The Future is Texas

The Economist ^ | 12-18-2002 | Economist

[Dog Gone]

I'd be surprised if the article makes you livid. The writer gets a lot of it right. It's just that he wants it to change, which means he doesn't truly understand Texas.

[San Jacinto]

I'm not sure anyone but a native Texan would understand that. ;-)

I know what you mean. Some say to be a true Texan, you had to have either been born here or died at the Alamo.

[The UnVeiled Lady]

In 2000, George Bush's last year as governor, the state executed 40 people. Today, 452 people are languishing on Texas's death row, 12% of the country's total.

If we would start executing one a day ... we would drop that down in about a year. I would help pull the lever. Then we would be sure that they wouldn't get out and kill other people on parole.

[Texas_Jarhead]

The author gets some things right and on others he is way off. The author pushes that diversity hogwash too much and fails to mention the cornucopia of problems that have resulted from massive illegal immigration and a more open border. Of course that isn't surprising considering the authors world-view which is easily discerned. Overall, I'd give this piece a C+.

[Nita Nuprez]

It's just that he wants it to change, which means he doesn't truly understand Texas.

Thanks for the warning. Maybe I won't read it after all.

[Texas_Jarhead]

ah come on Joe, that phrase became more universal and if your reside in Texas you know what I'm talking about. BTW, that sombrero comment was too good.

[San Jacinto]

Welcome to Texas, glad that you came down,
you’ve got lots of friends here, take a look around.
They come from California, they come from Ohio,
they come from Minnesota to get out of the snow.

You don’t like our drivin’, you don’t like our roads,
you make fun of the way we talk, make fun of our clothes,
but you clog up our highways, been pourin’ in for years;
if you don’t like the way we do it, what are you doin’ here?

CHORUS:
Welcome to Texas, don’t anybody get me wrong;
we’re glad y’all came to see us, just don’t forget to go back home.

We don’t need your politics, we don’t need your prayers,
we don’t need your moral compass leadin’ us anywhere.
We don’t need your business, we don’t need your art,
we don’t really give a damn how you did things up north.
REPEAT CHORUS

You gripe about our music, gripe about our food,gripe
about the weather here, say it’s way too hot for you.
We hear all your whinin’, and it starts wearin’ thin
when we see our milk and honey runnin’ down your chin.

So come on down to Texas, have yourself a ball,
take the kids to Six Flags, and the wife out to the mall.
Have a good vacation, but then don’t hesitate
to point your car back up the road to that outbound interstate.

REPEAT CHORUS

"Welcome to Texas" by Brian Burns 1999 Albumn: HIGHWAYS AND HEARTACHES, availabe along with some more great Texas music @ brianburnsmusic.com

[luckystarmom]

Well, I'm living in California now, but I grew up in Texas.

He talks about Texas not being good to the poor people. Well, California ain't great for the poor or the middle class. The average home price in the Silicon Valley where I live is $500,000. Most people can't afford something like that.

In Texas, you can get a great house for $100,000. That means a lot more people live a much higher standard of living.

Then the article complains about polution in Texas. Well, most of Texas is not poluted. Half the state of California is poluted by one city, Los Angelas.

And then lets compare economics. The state of Texas is doing well on little taxes, but the state of California is about to go bankrupt while still having extremely high taxes. Hmmmmmmm.

(Why am I living here???? I must really love my husband a lot to put up with California.)

[Texas_Jarhead]

I like that

[luckystarmom]

You may be right. Also, my family has lived in Texas for generations. I grew up in Dallas, but the rest of the family is in East Texas. Some of the city folks have never been to the small East Texas towns.

I don't think the cities of Texas make the state. I think the small towns (or cities) do: Tyler, New Braunsfel, Lufkin, Goliad, etc. Not to mention the border towns, the gulf coast towns, and the panhandle towns.

[whipitgood]

land of LOW TAXES?
cough,choke,gasp... did he really say that?
Low taxes compared to Kalifornia, maybe!
I moved here from Colorado (big mistake) a few years ago, thinking taxes would be lower. Was I ever in for a surprise! Taxes on my very modest ($75,000)home are more than TRIPLE what I paid on a $200,000 home on three acres near Denver. Insurance is higher,too. Of course, the local public school stinks, but that is a nationwide problem. Texans have a mantra they use on each other whenever the subject of taxes comes up: THERE IS NO STATE INCOME TAX IN TEXAS. Keep saying this over and over and maybe you will not notice how high the taxes are! LOW TAXES in TEXAS= TEXAS BS!

[Publius]

Take a look at what Texas is doing for infrastructure. It will change how things are financed and built in America. (Adobe required)

[Lunatic Fringe]

Very true.... Dallas has often been called the "Manhattan of the Southwest". We don't wear bolo ties, ostrich skin boots, and ten gallon hats in Dallas. That's Houston.

[Lunatic Fringe]

Yes, but we've become more sophisticated- we have lethal injection.

[Conservinator]

"All the rest of you may go to hell, and I will go to Texas!"

Davy Crockett

[Lunatic Fringe]

It's because we have no state income tax that the property taxes are higher... not to mention your property in Texas is probably worth more than it would in Colorado.

Welcome to Texas, hope you stick around.

[dtel]

"Remember the Alamo!"

I agree.
Just that phrase right there will raise goosebumps on my arms.

[dtel]

Just because you don't how the system works, it is BS?
Don't want to pay real estate taxes? Rent.
Real estate taxes are set by the county, pick a different county.
If you have land, run some livestock and get the ag rate.
There are many ways to lower your tax rate in Texas, you just have to be smarter than the average Coloradan.

[VOA]

I think this was written by a Californian, trying to understand Texas. He'll never "get" it.

Having moved to California from Oklahoma in the mid 1990s, I had to endure the
slander campaign run by The Los Angeles Times and the local media against Texas
during the last Presidential election.

Now, with their golden (actual Gray) boy governor taking them from a
state budget surplus of $10 Billion to perhaps a deficit as great as $50 Billion in
about five years...some Californians
probably are looking at Texas the way the Japanese look at the USA:"What the hell happened?
We are superior to those barbarians!!!".

What will be interesting is to see how the blame game evolves over the California
budget crisis.
Sure Gray Davis can blame machinations by the energy companies for some of it...
but what was he doing trying to play a game he (and lots of experts) knew could be
easily "gamed"?
Now that that excuse is wearing thin...the next angle I've heard tried is Loretta Lynch
(a Gray Davis protege in the state energy program) saying that the energy mess was caused
"by previous Republican governors who didn't build enough energy plants".
As if they could have gone on a reasonable plant building tack with all the
Democratic state legislators and enviro-wackos.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the next couple of years.

[marty60]

I don't think the cities of Texas make the state. I think the small towns (or cities) do: Tyler, New Braunsfel, Lufkin, Goliad, etc. Not to mention the border towns, the gulf coast towns, and the panhandle towns

AMEN!

Have a Merry Christmas or at least a Thankful one.

Love to all FreeRepublicers and to our Soldiers away from home.