Gov Rick Perry’s “Texas Miracle” is a Myth and Lie. But, Texas’ Shameful Number One Rankings Are Not.

With Tea Party darling GOP Texas Governor Rick Perry throwing his cowboy hat into the presidential campaign ring, the election rhetoric has gotten more volatile and violent. Perry’s threatening verbal attack on Federal Reserve chair Ben Bernanke and suggesting that President Obama does not love America has brought outraged responses even from the likes Karl Rove who said that Perry’s actions were unpresidential.

Now we are hearing that Gov. Perry’s response to his state’s economic challenges should be seen as the great “Texas miracle.” But, is this so-called miracle reality? New York Times columnist and Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman does not think so. “The Texas miracle is a myth,” Krugman writes, noting that the state’s 8.2 percent unemployment rate is higher than states like New York and Massachusetts. “One in four Texans also lacks health insurance—the highest uninsured rate in the nation. Texas’ job growth is largely the result of population growth.”

Krugman writes, “What Texas shows is that a state offering cheap labor and, less important, weak regulation can attract jobs from other states. I believe that the appropriate response to this insight is “Well, duh.” So when Mr. Perry presents himself as the candidate who knows how to create jobs, don’t believe him. His prescriptions for job creation would work about as well in practice as his prayer-based attempt to end Texas’s crippling drought.”

What Rick Perry has produced is an absolute disaster that no Texan should be proud of.

The results of his actions on the state and to the majority of Texans are like he was a Texas rancher driving his cattle to the slaughterhouse.

Texas has become number one in the country in areas that would provide it a prominent place in a state’s ‘Hall of Shame.”

Gov Rick Perry’s Texas Ranks Number One in the Nation In:

• Greatest percentage of minimum wage workers.
• Highest percentage of population that is uninsured.
• Teenage birth rate.
• Air pollution emissions.
• Amount of toxic chemical released into the water.
• Amount of carbon dioxide emissions.
• Amount of volatile organic compounds released into air.
• Amount of recognized cancer-causing carcinogens released into air.
• Amount of hazardous waste generated .
• Annual number of executions.
• Percentage of uninsured children.
• Percent of people over 25 without a high school diploma.
• Percentage of non-elderly uninsured.
• Least per capita spending on Mental Health.
• Percent of pregnant women not receiving prenatal care in first trimester.
• Lack of workers’ compensation coverage.

Some Other Noteworthy Facts About Texas Under the Perry Administration:

• 4.26 million Texans live in poverty, representing 17.3 percent of the state’s population.
• Only 5.5 percent of Texas workers are members of a union.
• 47 percent of Texas children live in low-income families.
• The richest 20% of Texas families have average incomes 7.9 times larger than the poorest 20%.
• Texas’ tax system is one of the ten most regressive states in the nation.
• The local government debt in Texas is over $175 billion.

This is clearly one cowboy that should never have the opportunity to apply his brand of miracle making on the rest of the nation.