souls reside elsewhere.
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