Posted on 07/13/2011 6:34:35 AM PDT by harpu
For all the controversy over the national debt ceiling, here's a surprise: Since 2001, the debt load in conservative Texas has grown faster than the federal debt.
Texas has been borrowing more than most other states, too. And local entities, from cities to school districts to transit authorities, have been piling up even more debt.
From 2001 to 2010, state debt alone grew from $13.4 billion to $37.8 billion, according to the Texas Bond Review Board. That's an increase of 281 percent. Over the same time, the national debt rose almost 234 percent, with two wars, two tax cuts and stimulus spending.
The sets of numbers are not easily comparable, and not just because one is counted in billions and the other in trillions. National figures exclude some obligations, and the Texas total includes so-called conduit bonds, for which the state is not necessarily liable if the borrowers default.
Still, the trend is undeniable. While Texas lawmakers have refused to raise taxes -- and often criticize Washington for borrowing and spending -- the state has been paying for much of its expansion with borrowed money.
- - - BIG Snip; Lot's more in the Article - - -
(Excerpt) Read more at star-telegram.com ...
Conservative writer Christopher Chantrill presents publicly available data on government finances and his estimates. Measured as a percentage of state product, he ranks Texas among the lowest on state debt and among the highest on local debt. Combine state and local, and in 2010, he estimates that Texas had debt of $8,943 per person, $380 more than the average for all the states. In 2001, the Texas debt load was $4,608 per person -- and $843 lower than the states' average.
There are crucial differences between state and national debt, said John Kennedy, a senior analyst at the Texas Taxpayers and Research Association in Austin. Texas isn't borrowing to pay deficits, and it's limited in the amount that it can borrow, because the debt ceiling can't be raised without voters' approval.
/johnny
Another leftist rag.
Startlegram is now a propoganda rag as bad as the Austin paper. I refuse to buy it anymore. I hope they go out of business.
More hogwash from this pile of crap so-called newspaper. With no state income tax (even on trillionaires and quadzillionaires) Texas has AA++ bond rating and one of the lowest debt ratios of any state.
By the way, the front page news in the Stranglegram today was “Republicans threaten to deny Seniors their hard earned social security checks, but Our President Obama (peace be upon his name) promises to keep fighting Hard against conservative Atrocities”—or something like that.
/johnny
Perhaps the Federal government can learn from Texas because they grew this debt with no personal or corporate income tax.
Interesting they went back 10 years.
Despite my nick, I don't live in Texas so I'm not all that familiar with Texas' Legislative makeup over the last 10 years.
Has the Texas Legislature been made up of Republicans for all that time? I know Rick Perry has been Governor so he bear some responsibility for this. But what has happened over the last 3 or 4 years as compared to the last 10?
In Washington's case, it's true President Bush ran the debt up under a Republican Congress but the debt didn't really expand dramatically until The RATS took over The House and Senate.
Not that I'm defending or excusing irresponsible Republican spending. Just looking for a little context.
Need a story on Illinois debt - where the rookie Hussein calls home.
Answer is simple:
Demographics
DID YOU KNOW?
Texas has the nation’s largest rural population, with more than 3.6 million rural residents in 2000*.
Texas is one of the fastest–growing states in the nation. Since 2000, the state’s population has increased by 12.7 percent, nearly twice that of the nation (6.4 percent).1
http://www.window.state.tx.us/specialrpt/tif/population.html
So-o-o-o-o-o-o......bottom line.....federal debt is good because Texas's is worse?
Or Texas debt is bad and the Federal debt is awesome? What's the point?
Why is it that conservative Texans have NO conservative newspapers in this state? The Fort Worthless Star Telegram is one of the worst, but the Dallas Morning Snooze and the Houston Comical are no better. The publishers of the Austin UnAmerican Statesman could find no buyers for their liberal rag and finally had to take it off the market. All these papers pad their circulation numbers by throwing the papers for free to unsubscribers.
If conservatives called these papers and told them to keep their papers off their property and called businesses to complain about their support of these anti-Texas, pro-Democrat mouth pieces, we may get rid of some of them.
Population growth shouldn't necessarily result in debt. Presumably, the revenue base should also increase. I'm sure Texas has at least as bad if not a worse problem with Illegal Border Crossers as we have here in California so it stands to reason that's part of the problem.
But it comes back to where the spending originates. Obviously, Federal spending originates in The House which has been dominated by RATS over the last 5 years or so. And it's been in the last 5 years that the debt has gotten out of hand.
I'm just curious as to where the spending originates in Texas, legislatively speaking, and who has been running the Texas legislature over the last few years as compared to the last 10.
it is an electioneering trick.
go back as far as possible to show a trend in your favor.
the went back that far because they have nothing to attack texas with.
Obama is pointing a gun at the heads of all seniors and this must not be working well.
Over the same time, the national debt rose almost 234 percent, with two wars, two tax cuts and stimulus spending.
How conservative can he be if he doesn't understand that cutting taxes increases revenue?
May I?
Why is it that conservative Texans have NO conservative [students going to liberal arts colleges, graduating with Journalism degrees, and writing conservative articles] in this state?
Texas A&M has a LGBT Student Group now for crying out loud.
The papers may very likely be a harbinger of the coming tide of liberal Texas.
Amen. I'm sure The Ft. Worthless Startlegram will do the same a$$-covering for President Palin. HA!
Obama is pointing a gun at the heads of all seniors and this must not be working well.
Someone else compared it to using them as human shields. Either way, Mark Halperin was right.
Unfunded Mandates.
Enough to force the closing of clinics in some areas where facilities were never reimbursed a dime.
This is what north Texans think of when you say “Rick Perry”.
His eleventh hour, half hearted, “come to Jesus” on immigration is two terms late and a million pesos short.
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