The Texas Unmiracle

[Lil Red]

[quote name='Socrates' timestamp='1313533430' post='2289385']
My point is that the bulk of the Perry-bashers on this thread (including the op-ed's author, Paul Krugman) are in favor of exactly the unjust high taxation, hyper-manipulation of the economy by government interests, and the massive nanny-state you describe.

They aren't opposed to Perry because he's a big-spending, big-government politician, but because he is a challenger to their bigger-spending, bigger-government politicians of choice, such as Obama.
[/quote]
i'd like to know your thoughts on this blogpost i shared on my facebook page. Don John commented on it, with some good Texas perspective, but let me know what you think.
http://redcardigan.blogspot.com/2011/08/not-tempted-to-break-my-pledge.html

[Vincent Vega]

[quote name='Hasan' timestamp='1313524712' post='2289318']

Did you go to public school?
[/quote]
Yeah, there are few thousand adjectives that I could think of to describe the public school system. "Over-saturated with money" is not one of them.

[Brother Adam]

[quote name='USAirwaysIHS' timestamp='1313536173' post='2289419']
Yeah, there are few thousand adjectives that I could think of to describe the public school system. "Over-saturated with money" is not one of them.
[/quote]

Sorry, but the bureaucracy is corrupted, specially where unions are involved. One local district receives over $130,000 on average per classroom. You would never know it based on the classrooms, but the BMW's and Benz's the district administrators drive is a dead give away. Reform of the use of the money they have is far more important giving more money. About 60% of my catechists are public educators and they all agree. The teachers may need more money for their classrooms and their kids, but usually the school districts as a whole do not.

The deeper rooted problem is our trust in state run education as it is and the Catholic principle of subsidiarity. Public school systems don't have to be pure evil, but they are not the ideal.

[Vincent Vega]

[quote name='Brother Adam' timestamp='1313536895' post='2289438']Sorry, but the bureaucracy is corrupted, specially where unions are involved. One local district receives over $130,000 on average per classroom. You would never know it based on the classrooms, but the BMW's and Benz's the district administrators drive is a dead give away. Reform of the use of the money they have is far more important giving more money. About 60% of my catechists are public educators and they all agree. The teachers may need more money for their classrooms and their kids, but usually the school districts as a whole do not.
[/quote]
This is a valid point, but this is not the image that comes to mind when one says that the public schools are over saturated with money.

[Socrates]

[quote name='Hasan' timestamp='1313453854' post='2288702']
I guess I missed the part where you actually engaged with Krugman's argument, Socrates.
[/quote]
He doesn't really make an argument, other than try to claim that Texas's relatively good employment and jobs situation has absolutely nothing to do with "conservative economic policies" (ie. low taxation and government regulation), a claim I don't find entirely convincing.
(Ending, of course, with an utterly despicable jab at praying for an end to the drought - you know, those stoopid Christians!)

Will Perry exaggerate his accomplishments and take credit for things outside his power? More than likely, but so will every other politician campaigning for office, including Dear Leader (who will no doubt claim he single-handedly rescued us all from otherwise certain apocalypse). It's a Dog Bites Man prediction.

Krugman has failed to make a single convincing case that more "liberal" socialistic tax-and-spend policies as practiced by Obama and co. will save us economically.

Should the nation follow the shining example set by liberal states such as California or Michigan?

Indeed, the whole policy of continuing to go ever deeper into debt to get us out of overwhelming debt is entirely indefensible.

There are plenty of legitimate criticisms one can make of Rick Perry, but claiming he's too fiscally conservative for the country's good is not one of them.

[dominicansoul]

[quote name='Brother Adam' timestamp='1313518373' post='2289234']

Why did he cut money from public education and why is he bad for doing that? From what I understand most public education systems are over saturated with money and under performing - they simply don't work. If I give you money to do something and you don't do it, I'll probably take the money away from you. Or was there just no money in the budget and he was being fiscally conservative and not spending what he didn't have. As a Catholic I am not a fan of public education which exists for the state to make citizens of the state. I think of it as an absolute last case scenario when a family cannot home school or send their children to private school.
[/quote]

this. i pay a heavy property tax that is supposed to be going to the public school system. every property owner does. I also understand that our lottery feeds into the pot. with the billions of dollars in our education fund, our state still ranks at a very low percentage in national testing levels.


who knows what happens to the money??? Perry got criticized because he flat out refused any of obama's federal assistance because there were too many strings attached...


i like him. I like what he does for the pro-life movement. I like that he fights to make sure tax dollars do not wind up in Abortion providers pockets. i know that he can't always prevent that, but at least he has a passion for speaking out against it.


I too think it would be better if Texas just seceded...

[vee]

[quote name='dominicansoul' timestamp='1313537823' post='2289451']

I too think it would be better if Texas just seceded...
[/quote]

To join Canada?!?!

[4588686]

[quote name='dominicansoul' timestamp='1313537823' post='2289451']
who knows what happens to the money??? Perry got criticized because he flat out refused any of obama's federal assistance because there were too many strings attached...[/QUOTE]

He turned down some money for unemployment insurance because it had strings attached. He was happy to take billions in federal stimulus so he could balance the Texas budget.
[QUOTE]
I too think it would be better if Texas just seceded...
[/quote]

Have fun with that.

[dominicansoul]

[quote name='Hasan' timestamp='1313538196' post='2289456']

He turned down some money for unemployment insurance because it had strings attached. He was happy to take billions in federal stimulus so he could balance the Texas budget.


Have fun with that.
[/quote]


well, thats disappointing

[4588686]

[quote name='dominicansoul' timestamp='1313539308' post='2289469']


well, thats disappointing
[/quote]


Only if you think ideological purity is more important than doing what's right for your constituents.

[4588686]

[quote name='Socrates' timestamp='1313537096' post='2289443']
He doesn't really make an argument, other than try to claim that Texas's relatively good employment and jobs situation has absolutely nothing to do with "conservative economic policies" (ie. low taxation and government regulation), a claim I don't find entirely convincing.[/QUOTE]

I don't think that was his argument.

[QUOTE](Ending, of course, with an utterly despicable jab at praying for an end to the drought - you know, those stoopid Christians!)[/QUOTE]

I know. The loving God was so swift to answer the prayers of the faithful and end the drought. I bet Krugman feels like a dumbass.

[url="http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/"]http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/[/url]



[QUOTE]Will Perry exaggerate his accomplishments and take credit for things outside his power? More than likely, but so will every other politician campaigning for office, including Dear Leader (who will no doubt claim he single-handedly rescued us all from otherwise certain apocalypse). It's a Dog Bites Man prediction.

Krugman has failed to make a single convincing case that more "liberal" socialistic tax-and-spend policies as practiced by Obama and co. will save us economically.[/QUOTE]

Here or in general? It's true that he didn't promote his own argument in this particular article. But he most certainly has elsewhere.

[QUOTE]Should the nation follow the shining example set by liberal states such as California or Michigan?[/QUOTE]

I'd guess that Germany is more the sort of backwards, socialist hell-hole that Krugman has in mind.

[QUOTE]Indeed, the whole policy of continuing to go ever deeper into debt to get us out of overwhelming debt is entirely indefensible.[/QUOTE]

Not really.

[url="http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/category/gps-episodes/"]http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/category/gps-episodes/[/url]


[QUOTE]There are plenty of legitimate criticisms one can make of Rick Perry, but claiming he's too fiscally conservative for the country's good is not one of them.
[/quote]

Yeah. You can. Krugman did that here. You still have not actually attacked his argument with a counter argument. You just pontificated for a bit, set up a straw man, pontificated a bit more, the end. More Sophist than Socratic.

Edited August 17, 2011 by Hasan

[Don John of Austria]

[quote name='dUSt' timestamp='1313420963' post='2288369']
Texas is an amesome country. I wish Rick Perry would just have Texas secede from the union.
[/quote]
Agreed

[Don John of Austria]

[quote name='USAirwaysIHS' timestamp='1313536173' post='2289419']
Yeah, there are few thousand adjectives that I could think of to describe the public school system. "Over-saturated with money" is not one of them.
[/quote]


Actually I would descibe it is that. The amount of waste in the public school system is absolutely stagering.

[Don John of Austria]

[quote name='dominicansoul' timestamp='1313539308' post='2289469']


well, thats disappointing
[/quote]


Well that is not exactly what happened. Perry accepted federal stimulus money to pay for progarms that he would have cut otherwise. Instead of simply eliminating welfare, he used the federal stimulus in that area to payfor it. Otherwise he would have simply called a special session and had to elimnate them from the budget entirely.

[Don John of Austria]

[quote name='MIkolbe' timestamp='1313421794' post='2288373']
yeah, cause that went real well the first time "y'all" tried that.....
[/quote]


I am totally okay with round two. A vastly disproportionate amount of the military is from Texas, and even more of the combat infantry. We didn't lose a single battle on texas soil the fist time, and we were staggeringly outnumbered, I don't think so much anymore. Personally, I would invite Oklahoma, Mississippi and Lousiana to go with us, and maybe Arkansas for purely geographic reasons. Maybe Alabama if they asked real nice like.

Seriously, I mean I understand that we are supporting the poorer states, Texas is a donor state but I really doubt that people would be willing to fight to hold Texas or anyone else in the union. Have you not heard the pitiful whining about the casualties in our 2 current wars? I do notthink that say new yorkers would be too keen on seeing the body bags that would come from a civil war today, it would make our 2 current wars look like a really rough game of football.

Edited August 17, 2011 by Don John of Austria