Gov. Perry had frequently boasted about Texas' economic policies and how his state has avoided the pitfalls that have beset many other states by "making prudent fiscal decisions." He repeatedly chides Washington about putting its fiscal house in order using Texas as the benchmark on how it should be done - low taxes - less regulation and fewer public employee unions.
That bubble bursts when Texas recently announced a projected 2 year deficit of over $27 billion, far more than double Perry's predictions. Obama's stimulus package was another of his targets. He refused to accept any funding for it and seemed serious about his proposal to secede from the Union.
It turns out one of his 'prudent fiscal decisions' was taking more stimulus money than any other state - about $6.4 billion in all, plugging almost all a previous fiscal deficit of $6.6 billion.
Perry's 'fiscal prudence' has led to Texas having more people per capita without any form of public or private health insurance than any other state and less spending on education than all but 2 states. But hey! taxes are low so everything is just great down in Texas.
So how's he going to plug a $27 billion shortfall without any stimulus funds, by cutting even more healthcare and education spending. Texas may end up with the least education and unhealthiest population of all the states but as long as taxes are still low he'll carry on claiming that he's being 'fiscally prudent."
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