Texas: It ain't good

[Nbadan]

It Ain’t Good

Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, this morning released the 2007 version of his profoundly depressing booklet “Texas on the Brink: How Texas ranks among the 50 states.” It’s a handy quick-reference to exactly how bad things are in Texas. Shapleigh’s office has compiled the rankings, complete with footnotes and all, for three straight sessions. Perusing the numbers, you realize Texas is actually worse off than you thought. A few of the highlights (and we’re using that term loosely):


49th in per capita tax revenue raised;

50th in per capita state spending;

47th in average SAT scores;

50th in percentage of population over 25 with high school diploma;

1st in percentage of uninsured children;

1st in percentage of population without health insurance;

49th in percentage of women who vote;

1st in air pollution emissions;

1st in toxic chemicals released into water;

1st in cancer-causing carcinogens released into air;

44th in home ownership rate;

50th in electric bill affordability;

1st in number of executions;

1st in number of gun shows.

There — now didn’t that brighten your day? Shapleigh’s point wasn’t to depress the Hell out of us, but to say that the state has pressing needs more urgent than another property tax cut. Sen. Rodney Ellis (D-Houston) and Sen. Kirk Watson (D-Austin) joined Shapleigh to stress that increased support for the Texas Grant Program, which provides tuition for college, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program could help alleviate some of these rankings.

At the end of the press conference, a reporter asked Shapleigh if anything had gotten better in Texas?

He paused. “Tax cuts.,” he said.

Texas Observer (http://www.texasobserver.org/blog/?p=66)

Here (http://shapleigh.org/system/news_article/document/882/Texas_on_the_Brink_2007_Final.pdf) is the PDF file for more Texas rankings

[101A]

OK.

I live in Pennsylvania; I'm sure its rated "better" in many of those categories. Problem is, most of the young promising grads are moving away, and no businesses are moving here.

They're all in Texas (or other Southern destination).

Categorize all you want, Texas is doing SOMETHING right.

[Extra Stout]

49th in per capita tax revenue raised -- not a self-evident problem;

50th in per capita state spending -- not a self-evident problem;

47th in average SAT scores -- residue of high immigration rates;

50th in percentage of population over 25 with high school diploma -- residue of high immigration rates (how many Mexican immigrant laborers bothered with high school?);

1st in percentage of uninsured children -- residue of high immigration rates;

1st in percentage of population without health insurance -- residue of high immigration rates;

49th in percentage of women who vote -- residue of traditional culture among immigrants, who as mentioned before are coming at high rates;

1st in air pollution emissions -- #2 in both population and land area, with a high concentration of petrochemical industry;

1st in toxic chemicals released into water -- #2 in both population and land area, with a high concentration of petrochemical industry;

1st in cancer-causing carcinogens released into air -- #2 in both population and land area, with a high concentration of petrochemical industry;

44th in home ownership rate -- residue of high immigration rates;

50th in electric bill affordability -- an actual problem!;

1st in number of executions -- not a self-evident problem;

1st in number of gun shows -- not a self-evident problem.

So, the quickest solution for most of these, I guess, is to keep all the immigrants from coming, since they are poor and uneducated, and drag down our averages.

[01Snake]

^^ Niice

[clambake]

Sounds like all immigrants end up in texas. Can you find them in any other state? Do all states numbers reflect that of tex. numbers?

[Extra Stout]

Sounds like all immigrants end up in texas. Can you find them in any other state? Do all states numbers reflect that of tex. numbers?
Correlate Texas with other Southwestern states on the listed criteria. The correlation is strong.

Which state has the longest border with Mexico by a wide margin?

[clambake]

The one with the Rio Grande?

[Extra Stout]

Rio Bravo del Norte, you gringo!

[clambake]

So the bigger border equals more immigrants? Where do I find the numbers that support that, and contradict that?

[Mr. Peabody]

So the bigger border equals more immigrants? Where do I find the numbers that support that, and contradict that?

States in the U.S. That Received the Most Immigrants in 2001
These are the states that received the most immigrants in 2001.

State Number of
Immigrants in 1997
California 282,957
New York 114,116
Florida 104,715
Texas 86,315
New Jersey 59,920
Illinois 48,296



Source: U.S. Department of Justice: Immigration and Naturalization Service

[Extra Stout]

So the bigger border equals more immigrants? Where do I find the numbers that support that, and contradict that?
Well, that's the rub with undocumented immigration; there aren't documents on them. :elephant

[Mr. Peabody]

So the bigger border equals more immigrants? Where do I find the numbers that support that, and contradict that?

WORLD REPORT EDITION Top Five
Top 5 States With The Most Immigrants


There are 28.4 million immigrants living in the U.S., according to the Census Bureau's 2000 Population Survey. That's triple the number counted in 1970 and the most ever recorded. Immigrants in California make up 31% of the total immigrant population in the nation. Two-thirds of U.S. immigrants live in these five states:

1. California 8.8 million immigrants

2. New York 3.6 million

3. Florida 2.8 million

4. Texas 2.4 million

5. New Jersey 1.2 million

Source: Center for Immigration Studies

[Extra Stout]

States in the U.S. That Received the Most Documented Immigrants in 2001
These are the states that received the most documented immigrants in 2001.

State Number of
Immigrants in 1997
California 282,957
New York 114,116
Florida 104,715
Texas 86,315
New Jersey 59,920
Illinois 48,296



Source: U.S. Department of Justice: Immigration and Naturalization ServiceFixed it for you.

[Spurminator]

http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/statistics/illegal.pdf

This 1996 study/survey puts Texas at a distant 2nd behind California.

Curious to see where California ranks on the criteria of Shapleigh's study.

[clambake]

Peabody, that post might require us to debate the quality of immigrant.

[Extra Stout]

California gets Iranians with college degrees and Indian computer programmers in addition to Mexicans working the fields in the Central Valley.

[Extra Stout]

http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/statistics/illegal.pdf

This 1996 study/survey puts Texas at a distant 2nd behind California.

Curious to see where California ranks on the criteria of Shapleigh's study.
Their SAT scores are below average, but still a good 20 points higher than Texas. (But are the same demographics taking the SAT in each state?)

Their home ownership is worse than Texas', but affordability plays a factor there.

[clambake]

So, texas needs to work on their immigrant recruiting?

[Mr. Peabody]

Fixed it for you.


The Bush administration and members of Congress have proposed granting temporary legal status to undocumented immigrant workers currently residing in the United States. Below are some basic descriptive data on the undocumented population, particularly from "A Profile of the Low-Wage Immigrant Workforce" and "The Dispersal of Immigrants in the 1990s":

NUMBERS, ORIGINS, AND DESTINATIONS

Total number: Our best estimate, based on the March 2002 Current Population Survey and other data sources, is that there are 9.3 million undocumented immigrants in the country.1 They represent 26 percent of the total foreign-born population [figure 1].

Countries of origin: Mexicans make up over half of undocumented immigrants—57 percent of the total, or about 5.3 million. Another 2.2 million (23 percent) are from other Latin American countries. About 10 percent are from Asia, 5 percent from Europe and Canada, and 5 percent from the rest of the world.

Distribution by state: Almost two-thirds of the undocumented population lives in just six states: California (26 percent), Texas (12 percent), Florida (10 percent) New York (8 percent), Illinois (4 percent), and New Jersey (4 percent) [table 1]. But, the most rapid growth in the undocumented population since the mid-1990s has been outside these states.

States where the undocumented represent high shares of the immigrant population: The undocumented make up more than 40 percent of the foreign-born population in 10 states—most of which saw their foreign-born populations grow rapidly during the 1990s. High-growth regions are the Rocky Mountains, the Midwest, and the Southeast. The undocumented populations of Arizona, Georgia, and North Carolina have grown so rapidly that they may already have surpassed New Jersey's [figure 2].

[Extra Stout]

So, texas needs to work on their immigrant recruiting?
Nah, they just need to make sure their kids learn English, go to school and graduate. If they need help to accomplish that, OK.

[sabar]

I hate to say it, but a big reason Texas ranks so badly in many places is from the poor hispanic population, especially in south Texas. Immigrants, legal or not, and their children are often poor, drop out of school early, and poorly educated. My younger sister recieved a letter of SAT scores across the region, and it's sad how low hispanics rank in all categories compared to caucassian/african american/asian groups.

Note that California recieves a large amount of immigrants from Asia, as it is the focal point of west coast immigration, just as New York is for the east coast.

If anyone has SAT scores by ethnicity in Texas, that would be interesting.