Texas may have the country’s highest rate of people who lack health insurance and rank in the top 10 states with the highest poverty levels, but Gov. Rick Perry can’t be bothered. In an interview with the Washington Post published today, Perry suggested that the Bible proves that poverty is “always going to be with us.”…. But Perry doesn’t see inequality as a particularly big problem, and he’s certainly not going to champion an all-out war on poverty…. “Biblically, the poor are always going to be with us in some form or fashion,” Perry told the Post…. While the governor conceded that Texas’ economic gains have mostly accrued to the state’s wealthiest residents, he denied that inequality was even an issue…. “We don’t grapple with that here,” Perry said.
It seems Ayn Rand is alive and well and living in Austin, TX, as a policy advisor for outgoing Governor Rick Perry. I could wax rhapsodic about what a self-absorbed, ineffectual, socially irresponsible leader Governor Goodhair has been…but Texans elected and re-elected him repeatedly. The citizens of the Lone Star State have exactly the quality of leadership they deserve. If you don’t believe me, consider that they just elected two hyper-religious, hypocritical, authoritarian Christian zealots- Greg Abbott as Governor, and Dan Patrick as Lieutenant Governor. It’s astonishing that collective standards could be so abysmally low. Texans really WOULD vote for a ham sandwich if it had an “R” behind its name…because that’s essentially what they just did. Then again, comparing Abbott and Patrick to a ham sandiwich would be an insult to the sandwich.
“The poor shall always be among us” (Matthew 26:11) is a common attitude among the American Taliban, cited as a reason for not spending money on social programs. After all, if the poor will always be among us, why should we throw money at an unsolvable problem destined to be with us regardless of what we might do? Why should we care for the least among us when they’ll just become dependent on government handouts? Why should we act as our brother’s keeper (another Biblical injunction, BTW) when so many refuse to do for themselves because government will do for them?
Is it any wonder the unofficial motto of the Lone Star State is “Thank God For Mississippi!”?
Gov. Perry doesn’t believe inequality to be a problem, perhaps because he and his influential and well-heeled friends and political allies have benefited from it. They’ve tilted the playing field in their direction, and then claimed the imprimatur of Almighty God as justification for continuing the current state of affairs. They’ve lined their pockets at the expense of Texans…who shouldn’t be pitied, because they have only themselves to blame for electing Perry and his fellow Republicans. Texans elected wolves to guard the hen house, so they can’t claim to be surprised when there’s nothing left to eat.
According to economist Mark Frank, the top one percent of earners in Texas took home 21 percent of the state’s total income in 2011, while the top 10 percent accounted for half of all the state’s income. Frank found that Texas has the fifth-highest level of income inequality among the 50 states.
One of Governor Pander McCrazy’s favorite activities has been flogging what he calls the “Texas Miracle.” Simply put, Gov. Perry claims credit for creating a recession-proof economy that’s been a national model for strong, continuous job growth.
In truth, Perry’s “Texas Miracle” has been thoroughly debunked, the product of chance, coincidence, and cherry-picking of economic indicators in order to paint a rosy picture of the Texas economy in an effort to attract companies looking to the Lone Star State. Texas’ low-tax, low-regulation, business-friendly environment may create jobs, but few benefits of those jobs accrue to the people of the state. The “Texas Miracle” is a lie built on a thoroughly dishonest accounting of what’s being done in the name of Texans in order to benefit Gov. Perry’s rich friends and benefactors.
Corruption? What corruption?? Move along, people; nothing to see here….
Gov. Perry has devoted considerable attention to the enrichment of his wealthy political benefactors at the cost of caring for the people of Texas. The tax burden on small businesses in Texas is higher than the rest of the nation, and wages on average are lower. In many respects, Perry’s claims of job growth are mythical…but Governor Goodhair has never been one to let the facts get in the way of a good political story. It’s never been about the truth or what the numbers actually say; it’s about how the numbers can be massaged and manipulated in order to paint Rick Perry in the best possible light.
Left unsaid in the many and varied claims about the “Texas Miracle” is the fact that the claimed benefits have not made their way to the social safety net. Those at the top of the food chain may be seeing substantial increases in the bottom line, but the needy, poor, the ill, the uninsured, and the hungry in the Lone Star State continue to suffer from a lack of resources and commitment from Austin.
The real “Texas Miracle” is that it still ranks just slightly above Mississippi when it comes to social safety net indicators.
“THANK GOD FOR MISSISSIPPI!!”
