The mess in Texas.

[Londo_Jowo]

Yes he is. He once told us he would like for America to become like Somalia:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=29545927&postcount=47

Now that can be considered truly hating America and the American way of life

He is a pathological liar (http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=30899675&postcount=31 for just one example) and a coward who runs screaming when his assertions are challenged. I, however, will continue exposing him for what he is.

I already figured out he's a pathological liar.

 

[her209]

For what it is worth....

Thanks. The guy was really smart, graduated top or near top of his class so I wouldn't doubt that the Marine Corp jumped at the opportunity. The company President (a former Army tank captain) at the time really liked him and was grooming him to eventually become the company President, but the guy left for another much higher paying job.

:\

 

[Londo_Jowo]

For what it is worth....

http://www.ehow.com/facts_7403923_can-joined-after-west-point.html

West Point is the United States Army's military academy. It is a highly competitive school where cadets simultaneously earn college degrees and train to be commissioned as Army officers when they graduate. However, it is possible, though highly unlikely, that you can be commissioned into the Marine Corps after graduating from West Point.

I stand corrected, though I never saw an Marine Officer that wasn't a Naval Academy or NROTC grad in my 12 years of service.

 

[Genx87]

Deregulation, criminal conspiracies, (we now have a financial sector that is no better then a night on the town at vegas with a government ATM card), outsourcing (Detroit is a wasteland filled with mainly unemployed poorest left), wealthy politicians screwing us in collusion with big industry/defense while the mainstream media cheer it all on as they are all intertwined with one another thanks to said deregulation.

And the biggest reason? Bush's pointless wars affecting the biggest economies one by one over time.

Where have you people been since the 80s? You guys can get over the rah-rah conservative cult world and join us in reality anytime.

You need a bigger tinfoil hat.

 

[Atreus21]

Deregulation, criminal conspiracies, (we now have a financial sector that is no better then a night on the town at vegas with a government ATM card), outsourcing (Detroit is a wasteland filled with mainly unemployed poorest left), wealthy politicians screwing us in collusion with big industry/defense while the mainstream media cheer it all on as they are all intertwined with one another thanks to said deregulation.

And the biggest reason? Bush's pointless wars affecting the biggest economies one by one over time.

Where have you people been since the 80s? You guys can get over the rah-rah conservative cult world and join us in reality anytime.

Yes, communism clearly has a long and happy track record.

 

[mpo]

When the news of Texas' likely budget shortfall were announced last summer, even the WSJ and the Economist pointed out that the financial future wasn't as rosy as predicted.

What are people saying today about Krugman's article and the NRO rebuttal? Well, it isn't pretty:

Here’s what happens when two ideologues throw facts at each other to make an argument that supports their ideology: Both get it wrong. Texas in no way compares to California’s fiscal debacle – a deficit approaching 50 percent — as Krugman asserts. On the other hand, Texas does have a structural deficit, which Williamson ignores. Revenues simply do not cover expenses. In the last biennial budget, the state was saved by a $12 million cash infusion from the Obama stimulus program. This time, there is no stimulus. Williamson is right to say Texas has a Rainy Day Fund (although it is projected at $8 billion not $10 billion, as Williamson asserts). But where Williamson gets the notion that the state’s deficit is only $11-15 billion escapes me. The state will be lucky if it is $18 billion, and most people say $22-25 billion. (The number depends on how high the comptroller forecasts sales tax revenues.) What’s more, that structural deficit is not going away.

Texas did revise its tax code to help pay for schools a few years ago. Part of the revenue offset for lowering property taxes was to put a tax on certain businesses.

What has happened in the past few years? Tax revenues from manufacturing are down because manufacturing is down. The service sector has been robust compared to the nation as a whole, but the service sector is largely untaxed in Texas.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see what happens in Texas.

 

[Throckmorton]

We welcome all. Though if you come here and keep voting like aliberal you can kindly get the fuck back out.

You don't have to welcome me, I'm a Texan

 

[CrackRabbit]

I've worked in just about every refinery and chemical plants in those cities. Granted on certain days of the year the air quality is not good but then there are days like today that it's not an issue.

http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/airquality/monops/forecast_today.html

Maybe the state and feds have actually forced the plants to actually clean up a bit then.
7-8 years ago it used to be extremely bad, I would get headaches or worse when I would drive through the areas. Channelview was the worst, LaPorte was second.


Spacejamz: Houston is a city surrounded by chemical plants of all shapes and sizes. It is wonderful for the economy but horrid for the environment. And the chemical companies (in the past anyways) have done just the bare minimum to comply with environmental regulations.
It causes the metroplex to have the worst air and water quality in the state.

 

[hal2kilo]

I reiterate....

http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=30792782&postcount=29

 

[JohnnyGage]

You need a bigger tinfoil hat.

The saying goes..."In communist Russia the future is known, it's the past that keeps changing". The same could be said about RUYB's tinfoil hat.

 

[child of wonder]

I hope you all have enjoyed this experiment known as "the United States of America."

 

[Fern]

Funny that your argument goes well for the entire budget deficit were are in at large and thus can be applied to Obama and the rest of the country. Kinda makes the outrage of the budget deficit and amounts that the Obama administration has added to the deficit rather false and hollow..
-snip-

Nah. Different things.

Yes, the USA can be expected to have a deficit given the drop in revenue etc. However, to blow a trillion $'s on a poorly designed stim package is something altogether different. The Obama admin also significantly expanded gov size and budget as well as hand-out a bunch of raises for gov employees. TX is not doing that.

Fern

 

[spacejamz]

Maybe the state and feds have actually forced the plants to actually clean up a bit then.
7-8 years ago it used to be extremely bad, I would get headaches or worse when I would drive through the areas. Channelview was the worst, LaPorte was second.


Spacejamz: Houston is a city surrounded by chemical plants of all shapes and sizes. It is wonderful for the economy but horrid for the environment. And the chemical companies (in the past anyways) have done just the bare minimum to comply with environmental regulations.
It causes the metroplex to have the worst air and water quality in the state.

I graduated from Alief, suburb on the SW side of Houston in 1987...There are quite a few around Houston, but it is not SURROUNDED by chemical plants...I will take your word about air quality since I moved to Dallas in 1987.

 

[lothar]

The difference is that the house with the 1% tax rate has a limit on how much taxes the property can increase in the subsequent years. That's great for the seniors and all but it also increases the housing prices because the future tax savings are being priced in.

I had a co-worker who was from Texas (West Point graduate, former Marine captain, worked in the Pentagon, the whole nine) and he'd tell us how people would cheat the property tax appraisers when the time came. What they'd do is move most of their property to another location so that the it'd be appraised for much less because in Texas, property means land + house + the other shit that's on the land. There was a name for the practice, but can't remember what it is right now.

Interesting...
So the land appraisers in Texas enter your house look at your furnishes worth thousands of dollars, look at your plasma TV worth $1-2k, looks at your fine China sets, your $5,000+ Alienware computer and add that to the appraised value of your house? That's some fooked up crap if what you say is true.

 

[HomerJS]

Nah. Different things.

Yes, the USA can be expected to have a deficit given the drop in revenue etc. However, to blow a trillion $'s on a poorly designed stim package is something altogether different. The Obama admin also significantly expanded gov size and budget as well as hand-out a bunch of raises for gov employees. TX is not doing that.

Fern

So let me guess... Bush stimulus good, Obama stimulus bad??

 

[hal2kilo]

So let me guess... Bush stimulus good, Obama stimulus bad??

I guess instead of a third of the stimulus package being tax breaks for all of us, it would have been better that a 100 per cent of tax breaks went to the top 1 per cent so they could reign it all back down on us. (that was not a misspelling).

 

[piasabird]

In chicago they put republicans and democrats in Jail. I think they also invented gang warfare and corruption. Half the people and half the money in Illinois is spent around Chicago.

 

[piasabird]

I think everytime electricity moves accross state lines, there should be a federal tax on it. A lot of states get their electricity from Texas because they dont want to pollute their own states. So they should have to pay a tax on the pollution they are making in another state. Also pollution from Texas blows toward the east???

 

[Fern]

So let me guess... Bush stimulus good, Obama stimulus bad??

If you're referring to his stimulous that was a basically a few hundred $'s hand-out via income taxes - no. It was ineffective as most of us thought it would be.

Fern

 

[hal2kilo]

I think everytime electricity moves accross state lines, there should be a federal tax on it. A lot of states get their electricity from Texas because they dont want to pollute their own states. So they should have to pay a tax on the pollution they are making in another state. Also pollution from Texas blows toward the east???

Go for it dude. I want nothing from that f'd up state. Where I live I don't need anything from those f's. Just might not get as much grapefruit.

 

[lothar]

Go for it dude. I want nothing from that f'd up state. Where I live I don't need anything from those f's. Just might not get as much grapefruit.

You need your Dell computers.

 

[hal2kilo]

You need your Dell computers.

Damn, got me there. He he.

 

[Jhhnn]

So let me guess... Bush stimulus good, Obama stimulus bad??

Well, yeh, of course. The Bush stimulus, in all its glory, created a looting opportunity for the financial elite in the form of the housing bubble and MBS flimflam, along with war profiteering.

The Obama stimulus, for sure, was inadequate to fill the gaping wound created by the Bush stimulus. Kinda like putting a bandaid on a sucking chest wound. It only helps a very little.

 

[Zebo]

Very good article. Hopefully Krugman will never get the chance to give Texas the same professional expertise he sold Enron.

Or American blue collar workers asset stripped by his globalization pimping or states with no room to maneuver being in debt up to eyeballs to his banker buddies or every American for generations being in debt to them for his pimping of deficit spending. Guy is a total corp/bankers shill and scumbag. They don't pay him $25,000-$50,000 a one hour speech for nothing you know.

 

[Jhhnn]

Or American blue collar workers asset stripped by his globalization pimping or states with no room to maneuver being in debt up to eyeballs to his banker buddies or every American for generations being in debt to them for his pimping of deficit spending. Guy is a total corp/bankers shill and scumbag.

You're way, way off base, probably deep in a bottle of something or other. Read Krugman- don't just read about Krugman.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/