...and an appallingly obvious one for a columnist in Jan Jarboe Russell's position:
Given the vast amount of money and time devoted to make sure Texas rivals Mississippi for low taxes, low services and status as the most undereducated state in the union...Vast amount of money? I thought that was what Russell and her ilk wanted us to SPEND, not what was actually being SPENT. And of course that money has to come from somewhere. While Texas' economy has fared much better than those of most states, sales tax payments and property values (to which, of course, property TAXES are tied) are and have been down from what they were. I'm guessing Russell is a proponent of a state income tax on "the wealthy," or just more taxes in general -- which would among other things take more money that could be used to create jobs and bolster the economy, and fuel sales tax payments all on its own -- thereby dragging the Texas economy down in the muck in which so many other states are stuck, and making it MORE difficult to get more money for the schools and everything else. Of course Russell has such a tenuous grasp on every other topic about which she writes that it doesn't surprise me that she knows nothing about economics either.
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