Catching up on my reading en route to Maryville this AM, I read Rich’s column on the Texas model. It’s a good column and contains this amazing statistic:
Texas already looms large in its own imagination. Its elevated self-image didn’t need this: More than half of the net new jobs in the U.S. during the past 12 months were created in the Lone Star State.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 214,000 net new jobs were created in the United States from August 2009 to August 2010. Texas created 119,000 jobs during the same period. If every state in the country had performed as well, we’d have created about 1.5 million jobs nationally during the past year, and maybe “stimulus” wouldn’t be such a dirty word.
I agree with everything Rich says about why Texas should be a national exemplar. But I was surprised that he left out what I think is the most salient political lesson of Texas’s success. If Obama’s policies are creating jobs, why on earth are they so disproportionately popping up in Texas?
Obama and his surrogates are constantly insisting that he’s “created” scads of jobs, it’s just that we’re in such a deep hole we can’t appreciate all of the fantastic job creation going on thanks to his policies. As Veronique noted (and debunked) here recently, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz even claims that Obama has created more jobs in one year than Bush did in eight.
Putting aside the generic lunacy of how we wildly over-credit presidents with “creating” jobs in the first place, I would love to hear how defenders of Obama’s economic policies have unintentionally benefited Texas so much. I mean, if Obama’s policies are responsible for job creation, shouldn’t we be seeing some more uniform job growth across the whole country? Why is the job-creator-in-chief so playing favorites in Texas?
What is really interesting is that we are adding these jobs in the face of Obama trying to wreck us.
Really? Continental Airlines selling itself to a Chicago-based company and moving HQ up to that... place? And Obama had nothing to do with that?
Drilling moratorium. That's great for our economy and job market in so many ways.
Then there's his plans for NASA. And those are just the things he is doing to the Houston-area in particular.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe other variable is how rottenly California is treating its entrepreneurs. They like being in the Southwestern climate, but don't want Phoenix' temperatures. Look for the new Silicon Valley to have a Southern accent.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI began to ponder the Obama Effect, including how his job creation efforts destroy jobs. Evidently, something is wrong with his intuition, because everything works out counter-intuitively.
So... the best course now would be for Republican donors, foreign and domestic, to slip Obama's entourage some significant money to keep him on the campaign trail 24/7 "helping" Democrats in Congress. Targeted Obama-aid could focus him on districts that have been comfortably Democratic, so as to swing them massively in the other direction.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIsn't the answer that Obama's not the one creating jobs? That the new jobs in the whole country are more likely to have been created in spite of his policies rather than because of them and that is only more true in Texas.
If a company wants to hire someone new it seems much more likely that its because 1) There is demand for the product or service the company makes/offers and 2) There is absolutely no way to squeeze more production out of existing staff.
These two factors have to outweigh the uncertainty of healthcare costsm, tax code changes and the possibility of regulatory changes. When they do, a company hires someone. I guess the equation comes out with a new hire more often in Texas.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseLast night as my fourth grader was doing his homework he asked if Texas was a state or another country.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI had to pause a half-second to consider my answer.
It's because, as you have stated, nothing the president does creates jobs. Ever. The more government does, the less it allows others to do. Real jobs have to be profitable, or they won't exist. Government "jobs" do not have to consider profitability, they just tax and print for any shortfalls. Taxing and printing reduces profitability for real job makers just that much more.
The "Why Texas?" answer was given in paragraph three of Rich's column. Businesses that want to be more competitive seek out the place that gives the least regulatory and tax burdens. Texas is that place.
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