Rachel Maddow did a segment on her Friday broadcast that is so stunning we had to alert you to its content. She does a great job in this piece of highlighting the bs that is rampant in American politics. Kudos to Maddow and her staff for pulling this all together.
There are two things that you should know about Governor Rick Perry, the prospective Republican presidential nominee from the great state of Texas:
1.) Governor Perry is an enthusiastic supporter of the great state of Texas; eagerly willing to regale anyone who will listen about how great things have been in Texas since he took office as governor ten years ago.
2.) Rick Perry is a bold faced liar (our words not Maddow’s).
Governor Perry likes to tell folks how wonderful things are going economically in his fair state. But, as Maddow points out, a closer look at the facts reveals that the Governor just might be shinning us on.
The governor claims that Texas has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country. The truth is 23 states have a lower unemployment rate than Texas. And while the country’s rate of unemployment is trending slowly downward the rate in Texas is rising.
The governor claims that wages in Texas are on the rise. He is correct. However wages rose 0.6 % in Texas compared to 5.0% in the rest of the country.
If you are fortunate enough to have a job in Texas you will be paid on average less for your efforts than you would if you worked in another state. The median hourly wage in Texas is $11.20/hour while it is $12.50/hour in the rest of the country. Texas also has the largest number of workers toiling at or below the federal minimum wage ($7.25) than any other state in the union.
And those wages don’t include health insurance. Governor Perry’s great state boasts the highest proportion of uninsured workers than any other state in the union. One in four Texans are without health insurance. And the governor has said publically that he wants Texas to opt out of Medicaid. Finally, to add icing on the uninsured cake, the Texas legislature just passed a bill to kill Medicare.
So why all the cutting of health benefits? Because Texas is broke.
Under Governor Perry Texas has amassed the fourth largest budget deficit in the country…$9.0 billion.
In spite of facing this huge budgetary shortfall Governor Perry said that he would never, ever take one dime of Barak Obama’s stimulus money. He railed for months and months against government bailouts. He even threatened to secede from the Union rather than buy into Obama's big government policies.
Then he took $6.4 billion in stimulus money to help offset his state’s $9.0 billion budget shortfall.
No state has been more dependent on stimulus money as a percentage of their budget than the great state of Texas. Only California has slurped more actual dollars from the stimulus trough.
Want more?
Texas ranks 47th in education and is the largest polluter in the country.
Want more?
Texas ranks 47th in education and is the largest polluter in the country.
Governor Rick Perry is a liar. But he is very enthusiastic about it.
As previously stated, Rachel Maddow explains this better than we ever could. You can view a video clip online at rachelmaddow.msnbc.com.
The bologna metaphor alone is worth watching.
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