How's that "Texas miracle" thing working for you?

Our governor, Rick Perry, has been swaggering around the country proclaiming in his exaggerated drawl about how he wants to do for America what he has done for Texas. God forbid!

Let's just take a look at how Texas stands in relation to the other 49 states in some areas that are extremely important to the average citizen.

 
Yes, it is embarrassingly true that we are first in the country in the number of workplace fatalities and in the percentage of minimum wage workers.  Those jobs that Perry brags so much about creating are mostly minimum wage jobs and are often very dangerous jobs, not the kind of jobs that most communities interested in the health and welfare of their citizens would be eager to have.

Furthermore, we are number one in the number of uninsured residents.  Our emergency rooms overflow day and night with people who have waited until the last possible minute to seek medical attention because they have no insurance and cannot pay for medical care.  In addition, we are dead last in the country in workers' comp coverage.

This chart doesn't show it, but the fact is that in Texas, poor people pay 17% of their income in taxes, while rich people pay only 2%.  No wonder all those millionaires and billionaires are sending money to Perry and crossing their fingers that he will be able to do to America what he has done to Texas.

The truth is that the "Texas miracle" is a Texas myth.  It is not working well for the average citizens of Texas who daily breathe dirty air, drink dirty water, and go to work at low-paying and dangerous jobs.  And if they happen to get hurt on those jobs, they can't expect much help from their employer or from the state.

Expand the "Texas miracle" to America?  God forbid!

Comments

  1. SnapAugust 21, 2011 at 11:17 AM

    I read the title of your post and guffawed out loud! :D :D :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dorothy/The Nature of ThingsAugust 21, 2011 at 12:14 PM

    Sometimes one has to laugh to keep from crying, Snap!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Poetry Sunday: Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver

How about we share another Mary Oliver poem? After all, you can never have too many of those. In this one, the poet seems to acknowledge that it is often hard to simply live in and enjoy the moment, perhaps because we are afraid it can't last. She urges us to give in to that moment and fully experience the joy. Although "much can never be redeemed, still, life has some possibility left." Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Joy is no
Read more

The Investigator by John Sandford: A review

Image
  I have read a few of John Sandford's books in the Prey series featuring Lucas Davenport. This book is a literal offspring of that series. It's the first in a series featuring Davenport's adopted daughter Letty Davenport. Letty is in her mid-20s and a graduate of Stanford. She works for a U.S. senator named Christopher Colles in a desk job but she's bored with her assignments. Then the senator offers her a chance to go into the field as a liaison between his office and the Department of Homeland Security.  In her first assignment in that position, she is sent to Texas along with DHS investigator John Kaiser to try to find out what is happening in regard to thefts of crude oil. The senator is not so concerned about the lost oil but wants to know where the money from its sale is going. Who is selling the oil and what they are doing with the profits? The suspicion is that a particularly nasty militia group led by a woman is involved. Letty and Kaiser head out to Texas, de
Read more

Poetry Sunday: Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman

You probably remember poet Amanda Gorman from her appearance at the inauguration of President Biden. She read her poem "The Hill We Climb" on that occasion. After the senseless slaughter in Uvalde this week, she was inspired to write another poem which was published in The New York Times. It seemed perfect for the occasion and so I stole it in order to feature it here, just in case you didn't get a chance to read it in the Times . Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman Everything hurts, Our hearts shadowed and strange, Minds made muddied and mute. We carry tragedy, terrifying and true. And yet none of it is new; We knew it as home, As horror, As heritage. Even our children Cannot be children, Cannot be. Everything hurts. It’s a hard time to be alive, And even harder to stay that way. We’re burdened to live out these days, While at the same time, blessed to outlive them. This alarm is how we know We must be altered — That we must differ or die, That we must triumph or try.
Read more