The Neo-Keynesian Messes with Texas

My Friend:

Normally when I do these blog blurbs I attempt to find a bad argument that presents a delicious morsel for picking to pieces and then proceed to chew on the intellectually soft meat.  Today I don’t feel inclined to do that.  It’s hard as hell to find decent commentary on Texas, and even harder (at least for me thus far) to find bad commentary.  It’s almost as if conservatives run Texas with public opinion ninjas—they don’t make a sound in your local paper.  (Not that conservatives alone make bad arguments.)

Instead we have “Krugman: Leaving children behind” from the opinion page of the Austin American Statesmen. 

In this article Paul Krugman essentially makes dire predictions about what we can expect on the national level if we use Texas as a predictor for the political direction the country is headed.  He builds his argument around the fact that Texas is a low tax and low spending state.  “While low spending might sound good in the abstract, what it amounts to in practice is low spending on children.”  Krugman says this, coupled with the failure of Bush’s Texas education initiatives, has resulted in the state being 43^rd in high school graduation rates.  (This is the same ranking as from “Texas on the Brink”) Now, with the massive budget shortfall, a dire condition is made worse.

Raise taxes?  That’s already been ruled out.  Krugman states that he’s used to “the cruelty.” Now he’s just shocked by the shortsightedness.

So does Krugman’s argument hold up?  Absolutely.  It’s really not that complicated.  Spending cuts will hurt education.  Period.  There’s the subtext of an argument to raise taxes, but he doesn’t really belabor that point. 

For awhile, I’ve been thinkin’ that the state of Texas is a clear example of what happens when you build a state around fiscal conservative values, and Krugman’s article proves that Nobel Prize winning economists agree with me.  What’s depressing is Krugman is using Texas as a negative role model.  His audience is not Texans, but a national readership. 

Krugman’s warning to the United States should be heeded by our State Legislature.  If the Texas’ economy really is so robust, then it can afford to give a little back to the government.  We need to change the low tax climate.  The consequences of our current path are grim. 

What do you think?