What kind of economy are they trying to protect? Let's talk about that -- and how Texas is on the brink.
Of all 50 states, Texas is ranked 8th in terms of the percent of mortgage loans that are subprime. (Source)
Without getting into too big of a discussion of what cause our current economic catastrophe, it is safe to say that subprime mortgage loans are among the biggest reasons we are where we are today. Governor Perry may want to pretend that all is well, but the fact is, it's not:
One in five subprime loans end up in foreclosure, according to new research by the Center for Responsible Lending -- more than eight times the rate for mortgages in the prime market...Rigorous research shows subprime loans are costly, applied unfairly, and -- given the risk of foreclosure -- dangerous.
Of all 50 states, Texas is ranked 45th in terms of the net worth of households. (Source)
The net worth of the mean household is $35,942. The statistic measures all:
"Interest-earning assets, stocks and mutual fund shares, real estate (own home, rental property, vacation homes, and land holdings), own business or profession, mortgages held by sellers, and motor vehicles. Liabilities covered include debts secured by any asset, credit card or store bills, banks loans, and other unsecured debts."
Governor Perry and Texas Republicans would be quick to point out, I'm sure, that the same study shows that Texas ranks 4th in the affordability of homes. (Source) Cheaper homes allow for those with less net worth to be able to fulfill the dream of home ownership. That being said, if there is a high number of subprime mortgage loans being taken out to pay for those cheap homes, then we're really just sweeping the problem under the rug and hiding from the real work.
You also have to ask yourself if having a cheap home means anything if:
Of all 50 states, Texas ranks 44th in home ownership rates. (Source)
65.9 percent of Texans own a home. That means that one in three Texans -- despite the affordability of the Texas housing market and the proliferation of subprime mortgage loans -- still cannot afford to own a home. Of course, considering that 21.5 percent of the people in Texas live in poverty (Source), perhaps this shouldn't come as too large of a surprise.
Of all 50 states, Texas is the most expensive place to insure a home -- with Texans paying an average premium of $1,372 annually. (Source)
Above all else, this issue will be the test of the Republicans in control of Texas. What will Perry, Dewhurst, and Straus do to address homeowner insurance rates during this time of a crippling economy? Stories of Galveston homeowners who always paid their bills and yet are not being fully insured after the damages of Hurricane Ike are a dime a dozen.
Click2Houston -- Watch a video about Texas families struggling to receive their insurance payments.
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Texas Homeowners are living in a struggling economy. They were struggling long before Hurricane Ike. But like so much work that needs to be done in Texas, the Republican-led Legislature ignored the problem until it became a catastrophe.
And the way that Governor Rick Perry, Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn, and Texas Republicans in Congress are approaching the national discussion of the economy -- with pure political obstruction -- no one in Texas should expect much change any time soon.
Texas is one of the worlds largest economies. It is a massive state with three of our countries largest cities. The state is composed of mountain land, desert, grassland, marsh, and forest. We are a diverse state, with a lot of problems that need to be solved. Problem is, our legislature meets for 140 days every two years.
Because of the way House and Senate rules work, lawmakers have their hands tied by the process, and can't bring legislation to the floor until it has been sent to through committee and reworked.
However, the Governor's office can designate certain topic areas as "emergency items" which allow lawmakers to consider them in the first 30 days of session and expedite the process.
This sessions "emergency items" include some new and old topic areas:
Legislation to provide supplemental appropriations to state agencies and institutions related to hurricane response and recovery associated with the hurricanes of 2008;
Legislation to assist public and private entities with recovery from the hurricanes of 2008;
Legislation to reform the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) and legislation to fund the Catastrophe Reserve Trust Fund related to TWIA;
Legislation to improve state schools and centers operated by the state of Texas;
Legislation to appropriate funds to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for the purchase and use of screening and detection devices for contraband and personnel, as well as comprehensive security equipment.
Of course schools are there... they always are. New to this years list is hurricane recovery which isn't going so well.
We look forward to seeing which lawmakers are the first to file legislation on these topics and what that legislation looks like.
Update: The State Schools in the Governor's declaration refer to the 19 State Schools for the Mentally Retarded operated by the Department of Aging and Disability Services, not public schools in Texas. They are not really schools, more like institutions for the mentally retarded in Texas. The Department of Justice is investigating all the schools in Texas for civil rights abuses in cases of abuse and neglect, it's something the LSG, working with Reps. Ortiz and Herrero started calling attention to in September of 2007. LSG published a report on thier findings a few months later, and back in December the DOJ released a 70 page letter of findings that essentially mirrored the call for reform. Perry's been getting a lot of heat from the feds and from the disability community to institute reform, so he included it in his emergency items.
For background, here's a link to the LSG's study from a year ago.
There has been some talk about having the state delay the Oct 6 voter registration deadline for the counties affected by Hurricane Ike. The proposal seems to be headed nowhere according to the Austin Chronicle.
"The secretary of state's office has been in touch with those counties that were impacted, and they're not getting any indication that there are any problems," said Perry spokeswoman Allison Castle. "There's still plenty of time to register, and you can do that from anywhere; you don't even have to be in your home county. You can go to the secretary of state's website, fill out and print a registration form, and stick it in the mail."
We contacted a few voter registrars in affected counties, and they agreed - although, notably, we were unable to contact officials with Galveston County, the hardest hit. Officials with Waller, Brazoria, and Jefferson counties said they planned no such request, and Harris County Director of Voter Registration George Hammerlein said, "We're on top of it. There was plenty of time before Ike to register, and in the weeks after. ... There is still plenty of reaction time." Hammerlein noted that even at emergency supplies stations after Ike, registration cards have been made available.
It may be in part that they are handling it just fine. It also may be that if they moved back the deadline, it would give local registrars even less time to process the cards, something that they loathe doing.
Hey, I'll volunteer for a "Tedious Data Entry for Democracy Team" if needed.
I felt it was high time for me to pay a call to our esteemed U.S. Senators to inquire about the recent financial melt down on Wall St. Since as a taxpayer I will be expected to step up and bail out a bunch of corrupted greed mongers I believe I deserve an explanation from those who got us into this unbelievable mess in the first place.
Dear Senator,
In the past two weeks I feel as if I have been hit by two devastating hurricanes. Many residents in the Houston and Galveston areas are still without power and most continue to struggle with Ike's aftermath. The nation's fourth largest city and its surrounding areas have taken a tremendous beating.
Just when we were beginning to think we could see the light at the end of Ike's tunnel we now find ourselves suddenly blindsided by another hurricane. This one did not sweep in from the Gulf. This unexpected monster came hurdling down from Wall St. and its aftermath could prove far more cataclysmic than Ike.
What is this business about a financial bailout using the taxpayer's money? It seems to me that a group of greedy and corrupted fat cats on Wall St., with the blessings of their supporters and cheerleaders in Congress, raped and pillaged the United States and now taxpayers are being asked to pay for the carnage. And we're supposed to turn over nearly $1 trillion and say "we trust you to clean up after yourselves."
Please.
See what Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine has to say about the Wall Street debacle.
Rick Perry actually told reporters that he could relate to hurricane Ike victims.
"I absolutely understand they want to get back to their homes ... I'd like to get back to the mansion," said Perry
Guess he forgot about the 4,602-square-foot house equipped with a swimming pool located 8113 Hickory Creek Drive. This is the exact same as living in a shelter with hundred of other people. It's sort of similar. Taxpayers are spending nearly $10,000 a month to house the Governor in his plush digs, while Red Cross is supporting most of the evacuees.
In the last 48 hours, there have been nearly a dozen mentioned in the Texas press about John Cornyn suspending his campaign, including the start of his paid advertising, because of the focus on Hurricane Ike recovery efforts.
Today, Texans in Austin, Dallas-Forth Worth, and Amarillo woke up to ads from Cornyn's campaign anyways. While the Cornyn campaign says they are working to get them off the air, as the AP story notes, they had originally planned them to start last Friday, the day Ike started pounding the Texas coast, which had been the predicted landfall date for about a week.
Lt. Col. Noriega canceled all his ad buys to begin with and truly has suspended his campaign as he's been called up to Camp Mabry in Austin to report to the National Guard to assist in recovery logistics. Of course, considering Noriega managed logistics in Houston (which he also represents in the state house) during Rita/Katrina recovery, this is pretty first hand basic stuff to understand, which is exactly the point he's been trying to make for the last year.
It's hard to feel any real regret of Cornyn's self-described campaign "glitch".
"I'm a little surprised that they chose to run an ad when 3 million people still don't have power in the state of Texas," said Noriega spokeswoman Holly Shulman.
Like Lyle Larson, John Cornyn has broken his promise. Junior Senator Cornyn, made a promise to stop campaigning and honor the 3 million Texans without food, water, or power by suspending his campaign. He forget to qualify that with the exception of three major media markets, Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, and Amarillo, were the ads will run anyway.
At least Rick Noriega is doing the right thing by helping people in their time of need and not just blaming political games on glitches.
Houston journalists are irate and concerned as a total media blackout occurred in the wake of Hurricane Ike. It's good to see the media on the ground stand up to Perry and the emergency management on the ground.
reporter Wayne Dolcefino revealed that media have been blocked from covering Hurricane Ike's devastation. In a press conference, Dolcefino pressed Gov. Rick Perry on why media aren't even allowed to fly over parts of Galveston Island, noting that media access was far better in Mississippi and Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina. Perry tried to brush off Dolcefino's concerns, but eventually passed blame to federal officials.
Vince at Capitol Annex added this yesterday when the rumors began bubbling about Perry's inability to manage the situation.
Dolcefino went on to compare the media's lack of access to the situation in Myanmar, where the media was denied access to many areas hit hard by disaster there.
In addition, some sources tell Capitol Annex that local government leaders and some legislators have already begun to criticize both the state response and FEMA's response to Ike, although none of that has been covered by the media yet.
Either Perry is unable to coordinated with FEMA to get media the proper access or he is intentionally preventing the media from getting information back to those affected by Ike.
To see the full video of Rick Perry passing the blame to the federal government (who wasn't present at the press conference) click here.
As confusionabounds over who was responsible for the difficulties surrounding the deployment of PODs (Points Of Delivery) for ice, water, and food in Harris County following Hurricane Ike, State Sen. Mario Gallegos (D-Houston) says the blame rests with the state.
Gallegos, whose senate district included the hardest hit areas of Harris County and Houston, told Burnt Orange Report that the difficulties began Sunday around 3 p.m., shortly before a major press conference in Houston.
"Yesterday, just before that press conference, someone from the state called the city, the county, and FEMA and said that they were not participating in the PODs program," Gallegos said.
Until Sunday, the state had planned to participate in the deployment of the PODs. Who exactly from the state placed the call hasn't yet been confirmed. Some sources tell Burnt Orange Report the call came from State Emergency Management Coordinator Jack Colley.
Hurricane Ike is going to hit Texas late Friday night/Saturday Morning as either a Category 3 or 4 storm according to current projections. Rep. Juan Garcia has distributed the following information for residents.
Local officials have ordered Mandatory Evacuation for all residents with special needs (residents who cannot evacuate themselves). If you are in Nueces County and have special needs, please dial 361-289-5881.
Residents in all other counties should dial 211. Please stay tuned to local media for updates, and comply with any further instructions from local or state emergency personnel.
Hurricane evacuation lanes (Evaculanes) on I-37 opened Wednesday morning at 9:00 a.m. The left shoulder of northbound I-37 in Corpus Christi will be available for use from SH 359 (Padre Island Drive) to north of the Nueces River, where traffic will be shifted to use the right shoulder. The Evaculane will close at the exit for U.S. 281 in Pleasanton. These evacuation lanes are road shoulders that are wide and smooth enough to be used safely as a travel lane during evacuations.
For information on Texas road conditions, call the Texas Road Condition and Travel Information Line (800-452-9292) or visit TxDOT's website: www.txdot.gov.
Aransas County: For any questions, please call the Sheriff's office at 361-729-2222.
Calhoun County Update: If you do not have a vehicle, and cannot get a ride with friends, neighbors, or family register in advance with the Calhoun County Emergency Management Office for a ride to a designated shelter. Contact Mary Bonuz at 361-553-4400
San Patricio County Update: For any questions, please call the Sheriff's office at 361-364-9600 or 361-364-2251.
Nueces County Update: The public is advised if they have "special needs" (cannot evacuate themselves) and may require evacuation assistance to register by dialing 211, a 24-hour telephone line. A decision will be made this evening whether to begin evacuating "special needs" tomorrow morning.
