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.
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
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.
Given the following quotes from the article:
“Texas’ population grew almost twice as fast as the nation’s in the past decade, so it needs new highways, schools, prisons and more”
and
“Local borrowing accounts for almost 85 percent of public debt in Texas, because the government is so decentralized. Combine state and local borrowing, and Texas ended fiscal 2008 with $216 billion in total debt, up from $98 billion in 2001, according to census figures. (The latest census data for local debt is 2008.)”
I don’t think Rick Perry has anything to do with it.
In CA, bonds go before the voters. If voters decide to grow the debt, it's on them, not elected officials.