tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8524070301101240472.post8787323731717251206..comments2023-09-28T08:13:11.489-07:00Comments on Only In It For The Gold: The Second Texas Century?Michael Tobishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229460438349093944noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8524070301101240472.post-48654091471463345762011-01-08T09:03:37.989-08:002011-01-08T09:03:37.989-08:00Nick, yes this is also true. I thought about menti...Nick, yes this is also true. I thought about mentioning it but it complicated the point I was trying to make. <br /><br />Texas has no income tax. From what I am seeing I imagine its taxes on undeveloped ranch lands are very small; huge properties abound and you can see that on a map by the peculiar paths the public roads sometimes take. <br /><br />We have very high taxes on developed property, and the state runs on that. Even I would object to raising those levels, they are a bit ridiculous. <br /><br />The purpose of the state government is to provide roads to move goods on and jails to put dangerous people in. Some regulatory functions work decently; Texas bureaucrats are, at least, unfailingly polite in my experience. <br /><br />But other services are so wretched as to be negligible. The main thing that will be cut is road-building, because that is the main thing the state does. <br /><br />Of late, major highways have been contracted out to private companies which charge tolls. I imagine this trend will accelerate despite absolute abhorrence of it from much of the population. Toll roads, apparently, being anathema to the freedoms we hold dear.<br /><br />Yes, this is all true. But my point is that we are suddenly getting a lot of money pumped in via oil and gas, and nobody is objecting very hard. <br /><br />I would not be surprised if the budget situation revives in the 2012 round, either.<br /><br />Meanwhile, the University of Texas directly owns a great deal of oil-producing land, so it's somewhat insulated from the state budget problem, by the way. This may lead to the ultimate final triumph over those pesky aggies for flagship university status. Feels a little like cheating but you take what you can get.<br /><br />Finally, everything Krugman is saying really comes home to roost if the fracking really is like slurping the last sip of the milkshake and goes away soon. At that point Texas becomes a mess like New Jersey or Michigan.<br /><br />But note, California remains an attractive place to be wealthy or upple-middle-class, even though its government is in sheer chaos. You can begin to say the same about the whole country. Rich people don't need any government services besides roads and jails.<br /><br />In short, Nick, yes, another interesting lesson from Texas. But it doesn't contradict my point. Indeed it pulls in the same direction.Michael Tobishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08229460438349093944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8524070301101240472.post-74934801595803479262011-01-08T07:56:28.423-08:002011-01-08T07:56:28.423-08:00ed, thanks, fixed.
guthrie, yep. Thought of that ...ed, thanks, fixed.<br /><br />guthrie, yep. Thought of that myself.Michael Tobishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08229460438349093944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8524070301101240472.post-38398608819611677262011-01-08T04:32:42.736-08:002011-01-08T04:32:42.736-08:00The number of people added to Texas between 2000 a...<i>The number of people added to Texas between 2000 and 2001 was over 4.2 million.</i><br /><br />Do you mean between 2000 and 2010?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8524070301101240472.post-71900528019336226672011-01-08T02:49:58.349-08:002011-01-08T02:49:58.349-08:00Hang on, so the developing Texas oil industry didn...Hang on, so the developing Texas oil industry didn't develop in a free market situation, pulling itself up by its bootstraps - it got legislative help...guthriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17992984293423290387noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8524070301101240472.post-85851593326791325632011-01-08T01:21:05.122-08:002011-01-08T01:21:05.122-08:00http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/07/opinion/07krugma...http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/07/opinion/07krugman.htmlNick Barneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00057838251997644583noreply@blogger.com