Texas tax surplus.

[turtlespeed 226]

Hmmm.
No state income tax
2nd largest state.
2nd highest population behind Kalifornia.
But still a nice fat surplus.

Why can't Kalifornia do this?

Why can't NY, do this?

To many social programs and not enough emphasis on building business relationships.

Those evil corporations! !!!

All that corporate welfare.

[URL http://www.chron.com/business/energy/article/What-recession-Texas-looking-at-10-7-billion-1782857.php]10.7 Billion surplus[\url]

Ooooh look. Capitalism works.

I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

[skinnay 0]

"Much of the extra money can be attributed to record oil prices."

I agree, capitalism works, but this is just a result of the rest of the country paying out of the ass to texas corporations.

[regulator 0]

Jealous?

[Bignugget 0]

I think he was pointing out it would be hard for New York to duplicate Texas, since they don't have massive oil reserves.

It's kinda like saying, "Hey, Saudi Arabia has tons of cash and no problem paying their bills, why can't the USA just do that?"

[Andy9o8 2]

Texas is just taxes with the vowels reversed.

[toolbox 0]

I thought california had some oil fields like around bakersfield,and they have the silicon valley along with tons of military bases and alot of agriculture as well.

[Andy9o8 2]

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I thought california had some oil fields like around bakersfield,and they have the silicon valley along with tons of military bases and alot of agriculture as well.

But eventually the silicon reserves will run out. Then they're fooked.

[kelpdiver 2]

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I thought california had some oil fields like around bakersfield,and they have the silicon valley along with tons of military bases and alot of agriculture as well.

California's oil era ended a while ago. Its heyday was in the 30s-70s.

The military bases largely closed during the Peace Dividend at the end of the 80s. Same with the large number of defense contractors supporting it and Star Wars.

Silicon Valley certainly does exist, as does Hollywood still. But companies like Apple and Google keep most of their profits off shore.

[Bolas 5]

Maybe they should use that surplus to pay down their previous debts...

http://www.texaswatchdog.org/2012/08/texas-third-in-total-state-debt-low-by-per-capita-measure-underfunded-pension-liabilities/1346172574.column

Stupidity if left untreated is self-correcting
If ya can't be good, look good, if that fails, make 'em laugh.

[blueblur 0]

Well, we could have (and hopefully soon wil with new fracking tech) done that if we had begun using our own resources earlier instead of playing catch up like we are now.

In every man's life he will be allotted one good woman and one good dog. That's all you get, so appreciate them while the time you have with them lasts.

- RiggerLee

[rehmwa 2]

Quote

It's kinda like saying, "Hey, Saudi Arabia has tons of cash and no problem paying their bills, why can't the USA just do that?"

So we can assume you have no idea how much oil is in the US?

Good argument in concept, bad example to use though. I'd have gone the South Africa/Diamonds route maybe?

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[Andy9o8 2]

Quote

Quote

It's kinda like saying, "Hey, Saudi Arabia has tons of cash and no problem paying their bills, why can't the USA just do that?"

So we can assume you have no idea how much oil is in the US?

Good argument in concept, bad example to use though. I'd have gone the South Africa/Diamonds route maybe?

Colombia is rich in natural resources. They have plenty of hookers and blow; why can't the USA just do that?

[Bolas 5]

Quote

Quote

Quote

It's kinda like saying, "Hey, Saudi Arabia has tons of cash and no problem paying their bills, why can't the USA just do that?"

So we can assume you have no idea how much oil is in the US?

Good argument in concept, bad example to use though. I'd have gone the South Africa/Diamonds route maybe?

Colombia is rich in natural resources. They have plenty of hookers and blow; why can't the USA just do that?

We do. We just don't get tax revenue from it.

Stupidity if left untreated is self-correcting
If ya can't be good, look good, if that fails, make 'em laugh.

[toolbox 0]

Is northern california still trying to seperate from southern california?
I've always liked northern california,but have never cared for the southern part of the state.
I like some things about texas government,but texas is to flat and dry for someone who likes 160ft evergreens and 10,000+ ft mountains.No offense meant to you texans.

[toolbox 0]

>But eventually the silicon reserves will run out.Then they're fooked.

Maybe they will use a pipeline to steal silicon from somewhere else,like las vegas wants to steal water from northern nevada.

[wmw999 2,548]

Who needs all that crap anyway. I've copied some statistics from the Council of State Governments data builder website. The link is to a comparative view of the southern states. I tried to mostly stick to per-capita and rate statistics, because Texas being big, raw numbers are going to skew us unfairly in both directions.

I put the data for all 50 states into a big honkin' table and then ranked them (i.e. I decided what was good and bad -- but in most categories, there isn't a whole lot of discussion -- it's usually bad to have a higher teen pregnancy rate, for instance). I've split it into several worksheets for readability, with the following high-level categories:
Income & housing: Texas just about at the midpoint averaged across all the items
Transportation & air qualityTexas just about at the midpoint. Note we're #2 in how well we take care of state-owned bridges
EducationTexas in bottom half. Note we're #50 in % with HS diploma or GED, and #11 in higher education subsity.
CrimeTexas in bottom half averaged across the category (per capita numbers only).
HealthTexas well into bottom half.
WelfareTexas in bottom half.

We spend less, and we get less. As a state, we might be willing to live with less, and just hope that all those poor people go somewhere else.

But, ya know -- if we expect, as a country, not to have people starve to death, someone has to make sure that the down-and-out have food. If we expect, as a country, for kids to be educated (including the ones with homes that don't lend themselves to education), then we have to be willing to either pay more for those harder-to-educate, or the later cost of uneducated people.

The "states" attachment is data broken out into categories, with the last tab being notes on the different columns. The "states source" attachment is just the source data, not categorized -- it wouldn't all fit into one attachment.

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[DiverMike 5]

Hey - what's the big idea injecting empirical data into Speakers Corner?

After looking at your spreadsheet, I think I want to move out of Ohio.

For the same reason I jump off a perfectly good diving board.

[beowulf 1]

How many people in the US starve to death?

[Andy9o8 2]

Quote

How many people in the US starve to death?

According to This source it's about 1 per 100,000 people.

[DougH 270]

That can't be right.

On the same site they cite CDC data from 2010 that only 1,700 people died of "malnutrition", and majority of those deaths were in the 75+ age category.

http://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/usa-cause-of-death-by-age-and-gender

"The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall"
=P

[Andy9o8 2]

Quote

That can't be right.

Maybe. I did a very fast search out of curiosity, but didn't have time to do more.

[AggieDave 6]

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Is northern california still trying to seperate from southern california?
I've always liked northern california,but have never cared for the southern part of the state.
I like some things about texas government,but texas is to flat and dry for someone who likes 160ft evergreens and 10,000+ ft mountains.No offense meant to you texans.

You have obviously never spent much time in Texas. Although we don't have any 10k mountains, we have some 7k mountains and the whole state is far from flat. It is an exceptionally diverse state in terms of people and geography.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[toolbox 0]

Yeah I've just passed through the panhandle into oklahoma on my way east once.
I've seen lots of pictures of the hill country,and it looks like a nice place to visit,but I used to be a 3rd generation logger here in washington state,and love the big trees.
I love the ocean, and the rivers, and the columbia gorge, the cascade mountains with the big fir timberlands on the western slopes, and the big ponderosa pines on the east slopes.The east slopes transition into high desert and then back to mountains with fir and pine as you head toward idaho.
Awsome views of the volcanoes while skydiving here,and lots of grass to land on.

[weekender 0]

Quote

Quote

Is northern california still trying to seperate from southern california?
I've always liked northern california,but have never cared for the southern part of the state.
I like some things about texas government,but texas is to flat and dry for someone who likes 160ft evergreens and 10,000+ ft mountains.No offense meant to you texans.

You have obviously never spent much time in Texas. Although we don't have any 10k mountains, we have some 7k mountains and the whole state is far from flat. It is an exceptionally diverse state in terms of people and geography.

I've been fortunate enough to travel alot outside the States in my life. I always describe myself as American when asked. people from Texas when asked, always reply they are Texan. i have never met people who have so much pride in where they live. every Texan in my business seems like a representative for the Texas tourist board. There must be something to that.

"The point is, I'm weird, but I never felt weird."
John Frusciante

[kelpdiver 2]

Quote

You have obviously never spent much time in Texas. Although we don't have any 10k mountains, we have some 7k mountains and the whole state is far from flat. It is an exceptionally diverse state in terms of people and geography.

compared to a corn state, sure. But we're not grading on a curve. Looking at a relief map of texas, I see a pancake with a few warts.