Texas miracle?

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Texas miracle
Issues Beyond Palo Alto,
Ted Rudow III, MA, a member of the Palo Alto High School community

'Texas miracle'

Since announcing his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination over the weekend, Texas Gov. Rick Perry has already raised eyebrows over a number of heated comments. One of the comment was, "Since June 2009, about 48 percent of all the jobs created in America were in Texas."



Perry's staff attributed the number to the Dallas branch of the Federal Reserve. The fact-checking group PolitiFact questioned its legitimacy, saying different timeframes revealed Texas created a more modest percentage of national jobs. "Texas Miracle" is something that Perry has been campaigning on for quite a while. What lies beneath those numbers, however, is the fact that Texas has also created many, many more minimum-wage jobs and low-wage jobs than any other state. And, you know, that's the truth that lies beneath this "miracle."



Perry also has stripped away just about every strand of the social safety net in his 10 years as governor. Texas education has been stripped to the bone. High school graduation rates are the lowest in the country. The rate of insurance is the lowest in the country. It's a miracle for companies that want to exploit their workers; it's not a miracle for anybody else.