“We have no idea how he would perform when he has to make calls for the entire country.”

mr. modest



Gov. Rick Perry of Texas, right, watched himself (17) in an electronic football game during a news conference last month in Austin.



Is Texas just lucky, or has the state benefited from exceptional leadership? As Gov. Rick Perry campaigned Monday in Iowa for the Republican presidential nomination — with the economy dominating the national political landscape — the answer to that question is central to his candidacy.

Even before he formally entered the race over the weekend, Mr. Perry and his allies set out to dictate an economic narrative on his terms. A radio spot last week in Iowa told voters that the governor “has a proven record of controlling spending and creating jobs” and suggested that he could replicate the success of Texas on a national scale. In a budget speech a few months ago, Mr. Perry boasted that Texas stood “in stark contrast to states that choose to burden their residents with higher taxes and onerous regulatory mandates.”

But some economists as well as Perry skeptics suggest that Mr. Perry stumbled into the Texas miracle. They say that the governor has essentially put Texas on autopilot for 11 years, and it was the state’s oil and gas boom — not his political leadership — that kept the state afloat. They also doubt that the Texas model, regardless of Mr. Perry’s role in shaping it, could be effectively applied to the nation’s far more complex economic problems.

“Because the Texas economy has been prosperous during his tenure as governor, he has not had to make the draconian choices that one would have to make in the White House,” said Bryan W. Brown, chairman of the Rice University economics department and a critic of Mr. Perry’s economic record. “We have no idea how he would perform when he has to make calls for the entire country.”


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/16/business/in-texas-perry-rides-an-energy-boom.html?hp=&pagewanted=print

... so for him to 'take credit' for anything good that happened in Texas while he sat in the mansion is a joke.

Last year when Sam Brownback was saying that Kansas needs to be more like Texas and less like California, I did some research, and I sent this to the Democratic candidate for Governor.

Senator Brownback is quoted in "The Vindicator" of Valley Falls, as saying that Kansas needs to "be more like Texas". My question is - in what way?

Unemployment - Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2010 http://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.nr0.htm
Kansas - 6.5%
Texas - 8.3%

Median Income - Census Bureau, 2008 http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/statemedfaminc.html
Kansas - $62,462
Texas - $58,765

Growth in median income 2005 - 2007
Kansas - 3.4%
Texas - 2.6%

violent crime rate - 2007 DOJ via SAUS http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/cats/law_enforcement_courts_prisons/crimes_and_crime_rates.html
Kansas - 453
Texas - 511

poverty rate - Census Bureau 2008
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/cpstables/032009/pov/new46_100125_01.htm
Kansas - 12.7%
Texas - 15.9%

high school graduation rate - 2001 http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/cr_baeo_t1.htm
Kansas - 76%
Texas - 67%

Percent with a college degree - 2003 http://www.epodunk.com/top10/collegeDiploma/index.html
Kansas - 31%
Texas - 24.7%

In summary, Brownback seems to think Kansas needs a higher unemployment rate, lower median income, a slower growth rate, more violent crime, more poverty, and a lower high school graduation rate, and fewer college graduates. Well, we cannot say we were not warned about what we can expect if Brownback is elected Governor.

Granted some of those statistics are dated, but a quick current search shows Texas with a High School graduation rate of 73.1% and Kansas with 79.1%. Kansas wins again!!! :woohoo: :woohoo:

Of course, we are only in year 1 of what is likely to be a "Brownback miracle". In 3 years we may very well be behind Texas if not 50th in everything.

Kansas #11 at 6.6%

Texas #26 at 8.2%

Maybe the Governor of North Dakota should be running for President

http://www.bls.gov/web/laus/laumstrk.htm

and you know I just cannot resist posting this

http://kenpom.com/conf.php?c=B12

In your face Perry!

It go from other States by offering lower wage workers and less regulation. Their per capita GDP lags the rest of the country.