. . . gets Texas.
Erica Greider supplies a fresh view of the nation's second most populous sate in "Big, Hot, Cheap, and Right: What America Can Learn From the Strange Genius of Texas." An editor at Texas Monthly, the author explains the state's much-heralded record of economic growth and does her best to strip away some of . . .
. . . the fear and loathing that Texas' [read Texas's] political culture inspires elsewhere in America. "Texas is, despite its rhetorical flare-ups, a pragmatic and largely reasonable state," she asserts. It's also a highly successful one: The Lone Star State created half of America's net new jobs between June 2009 and June 2011, and the state's population jumped 20% between 2000 and 2010 -- twice California's rate and 10 times that of New York.
"Big, Hot, Cheap, and Right" mixes equal parts history, political reporting, back-of-the-envelope economics and cultural commentary. . . .
. . .
Some, including New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, have argued that Texas' [Texas's] cheapness is some kind of vice, pointing to its lower median wages as evidence that the state's economic formula is neither desirable nor replicable. Yet this misses the point: Adjusted for living costs, incomes in Texas are higher than in California. And in any event, it's grossly paternalistic to condemn workers and firms for outcompeting those in other states.
Indeed, the critiques of Texas leveled by the likes of Ms. [Gail] Collins and Mr. Krugman smack of a familiar snobbery: that of the European who charges America with having too much braggadocio, too much God and too much capitalism. But the movement of feet doesn't lie. Just as it is the United States, not Europe, that is the first-choice destination of immigrants around the world, so too is Texas a land of opportunity for Americans and foreigners alike. All those new jobs and all that migration are a sign that perhaps Texas is doing something right.
(Charles Dameron, "The Land of Opportunity," wsj.com, May 2, 2013)
Who doesn't get Texas? The Houston Chronicle editorial board. The outright snottiness toward Texas ("laughingstock") has been toned down recently, but not the spirit behind it. This is a newpaper that runs Paul Krugman, as if he were were worth reading. The only thing the editors like about the state's robust in-migration is that the Hispanic cohort of the new Texans may one day restore Democrats to power in Texas so they can turn Texas into the state they most dearly love, California.
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