Truth About Rick Perry's 'Texas Miracle'

Texas Governor Rick Perry has been on a Bernanke-bashing binge this week, demanding on Wednesday that the Federal Reserve "open their books up."
That comment comes after Perry said earlier this week that it would be "treasonous" if Chairman Ben Bernanke used Fed policy to stimulate the economy before the election.


But what books exactly does Perry want opened?
The Federal Reserve already publishes its balance sheet online every Thursday for the entire world to see.
Not only that, it is audited regularly. Every year, an external accounting firm audits the financial statements of the Federal Reserve and all 12 of its regional banks. Last year, that firm was Deloitte and Touche, but PricewaterhouseCoopers and KPMG have also done it over the years.
Those financial statements are also posted online.
"Every aspect of the Fed's financial dealings are wide open -- wide open," Bernanke remarked at the National Press Club in February. "There is no sense in which the Fed has secret financial dealings."
Despite that public information, anti-Fed criticism seems to be the latest craze on the Republican campaign trail. On Tuesday, Rep. Michelle Bachmann criticized the Federal Reserve for not being "subject to transparency."
Those comments echo similar sentiments from Rep. Ron Paul, a renowned Fed critic in his own right, who over the years has repeatedly called for audits of the central bank and even a review of all the gold in Fort Knox. Paul introduced a bill in the House earlier this year, called the "Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2011.


The Lone Star State is rich in natural resources such as oil and natural gas, so when the rest of the country was struggling with high energy prices at the onset of the recession, Texas companies were turning big profits and, therefore, pumping tax revenue into the state coffers.


These high energy profits helped Texas stave off the brunt of the recession for about six months.


And while the state's economy is growing at twice the national rate, so is its population. Texas grew 20.6 percent from 2000 to 2011, while the country's population only increased by 9.7 percent. With more people comes more purchasing power, which leads to job growth.


Regardless of whether Perry can personally take credit for the jobs created, critics claim the numbers are just smoke and mirrors because the new jobs are primarily low-wage.


"What Texas shows is that a state offering cheap labor and, less important, weak regulation can attract jobs from other states," New York Times columnist Paul Krugman wrote Sunday. "What you need to know is that the Texas miracle is a myth, and more broadly that Texan experience offers no useful lessons on how to restore national full employment."


Texas is tied with Mississippi for having the highest proportion of hourly workers earning minimum wage or less, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Overall, Texans earned about $2,300 less than the national average, according to 2009 Census Bureau data.


These low-paying jobs usually do not come with health insurance, which is part of the reason why Texas has the highest rate of uninsured people in the country. One of every four Texans lives without health insurance.


Depending on which measure is used, the jobs picture in Texas can be painted in radically different ways. On one hand, more Texans are getting a paycheck, on average, than in any other state. But on the other hand, those paychecks are more often from low-wage jobs without insurance in a state that has fewer social benefits than most others.


"People focus on the wage and, yeah, that's important, people need to support their families," said Lisa Givens, a spokeswoman for the Texas Workforce Commission. "But sometimes it's about looking down the road, looking at an area where there are going to be opportunities for me and for my family and for growth.

Many recalls, too much democracy

Happened to watch the election returns from Wisconsin on MSNBC Tuesday night, and if you're honest, you know it was a rough night for progressives. It started to be noticeable on Monday when Ed Schultz (or "Big Eddy" as he likes to call himself), started to have a haunted look. He was out there in Madison surrounded by Union types who would cheer, or boo, or moo on cue, but despite his bluster, you just knew things weren't shaping up the way he'd hoped.

Ed kept going on about how the evil Republicans had poured in all this money, but the recall forces had the enthusiasm and the ground game.

Eddie may have trouble differentiating between enthusiasm and desperation. What he didn't explain is that after all the sound and fury of the recall effort, his team actually lost ground in each of the six special elections this week..

The numbers are still a little hazy, but it appears that the two sides spent around $35 million on the recall, all in an effort to punish Republican State Senators who voted for the Budget Repair Bill Governor Walker introduced in February. This controversial legislation was crafted to cure a $3.6 state billion deficit, and required state employees to contribute 12.6% of the cost of their health insurance premiums and pay 5.8% of their salary into the Wisconsin Retirement System, ending the free ride they'd enjoyed previously. The other two most significant impacts were to limit collective bargaining rights for most public employees and to prohibit employers from collecting union dues.

The result was a political tantrum unlike anything seen in years. For weeks, protests in Madison the state capital dominated cable news shows with their distinct lack of civility. All 14 Democrat Senators fled the state to try to prevent a vote, demonstrators mobbed and camped out at and in the Capital building, Republican lawmakers were stalked at their homes, and local businesses were threatened if they did not join the effort to foil the Governor's legislation.

Though Walker might have moved too aggressively on the collective bargaining issue, most of his package was the kind of fiscal castor oil that states and the federal government will need to get their balance sheets in order. If incumbents in Wisconsin and elsewhere fear immediate retaliation that could cost them their jobs, it will make them even less likely to cut deals and make difficult choices.

Equally troubling is that the Wisconsin recalls have turned into magnets for shocking amounts of special interest money, sluiced into the state by conservative groups and pro-union organizations that see the recalls as an existential battleground. Estimates are that third-party groups have spent as much as $40 million on the nine recall elections, which would more than double the amount spent on all 116 of the state's legislative elections last fall.

Beyond Wisconsin, recall rage remains limited, in part because just 19 states allow recalls elof governors and state legislators. One is California, where voters recalled unpopular Democratic Gov. Gray Davis in 2003 and replaced him with Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger, a switch that did little to solve the state's deep fiscal and political woes.

At the local level, where at least 29 states allow recalls, Governing.com says 57 mayors faced recall attempts in 2010, more than double the 23 the year before. In some places, recalls seem like political sport: Voters in Johnstown, Colo., tried to oust the mayor in part for his plan to switch from diagonal parking to parallel parking. But they're a sport states would be wise to limit. In an era of growing deficits and dwindling resources, the problems are far too serious to be left to endless second-guessing and permanent campaigns.

Rick Perry wows Alabama Republicans before announcing candidacy

Perry will announce his presidential bid in South Carolina, another state with an early nominating contest, and is expected to immediately vault into the top tier of contenders along with front-runner Mitt Romney. Perry visits Iowa Sunday.


The straw poll, a nonbinding mock election, traditionally winnows the field of poor performers and boosts those who do better than expected. This year, struggling Tim Pawlenty is fighting for survival as rival Michele Bachmann tries to keep her recent momentum alive.


Romney will be on the ballot but chose not to participate after winning the straw poll in 2007. He later lost the Iowa caucuses to Mike Huckabee, who rode the momentum he generated with a surprise second-place straw poll finish.


"It's an event that in-and-of-itself is meaningless, but can have a tremendous political impact," said Dennis Goldford, a political scientist at Drake University in Des Moines. "It has always had the role of eliminating the weak and thinning out the field."


The poll is a fund-raiser for the state party and creates a carnival atmosphere around Iowa State University's basketball arena, where candidates entice supporters with big-tent entertainment, free food and speeches.


Any Iowa resident over 18 can show up and participate, with many allowing a candidate to buy their $30 ticket. Candidates organize buses to haul in supporters from around the state in a warmup for the organizational effort needed in the caucuses.


Perry, 61, the keynote speaker at the event, told the appreciative southerners:


"Texas and Alabama have a lot in common. Y’all have a little different barbecue than we have…but like Texas, you’re gearing up for an even better Republican result in 2012."


He was referring to the "conservative tide in the 2010 elections that captured all of Alabama’s state offices for the state’s Republicans," the Chronicle writes.


In what was being compared to a stump speech, he also attacked President Barack Obama on his jobs record and discussed his own — a subject that is expected to be a pillar of his presidential campaign.


“They’re true believers,” Perry reportedly said of the Obama administration. “They truly believe that the federal government is the answer to every need.”


He called Obama a “threat to every private sector job out there.


Perry's candidacy for the GOP presidential race jolts the field of candidates and threatens to overshadow that key Iowa test vote Saturday, the AP reports.


The straw poll pits six Republican presidential hopefuls against each other in an unofficial test of campaign strength. Frontrunner Mitt Romney chose not to participate after winning the straw poll in 2007, Reuters reports.


The poll is really a nonbinding mock election, held to raise money for the state party, but it "traditionally winnows the field of poor performers and boosts those who do better than expected," Reuters writes.


However, Sarah Palin, the 2008 vice presidential nominee who has yet to declare her intentions in 2012, questioned the poll's validity during a visit to the Iowa state fair Friday, Reuters reports.


"It's not always the tell-tale sign of what the electorate is feeling. It's who happens to show up and has the time and energy to spend that day for their particular candidate."


The poll comes two days after the eight current Republican contenders clashed — at times bitterly — in a nationally televised debate.

Rick Perry

James Richard "Rick" Perry, born March 4, 1950 is the 47th and current Governor of Texas, having held the office since December 2000. He is a member of the Republican Party.

Elected Lieutenant Governor of Texas in 1998, he assumed office as governor in December 2000 when Governor George W. Bush resigned to become President of the United States. Perry was elected to full terms in 2002, 2006 and 2010, an unprecedented feat in Texas political history. With a tenure in office to date of 10 years, 180 days, Perry is the longest serving current U.S. governor, having succeeded North Dakota Governor John Hoeven who resigned on December 7, 2010 after being elected to the US Senate.

Perry served as Chairman of the Republican Governors Association in 2008 (succeeding Sonny Perdue of Georgia), and in 2011 will once again serve as RGA Chairman.

Perry holds all records for Texas gubernatorial tenure, having broken both Allan Shivers' consecutive service record of 7 1/2 years in June 2008 and Bill Clements' total service record of eight years (over two non-consecutive terms) in December 2008. As a result, the Dallas Morning News reported in December 2008 that Perry has the distinction of being the only governor in modern Texas history to have appointed at least one person to every possible state office, board, or commission position which requires gubernatorial appointment (as well as to several elected offices to which the governor can appoint someone to fill an unexpired term, such as six of the nine current members of the Texas Supreme Court).

Perry won the 2010 Republican primary election, defeating U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison and former Wharton County Republican Party Chairwoman and businesswoman Debra Medina. In the 2010 Texas Gubernatorial Election, Perry won re-election to a third term, defeating former Houston mayor Bill White and Kathie Glass.

In response to questions about his political future, Perry has deflected suggestions that he should run for President, saying that he's not been interested in seeking the office. In May 2011 however, Perry made his first public comment suggesting a possible change in direction when he said he would "think about" running for president after the close of the 2011 Texas legislative session but then quipped, "but I think about a lot of things".

In June 2011, Perry made perhaps the clearest sign yet that he may be more serious about seeking the presidential office in 2012 when he appeared on the Fox News Channel and told host Neil Cavuto that he was “certainly giving it the appropriate thought process." Referring to his previous statements about not being interested in running, Cavuto asked Perry what had changed. Perry responded, “Six weeks ago, this was not on my radar....” But since then, his wife and supporters have asked him “to give this a second thought” as “our country is in trouble.

Political future

Presidential Straw Poll ballot at the Values Voter Summit in September 2009, but his name was removed at his own request. In April 2008 while appearing as a guest on CNBC's Kudlow & Company, he specifically stated that he would not agree to serve as Vice President in a McCain administration, stating that he already had "the best job in the world" as Governor of Texas. Further, during a Republican gubernatorial debate in January 2010, when asked if he would commit to serving out his term if re-elected, he replied that "the place hasn't been made yet" where he would rather serve than the Governor of Texas. In December 2010, when asked if he was a "definite maybe" to run for President in 2012, he replied, "a definite no, brother".

On May 27, 2011, he said he is "going to think about" running for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination after the close of the Texas legislative session. Perry said in a response to a question from a reporter, "but I think about a lot of things," he added with a grin.

A "Draft Rick Perry for President" website has been started by California State Assemblyman Dan Logue

Publications

Rick Perry has written two books:

On My Honor: Why the American Values of the Boy Scouts are Worth Fighting For was published in February 2008. In his book, Perry celebrates the positive impact of the organization on the youth of America and criticizes the ACLU for its legal actions against the Boy Scouts of America.

His second book, Fed Up! Our Fight to Save America from Washington was published in November 2010.Perry's second book discusses his support for limited central government.

Early life

A fifth-generation Texan, Perry was born in Paint Creek, about 60 miles (97 km) north of Abilene in West Texas, to ranchers Joseph Ray Perry and the former Amelia June Holt. His father, a Democrat, was a long-time Haskell County commissioner and school board member. Perry graduated from Paint Creek High School in 1968. As a child, Perry was in the Boy Scouts (BSA) and earned the rank of Eagle Scout; his son, Griffin, would also later become an Eagle Scout. The BSA honored Perry with the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award.

Perry attended Texas A&M University, where he was a member of the Corps of Cadets and one of A&M's five yell leaders (a popular Texas A&M tradition analogous to male cheerleaders). He interned with the Southwestern Company during the summer time as a door-to-door book salesman where he honed his communication skills. Perry graduated in 1972 with a degree in animal science. While at Texas A&M University Perry successfully completed a static line parachute jump at Ags Over Texas (a United States Parachute Association dropzone), the dropzone that was then in operation at Coulter Field (KCFD) in Bryan, Texas, just north of Texas A&M (in College Station, Texas).

Upon graduation, he was commissioned in the United States Air Force, completed pilot training and flew C-130 tactical airlift in the United States, the Middle East, and Europe until 1977. He left the Air Force with the rank of captain, returned to Texas and went into business farming cotton with his father.

Texas Legislature

In 1984, Perry was elected to the Texas House of Representatives as a Democrat from a district (64) that included his home county of Haskell. He served on the House Appropriations and Calendars committees during his three two-year terms in office. He befriended fellow freshman state representative Lena Guerrero of Austin, a staunch liberal Democrat who endorsed Perry's reelection bid in 2006 on personal, rather than philosophical, grounds. Perry was part of the "Pit Bulls", a group of Appropriations members who sat on the lower dais in the committee room (or "pit") who pushed for austere state budgets during the 1980s.

Perry supported Al Gore in the 1988 Democratic presidential primaries and was chairman of the Gore campaign in Texas.

In 1989, The Dallas Morning News named him one of the most effective legislators in the 71st Legislature. That same year, Perry announced that he was joining the Republican Party.

Agriculture Commissioner

In 1990, he challenged incumbent Democratic Agriculture Commissioner Jim Hightower. Hightower had worked on behalf of Jesse Jackson for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988, while Perry had supported U.S. Senator Al Gore of Tennessee. Perry narrowly unseated Hightower, even as the Republican gubernatorial candidate, Clayton Williams, went down to defeat at the hands of Ann Richards.

As Agriculture Commissioner, Perry was responsible for promoting the sale of Texas farm produce to other states and foreign nations and supervising the calibration of weights and measures, such as gasoline pumps and grocery store scales.

In 1994, Perry was reelected Agriculture Commissioner by a large margin, having polled 2,546,287 votes (61.92 percent) to Democrat Marvin Gregory's 1,479,692 (35.98 percent). Libertarian Clyde L. Garland received the remaining 85,836 votes (2.08 percent).

Lieutenant governor

In 1998, Perry chose not to seek a third term as Agriculture Commissioner, running instead for Lieutenant Governor to succeed the retiring Democrat Bob Bullock. Perry polled 1,858,837 votes (50.04 percent) to the 1,790,106 (48.19 percent) cast for Democrat John Sharp of Victoria, who had relinquished the comptroller's position after two terms to seek the lieutenant governorship. Libertarian Anthony Garcia polled another 65,150 votes (1.75 percent). Perry thus became the state's first Republican lieutenant governor, taking office on January 19, 1999 until his ascension to the governorship on December 21, 2000 upon the resignation of then-Governor George W. Bush.

Governor

Perry assumed the office of Governor late in 2000 when George W. Bush resigned to prepare for his presidential inauguration, becoming the first Texas A&M graduate to serve as Governor.

Perry won the office in his own right in the 2002 gubernatorial election when he defeated Laredo businessman Tony Sanchez, polling 2,632,591 votes (57.80 percent) to Sanchez's 1,819,798 (39.96 percent). Four minor candidates shared 2.21 percent of the vote.

The 2006 gubernatorial election proved to be a stiffer challenge. Though he easily defeated token opposition in the primary election, Perry faced a six-way race involving former Democratic Congressman Chris Bell, Libertarian candidate James Werner (a sales consultant); and three independent candidates – outgoing Republican state Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn (who chose not to face Perry in the primary race when early polling data suggested she would lose badly), well-known Texas country music singer Kinky Friedman, and write-in candidate James "Patriot" Dillon. Perry won the race in a plurality, polling 1,714,618 votes (39 percent) to Bell's 1,309,774 (29.8 percent), Strayhorn's 789,432 (18 percent), Friedman's 553,327 (12.6 percent), and Werner's 26,726 (0.6 percent). Dillon garnered a mere 718 votes. Perry became only the third governor in state history to have been elected by a plurality of less than 40 percent of votes cast (the 1853 and 1861 races also featured plurality winners carrying under 40 percent).

Late in the 2006 campaign, the Republican Governors Association received one million dollars from Houston businessman Bob Perry (no relation), and the association then contributed that amount to Rick Perry. Bell brought suit, contending that the Bob Perry donations had been improperly channeled through the association to conceal their source. In 2010, the Rick Perry campaign paid Bell $426,000 to settle the suit.

Perry is a member of the Republican Governors Association, the National Governors Association, the Western Governors Association, and the Southern Governors Association. Perry is currently serving as Chairman of the Republican Governors Association; he previously served as its Chairman in 2008.