Talk about jobs, and everyone is, including Don Carrington this morning with a CJ report on public sector v private sector jobs in North Carolina. No matter how you count ‘em or which ones you’re counting, North Carolina continues to fall behind. According to a WSJ report, however one state is doing it right adding 37% of all the jobs in the US since the recovery began. Texas governor Rick Perry is setting records and creating jobs. What’s the secret?
Texas stands out for its free market and business-friendly climate.
Capital—both human and investment—is highly mobile, and it migrates all the time to the places where the opportunities are larger and the burdens are lower. Texas has no state income tax. Its regulatory conditions are contained and flexible. It is fiscally responsible and government is small. Its right-to-work law doesn’t impose unions on businesses or employees. It is open to global trade and competition: Houston, San Antonio and El Paso are entrepôts for commerce, especially in the wake of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Based on his conversations with CEOs and other business leaders, Mr. Fisher says one of Texas’s huge competitive advantages is its ongoing reform of the tort system, which has driven litigation costs to record lows. He also cited a rule in place since 1998 in the backwash of the S&L debacle that limits mortgage borrowing to 80% of the appraised value of a home. Like a minimum down payment, this reduces overleveraging and means Texas wasn’t hurt as badly by the housing crash as other states.
Here in North Carolina, our governor just vetoed a budget that cuts taxes, kowtows to the teacher union, thinks corporate welfare creates jobs, and is cozy with trial lawyers opposed to tort reform.
Texas gets it. Why can’t we?
