By Daniel DiSalvo
Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas Texas Governor Rick Perrys entry into the GOP presidential nomination contest has sparked much reflection on the Lone Star State. Once one gets beyond
the question of Perrys responsibility (or lack thereof) for the Texas Miracle more interesting questions arise.
The major issues at stake are:
- Why huge numbers of people have migrated to Texas over the past decade;
- How it creates so many new jobs;
- The tighter mortgage requirements that largely prevented a housing bubble;
- The large percentage of residents without healthcare coverage; and
- The fact that Texas does not allow collective bargaining in the public sector.
In areas such as education Texas appears to do more with less resources than states like California or New York.
A few liberals such as Paul Krugman have sought to show that Texas hardly proves a model for the nation.
All in all
the debate about Texas is illuminating in comparative perspective with other states.
