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Monday, January 9th, 2017

Rick Perry’s Texas Giveaways

Author:     Alec MacGillis
Source:     ProPublica
Publication Date:     Jan. 3, 2017, 8 a.m.
 Link: Rick Perry’s Texas Giveaways
Stephan:   The more research I do about the people Donald Trump is nominating for high positions in government the more this administration looks like a kleptocracy. No wonder the Republicans in the Senate want to rush these appointments through before allowing the ethics office time to vet them. No incoming administration in our past history has ever come into to office so submerged in conflicts of interest. This group of appointees looks like a textbook case study in corruption.  And this is just the beginning. On Wednesday the Congress will start voting on Obamacare. Every plan on offer by the Republicans has higher deductibles, lower coverage, and higher premiums. This and the housing change will significantly impact anyone making less than $125,000.    All those White working class voters who elected Trump and this Congress, I fear,  are in for a series of really nasty turns. Unfortunately, so are the rest of us. Only citizen activism is going to stop[ this.

Credit: sportsblogs.star-telegram.com

Donald Trump’s selection of Rick Perry to lead the Department of Energy has prompted many Democrats to question Perry’s qualifications for the position. While he governed a state rich in fossil fuels and wind energy, Perry has far less experience than President Obama’s two energy secretaries, both physicists, in the department’s primary work, such as tending the nuclear-weapons stockpile, handling nuclear waste and carrying out advanced scientific research. That’s not to mention, of course, that Perry four years ago called for doing away with the entire department.

What often gets lost in all the talk of the Texas job boom under Perry is how much economic development strategy was driven by direct subsidies to employers who promised to relocate to the state or create jobs there. Of course, many states have for years engaged in the game of luring companies with tax incentives. But by the count of a 2012 New York Times investigation, Texas under Perry vaulted to the top, giving out $19 billion in incentives per year, more than any other state.

Perry’s economic development largesse came in many forms, but […]

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