The national Republican Medicare Killing Party must be in dire straits if it seriously considers running an extremist right wing Governor who racked up a $27 billion budget deficit that he said was either imaginary or "speculative."
Except that a $27 billion hole that was made in hell is a $27 billion hole that was made in hell.
So much for the silliness of the Texas miracle. Meanwhile, back at the Guv's pricey ranch in Austin, Rick Perry passed the women rights killing abortion sonogram bill into law today. Has a fundamentalist Christian Sharia law come to Texas, thanks to our extremist right wing Governor?
Governor Perry might be good at fooling and tricking Texas voters but his winning streak ends right here and perhaps in Mississippi. After all, both states are in a neck to neck competition for low performing schools and for dismantling social programs for the middle class and economically challenged.
Rick Perry makes no apologies for the misery he will inflict. In fact the Governor refuses to acknowledge his $30 rotten egg.
What about the budget? The truth is that the Texas state government has relied for years on smoke and mirrors to create the illusion of sound finances in the face of a serious "structural" budget deficit - that is, a deficit that persists even when the economy is doing well. When the recession struck, hitting revenue in Texas just as it did everywhere else, that illusion was bound to collapse.
The only thing that let Gov. Rick Perry get away, temporarily, with claims of a surplus was the fact that Texas enacts budgets only once every two years, and the last budget was put in place before the depth of the economic downturn was clear. Now the next budget must be passed - and Texas may have a $25 billion hole to fill. Now what?
Given the complete dominance of conservative ideology in Texas politics, tax increases are out of the question. So it has to be spending cuts.
Yet Mr. Perry wasn't lying about those "tough conservative decisions": Texas has indeed taken a hard, you might say brutal, line toward its most vulnerable citizens. Among the states, Texas ranks near the bottom in education spending per pupil, while leading the nation in the percentage of residents without health insurance. It's hard to imagine what will happen if the state tries to eliminate its huge deficit purely through further cuts.
I don't know how the mess in Texas will end up being resolved. But the signs don't look good, either for the state or for the nation.
How will the mess in Texas end up? Quite brutally, unfortunately. This is the outcome of economic policies that are business friendly to a fault and one in which average everyday people have few safety nets to fall back on when times are tough.
Rick Perry has circled his wagons around avoidance and accountability.
The Governor of Texas is on a 24/7 rampage to avoid questions and he refuses to be held accountable for his policies, agendas and decisions for the past decade.
Rick Perry must be growing rather desperate for the Governor seems to have engaged the services of PR spin doctors to coach him on how to deflect his Enron type of accounting schemes that delivered a $18 billion budget short fall. The Governor is also trying to flee from taking responsibility for his house of cards methodology for measuring the state's K-12 school performance.
The spin doctors' solution for cowardly and frightened career politicians?
Blame the coward's own evil doing on Washington, the federal government and the coward's opponents and critics for cowardly, reckless and irresponsible policies and decisions.
A bunch of debt? Rick Perry should know all about debt, junk science and voodoo math. And it has nothing to do with Washington, D.C. and the federal government.
In yesterday's Houston Chronicle readers learned much about Rick Perry's fancy globe trotting extravaganzas, golfing, hunting trips and lavish gifts, much of it donated by the governor's sugar daddy supporters. The Chronicle's R.G. Ratcliffe revealed that thanks to taxpayers and generous supporters, Perry, a modest cotton farmer from West Texas, now leads the life of the rich and famous.
We taxpayers take care of the basic needs: housing, cooks, housekeepers, stewards and gardeners.
The taxpayers shell out $108,000 a year to rent him an estate west of Austin, and spend another $168,000 on chefs, stewards and housekeepers for the Perrys' creature comforts.
The governor's donors and supporters take care of the really fun stuff like overseas travel to wonderful places, concerts, basketball games and hunting trips.
