How is Texas doing?

Texas is doing GREAT! We're first place in so many categories! Check it--

Environment

(50th=Lowest, 1st=Highest)

• Amount of Carbon Dioxide Emissions 1st
• Amount of Volatile Organic Compounds Released into Air 1st
• Amount of Toxic Chemicals Released into Water 1st
• Amount of Recognized Cancer-Causing Carcinogens Released into Air 1st
• Amount of Hazardous Waste Generated 1st
• Amount of Toxic Chemicals Released into Air 5th
• Amount of Recognized Cancer-Causing Carcinogens Released into Water 7th
• Number of Hazardous Waste Sites on National Priority List 7th
• Consumption of Energy per Capita 5th


The Texas story is not quite as glowing as Perry tells it. A quarter of Texans lack health-care coverage, the highest rate in the country. The state ranks 47th in the nation in per-pupil spending on public education and has the highest levels of toxic chemicals released into the water and carcinogens released into the air.

Just look at how women fare in this state:
Women’s Issues

(50th=Lowest, 1st=Highest)

• Overall Birth Rate 2nd
• Teenage Birth Rate 7th
• Births to Unmarried Mothers 17th
• Percent of Women with Pre-Term Birth 9th
• Percent of Non-Elderly Women with Health Insurance 50th
• Percent of Women Who have had a Dental Visit within the Past Year 45th
• Rate of Women Aged 40+ Who Receive Mammograms 40th
• Rate of Women Aged 18+ Who Receive Pap Smears 37th
• Breast Cancer Rate 42nd
• Cervical Cancer Rate 11th
• Percent of Women with High Blood Pressure 16th
• Family Planning 37th
• Percent of Pregnant Women Receiving Prenatal Care in First Trimester 50th
• Women’s Voter Registration 45th
• Women’s Voter Turnout 49th
• Percent of Women Living in Poverty 6th
• Percentage of Women with Four or More Years of College 30th
• Percent of Businesses Owned by Women 17th
• Percent of Median Income for Full Time Work 26th

"When Perry says Texas has less than 10 percent of the nation’s population but has created more than 40 percent of its jobs in the past two years, or that more jobs have been created in Texas in the past decade — that is, on his watch — than in all 49 other states combined, he’s not exaggerating. In an election that’s likely to be about jobs and the economy first and foremost, he has quite a record to run on. But there’s more to the story than those top-line statistics.

The unemployment rate in Texas, for instance, is 8.2 percent — less than the federal unemployment rate but worse than that of 25 other states, and it could move up a tick or two after Sept. 1, when budget cuts passed during the most recent legislative session will reduce the public employee rolls. Texas has more minimum-wage jobs than every state other than Mississippi, a superlative you brag about if you don’t care about what kind of jobs you create and are only trying to run up the numbers. And growth in public sector (i.e., government) jobs in Texas has been 19 percent over the past 10 years, vs. just 9 percent growth in private-sector jobs." from Evan Smith of the Texas Tribune, published in the Washington Post.

For more information, check out the Texas Legislative Study Group report Texas On the Brink.