40 Billion this year
You know, you are the epitome of the saying, "Figures don't lie, but liars figure."
In 2000, the year before Perry took office, the state of Texas had the 8th lowest debt burden as a percentage of GDP in the country, at 2.62%. The average debt for all states was 5.51%. That same year, Texas had the 4th lowest state spending as a percentage of GDP at 6.03%. The average spending for all states was 7.61%.
In 2010, the latest year for which figures are available, the state of Texas had the 2nd lowest debt burden, at 2.39%. During that time the national debt average for all states went up to 7.12%. On the spending side, Texas was once again the 4th lowest in the nation with state spending as a percentage of GDP at 7.03%. The national average for state spending was 9.07%.
So while the national average for state debt to gdp ratio went up 1.6% from 2000-2010, Texas went from 8th lowest to 2nd lowest during that time, and actually reduced state debt to gdp ratio by almost .25%. And during that same period, the state spending to GDP ratio only wnet up about 1.5%, while the national average went up by about 2%. Texas alsohas kept its spending to GDP ratio about 2% less than the national average.
Your problem is that you are using the figures for spending and debt for all state and local government in Texas - and Perry cannot control how much the counties and cities borrow and spend, he can only control state borrowing and spending. And it looks like he has done a pretty good job of it.
See US Spending
Bingo!
Thank you for this bit of detail. I noticed on this site that the budget number of $180+ billion is for both state & local spending.