Russ Steele
Jeffrey Folks compares California and Texas in his article, Obama and the Perry Miracle.
On Friday David Axelrod argued that Perry's record of job creation in Texas was not what it seemed.
Yes, Texas has created more jobs over the last decade, while Perry has been governor, than any other state. For several of those years, in fact, it has created more jobs that all the other states combined. But, Axelrod insisted, Perry should not get any credit for that accomplishment.
After all, Texas is an oil-producing state. In fact, it is the largest oil and gas producer in the country. And, yes, Texas also benefits from the presence of large military installations. So it was more or less inevitable that Texas, with its oil production and military installations, would add jobs and enjoy strong economic growth during the past decade.
Just like California. California? Yes, California is the third largest oil and gas producing state, right behind Texas and Alaska.
California is also host to some of the nation's largest military installations. There are, in fact, 32 military bases in California, including Edwards AFB, Travis AFB, Vandenberg AFB, Camp Pendleton, the Presidio of Monterey, Fort Irwin, and the San Diego and Coronado naval bases, the largest naval installations on the west coast. By contrast, there are only 15 military installations in Texas.
California is also home to some of the largest aerospace and high-tech contractors in the nation. Rockwell International, Lockheed, and Northrop, major defense contractors, are all located in southern California.
What California lacks is the kind of political leadership that will attract new business. Economic growth in California -- one can hardly call it "growth" -- has been stagnant or worse over the past decade. In 2008-2009 GDP growth in the state was minus 2.2%. Along with a stagnant economy comes high unemployment. In June 2011, the states's unemployment rate stood at 11.8%. That same month the unemployment rate in Texas was 8.2%, well below the national average of 9.2%.
You can read the rest Folks' article here. Gov. Rick Perry has been the most successful American governor in living memory, and the White House is scared. Obama is killing jobs and Perry is creating jobs. The question is, could California be creating jobs also if we had Rick Perry style of leadership in the state?
