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The Spectacle Blog
Much has been made of the fact that Texas can claim 40 percent of the new jobs created over the past two years nationwide. Texas governor Rick Perry makes that statistic the focus of his first ad, and it’s sure to come up many more times over the course of the presidential campaign, now that Perry is running.
In fact, a number of liberal commentators have already done their best to discount Texas’s job creation record. Kevin Williamson and Conn Carroll have addressed some of those criticisms. Although there are good reasons to think that Texas’s record doesn’t validate conservative economics once and for all, I think that the evidence suggests that Texas would have been worse off in the recession — more like California — if not for its free-market laws. Conversely, it also indicates that states like New York and Illinois would be in better shape now if they were more like Texas.
So Perry would be safe using Texas’s new jobs to his advantage in a general election race against Obama.
Does Texas’s record suggest that Perry would be an especially effective president, though? After all, Texas was conservative before Perry came along.
One of the factors that Dallas Fed president Richard Fisher specifically cited as a reason for Texas’s success is its ongoing tort reform. Perry fought for successful tort reform measures in 2003 and 2005 that may not have passed without his leadership. This year, he signed a broader “loser pays” law that passed with more popular support. Perry deserves credit for that, and it’s an issue that he would presumably be good on at the federal level.
As far as Texas’s other strengths, though, Perry didn’t necessarily play a leading role. Texas’s low cost of living and resilience during the housing crash are largely a product of its relatively lassez faire housing policies. Texas has also ridden a boom in oil and gas production.
Furthermore, Perry has been good on spending and taxes, but not great. Given that he governs a red state that has enjoyed a number of idiosyncratic economic advantages over the past decade, he hasn’t had to make many of the hard decisions or fought some of the tough battles that blue-state governors have.
The presidential campaign will give Perry a chance to showcase his ideas and defend his record. Texas’s record will make him a strong candidate. But it doesn’t demonstrate, at the outset, that he would be better positioned than some of the other candidates to turn the economy around if he were elected.
View all comments (15) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Joseph Lawler
http://spectator.org/blog/2011/08/15/the-texas-miracle-and-rick-per
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JGwen| 8.15.11 @ 7:07PM
If my memory serves me, the Administration has shut down gulf drilling (in theory temporarily), closed NASA, put a hold on fracking to consider a lizard, threatening with "Cross State Pollution Standards" and potentially afflicted refining as they don't seem to like the way air quality is being achieved. Texas seems to be doing well despite the road blocks being thrown its way.
C Bowen| 8.15.11 @ 7:49PM
Mr. Lawler;
In this election cycle, even the DC types should bother to mention the issue of state debt. Did total Texas state debt go up or down during his ~10 years? And by how much?
Occam's Tool| 8.15.11 @ 7:58PM
Tort reform be good.
Clint| 8.15.11 @ 7:58PM
Rick Perry supported Lance Armstrong’s 3 billion dollar Texas taxpayer funded medical research center. That’s like ObamaCare. That’s not free market.
Rick Perry, secured a 300 million dollar business handout slush fund for him and just the two leaders of the legislature to dole out to whomever he felt like being friendly to. That’s corporate welfare, a recipe for corruption, and as bad as the TARP bailouts that caused the Tea Parties to explode all across America. In fact, Perry gave 20 million dollars to Countrywide Financial which later went bankrupt.
He supported a new state business tax. He set up toll road tax collection booths all over Texas highways. The Austin Tea Party and the Austin Toll Party booed him on the steps of the state Capitol for that.
Rick Perry, signed an executive order mandating young Texas schoolgirls get the HPV vaccine , while his former chief of staff was a lobbyist for Merck. Perry's judgment was so bad the Texas legislature revolted against him and overturned his decision,"
simon templar| 8.15.11 @ 8:17PM
You are not helping Ron Paul. I would not want you as a supporter.
Save yourself the usual response.
I will just look up one of your typical 'tool job', blah, blah, blah retorts and read it.
Clint| 8.15.11 @ 9:02PM
I Would Not Be Your Supporter, Sport.
Pecos| 8.15.11 @ 9:06PM
Dear Clint.
I don't think so.
Scooter.
rendite| 8.15.11 @ 10:52PM
To guage whether there is any correlation between Rick Perry in office in Austin, TX and job increases in Texas, we'll need deep and specific analysis. Empirical facts.
And what kind of jobs. Just tourism industry, hospitality, food services? Or are we talking manufacturing, construction, engineering?
The case can be made that many of the jobs are federal government, state government, and local government jobs. Just in DOD military jobs alone, Texas has gained big as military installations in El Paso, San Antonio, and Fort Hood have sizably increased in the last 10 years.
A Grin Without a Cat| 8.15.11 @ 11:39PM
Sometimes, a politician makes his best contribution to the public weal by having the good sense to stay out of the way.
Mr. Perry did inherit a strong economy, as well as a state culture that favors free markets and personal responsibility. He didn't ruin it. This is more than we can say for most public officials.
Ken (Old Texican)| 8.16.11 @ 6:35AM
Don't forget,
Mr. Perry had to work under the same FEDERAL obstacles that have crushed other States.
I would enjoy his leadership on a national level I think.
Dee| 8.16.11 @ 8:31AM
Am thankful Rick Perry entered the presidential race. I
focus on his strengths and not weaknesses. Imagine him debating obama....am looking forward to that.
Solo| 8.16.11 @ 9:40AM
Apparently, the Obama team have already capitulated on the legitimacy of Perry's job creation claims inasmuch as they are now trying to take credit for it themselves. LOL!
This would be hysterically funny were there not so much at stake in the quest to purge our national leadership of their subversive influence.
At the very least, Team Obama's claims of job creation in Texas by virtue of the "Stimulus" money funneled there will make great fodder for any conservative running against any democrat governor.
Just contrast the difference in results between what a conservative does with stimulus money as compared to the abject failure of liberal democrat governors to achieve similar results and any rational voter would be compelled to purge their respective states of that failure.
The Obama team really has nothing to run on in this next election. It's really true. LOL!
They are now reduced to pure attack and personal destruction of the republican nominee.
We'll see how well that plays with the electorate.
KTnTexas| 8.16.11 @ 11:08AM
As someone from Texas and who is involved in the oil & gas business, it drives me nuts to hear people say things like "The only jobs being created in Texas are oil jobs." As if the only state in the country that has hydrocarbons is Texas. California has oodles of oil and gas, but their extraction industry is much smaller because regulation and a NIMBY attitude hobbles it. One thing Perry can be given credit for is not letting government get in the way.
David| 8.16.11 @ 11:25AM
Whats really ironic about all this Texas talk is this. When I was a youngster most states had an attitude about themselves like Texas does today. Texas has kept its attitude over the years while the other states have allowed themselves to be ruled and run by Washington D.C.. Its not that Texas is different, its just that we have remained the same. We would rather run our state than have Washington or some other outsider run it. Most states seem to be fearing the future, why else would you let Washington run your state rather than having the cajones to run it yourselves in your own independant style. Texans don't fear the future or really anything for that matter. We invite the rest of the nation to take a deap breath, roll up your sleeves and cast off Washington. Every state in this union has something to offer. Let's get it on!
Tina B| 8.16.11 @ 5:46PM
David, I like your way of seeing this. Our national pride has been taking a beating and rightly so, with BHO at the helm. But we, as Americans, have every right to be proud of our heritage. The idea of state pride is just as authentic, as we ARE the United States and NOT Washington, D.C., USA. Yes, David, you have put a positive spin on our sad situation, politically and economically speaking. Glass half full. God bless.