Governor and now-presidential candidate Rick Perry has said some pretty disparaging things about the federal government's fiscal policies, from suggesting Texas might secede to calling the Fed treasonous.
But as the Washington Post reports, Perry might actually owe the government a big "thank you" card. The boom of jobs in his state over the past decade—1 million created—has come not from the private sector and conservative, small government policies, but from federal stimulus and government growth.
From the Post:
"With a young and fast-growing population, a large and expanding military presence and an influx of federal stimulus money, the number of government jobs in Texas has grown at more than double the rate of private-sector employment during Perry's tenure.
The disparity has grown sharper since the national recession hit. Between December 2007 and last June, private sector employment in Texas declined by 0.6 percent while public-sector jobs increased by 6.4 percent, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. Overall, government employees account for about one-sixth of the workforce in Texas. "
Governor Rick Perry's boon from government growth and federal stimulus seems an awkward truth when put alongside candidate Rick Perry's statements. At a speech this month, the Post reports Perry told the National Conference of State Legislatures:
"The fact is, government doesn't create jobs, otherwise the last two-and-a-half years of stimulus would have worked."
Thus far, some $25 billion in federal stimulus has been paid out to Texas—a number trumped only by funds given to California and New York.
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