“If you want a bad job, go to Texas,” said Texas Rep. Garnet Coleman (D), who represents a district in Houston. “If you want to work at Carl’s Jr., our doors are open, and if you want to go to a crumbling school in a failing school system, this is the place to come.” Texas had recently bumped up to 8.2 percent unemployment in June which puts it below the national average. Still plenty of states without miracles posted lower unemployment rates; New York, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Wisconsin, among others are all out performing Texas. Quality of life indexes like child poverty rates put Texas further behind. State Sen. Judith Zaffirini (D) told The Huffington Post her state ranks 48th in teen birth rates, 50th in prenatal care and 46th in income disparity — and 50th in the number of persons who receive a high school diploma by age 25. Of the all the jobs in Texas created last year, 37 percent paid at or below minimum wage — and the state leads the nation in total minimum wage workers, according to a recent New York Times report. When it comes to budget gaps, Texas is just like much of the rest of the country. This year, the state faced a projected budget shortfall totaling as much as $27 billion; the legislature also had to contend with a $4.3 billion deficit in its current budget. The state made massive across-the-board cuts to state agencies — including $4 billion in public school cuts over two years. Perry and the state legislature also ended up closing out funding for pre-kindergarten programs for roughly 100,000 low-income children. Mass layoffs of public sector workers is expected. Texas still ranks as the most dangerous state for worker safety. An April study [PDF] produced by the University of Texas and the Workers Defense Project stated that one in five construction workers were injured on the job, while only 45 percent had workers’ compensation. The study also noted that a worker dies every 2.5 days and the state sees 16,900 job-related accidents annually. Emily Timm, a policy analyst with the Workers Defense Project, said that roughly 45 percent of the more than 300 workers surveyed reported being paid wages below the federal poverty line. And one in five workers complained that their employers had paid them less than what they were owed. Being allowed adequate drinking water is even an issue. Nearly a third of the workers surveyed reported that their employers did not provide them with access to drinking water.
Except for infrastructure construction jobs, most of the new jobs are for small companies and require little to no experience. In other words, minimum wage. If we want jobs in this country we have to plug the loop holes and make it financially uncomfortable for corporations to outsource their workforces. I’d rather they tightened their belts and laid off a few – loosing a few jobs is better than loosing all of them. Along with the newely boosted unemployment line, our country also looses all of the tax revenue from that corp. Its a double bang. Bring the damned jobs home.
MM- Texas’ “privatized” prisons also lead the nation in escapes, but Arizona’s “privatized” prisons are working harder to catch up. Texas also leads the nation in executions, which Perry, like “W” really seems to enjoy based on his “Christian values”— but at least SOME folks are still employed?? Well, they do have Lockheed Martin (government contracts), ALCON (pharmaceuticals and now a Swiss owned company), oil production(they’re about to lease their oil fields to the Chinese national oil company), but of course the drought they’re suffering that Perry doesn’t seem to have solved, may wipe out all the “little people” conservatives care so much about!
I was excerpting from articles, so thanks for the positive feedback, folks; vortex, it isn’t a diatribe, it was a rather well-researched article. Your rejection of it (apparently without reading it) says more about you than about it. Or me.
Isn’t it interesting how Swirly et al call “Obama is a Kenyan” the holy grail, but a few FACTS about their positions “a diatribe”??
thanks for the post MM- those details, and a lot more display the truly sad state of Texas, and Perry’s claims, like most coming from those “wise folks” in Iowa.
kreole almost 13 years ago
Call that rig, “Perry’s Prayer”. But then again, he may not have one.
hotdogger almost 13 years ago
Add Eisenhower to that list. He was born in Denison, Texas, and once a Texan, always a Texan.
Motivemagus almost 13 years ago
“If you want a bad job, go to Texas,” said Texas Rep. Garnet Coleman (D), who represents a district in Houston. “If you want to work at Carl’s Jr., our doors are open, and if you want to go to a crumbling school in a failing school system, this is the place to come.” Texas had recently bumped up to 8.2 percent unemployment in June which puts it below the national average. Still plenty of states without miracles posted lower unemployment rates; New York, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Wisconsin, among others are all out performing Texas. Quality of life indexes like child poverty rates put Texas further behind. State Sen. Judith Zaffirini (D) told The Huffington Post her state ranks 48th in teen birth rates, 50th in prenatal care and 46th in income disparity — and 50th in the number of persons who receive a high school diploma by age 25. Of the all the jobs in Texas created last year, 37 percent paid at or below minimum wage — and the state leads the nation in total minimum wage workers, according to a recent New York Times report. When it comes to budget gaps, Texas is just like much of the rest of the country. This year, the state faced a projected budget shortfall totaling as much as $27 billion; the legislature also had to contend with a $4.3 billion deficit in its current budget. The state made massive across-the-board cuts to state agencies — including $4 billion in public school cuts over two years. Perry and the state legislature also ended up closing out funding for pre-kindergarten programs for roughly 100,000 low-income children. Mass layoffs of public sector workers is expected. Texas still ranks as the most dangerous state for worker safety. An April study [PDF] produced by the University of Texas and the Workers Defense Project stated that one in five construction workers were injured on the job, while only 45 percent had workers’ compensation. The study also noted that a worker dies every 2.5 days and the state sees 16,900 job-related accidents annually. Emily Timm, a policy analyst with the Workers Defense Project, said that roughly 45 percent of the more than 300 workers surveyed reported being paid wages below the federal poverty line. And one in five workers complained that their employers had paid them less than what they were owed. Being allowed adequate drinking water is even an issue. Nearly a third of the workers surveyed reported that their employers did not provide them with access to drinking water.
charliekane almost 13 years ago
“Dry” hole is not what came to my mind.
pirate227 almost 13 years ago
Dry hole, empty suit it’s all the same.Texas has been producing dry holes since 43.
55faulken almost 13 years ago
Except for infrastructure construction jobs, most of the new jobs are for small companies and require little to no experience. In other words, minimum wage. If we want jobs in this country we have to plug the loop holes and make it financially uncomfortable for corporations to outsource their workforces. I’d rather they tightened their belts and laid off a few – loosing a few jobs is better than loosing all of them. Along with the newely boosted unemployment line, our country also looses all of the tax revenue from that corp. Its a double bang. Bring the damned jobs home.
Dtroutma almost 13 years ago
MM- Texas’ “privatized” prisons also lead the nation in escapes, but Arizona’s “privatized” prisons are working harder to catch up. Texas also leads the nation in executions, which Perry, like “W” really seems to enjoy based on his “Christian values”— but at least SOME folks are still employed?? Well, they do have Lockheed Martin (government contracts), ALCON (pharmaceuticals and now a Swiss owned company), oil production(they’re about to lease their oil fields to the Chinese national oil company), but of course the drought they’re suffering that Perry doesn’t seem to have solved, may wipe out all the “little people” conservatives care so much about!
Motivemagus almost 13 years ago
I was excerpting from articles, so thanks for the positive feedback, folks; vortex, it isn’t a diatribe, it was a rather well-researched article. Your rejection of it (apparently without reading it) says more about you than about it. Or me.
PlainBill almost 13 years ago
What an idiot!!! Have you forgotten Bush’s tax cuts and runaway spending – which didn’t create any jobs, but did leave us with a massive deficit?
Dtroutma almost 13 years ago
Isn’t it interesting how Swirly et al call “Obama is a Kenyan” the holy grail, but a few FACTS about their positions “a diatribe”??
thanks for the post MM- those details, and a lot more display the truly sad state of Texas, and Perry’s claims, like most coming from those “wise folks” in Iowa.