TEXAS: Dominating the Country As Usual In Being Almost Recession-Proof.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

The article of course fails to mention that we're friendly to business, have lower taxes than other parts of the country, lower cost of living, etc and you get the same ####### you get in NY/LA minus the congestion...

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http://money.cnn.com/2010/06/22/news/economy/recession_proof_cities/index.htm?source=cnn_bin&hpt=Sbin

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The "Keep Austin Weird" campaign must have worked, because the Texas capital is among the country's oddball cities that bucked the downturn.

In fact, Texas cities starred on the new list of recession-proof metro areas, with six of 21 spots, according to MetroMonitor, a quarterly report released by Brookings Institute's Metropolitan Policy Program.

These 21 large metro areas were singled out by Brookings for keeping their labor and housing markets stable and posting robust economic activity during the past few years.

In fact, all but five of the 21 leading cities have economic output levels that top records set just prior to the recession.

"Most of these cities have some general characteristics in common," said Howard Weil, author of the report and a fellow at the Metropolitan Policy Program. "They didn't experience huge housing bubbles followed by a crash, and their economies weren't rooted in the auto industry."

Weil added that a number of cities are also government centers, like Austin, where job cuts have been limited and spending remains healthy.

Gross metropolitan product, a broad measure economic activity, has surged the most in the nation's capital. In first quarter of 2010, the economy in Washington D.C. expanded by 6.3% from its pre-recession peak. Austin also touts considerable growth at 5.3%.

"We've seen a significant increase in government spending since the start of the recession, and even though it has been spread throughout other parts of the country, some of that extra spending stays in the D.C. metro area," Weil said. "But if government hawks succeed in cutting spending, we could see the growth in Washington slow down."

Meanwhile, as unemployment rates climbed higher in every major city across the nation during the recession, the jobless rate in Austin only rose to 7.1% in March 2010 from 3.5% three years earlier. During the same period, the U.S. unemployment rate spiked to 9.7% from 4.4%.

"We have a stable base of employment with the University of Texas, one of the largest universities in the country, and the second largest state government with 65,000 employees," said Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell.

Similarly, job losses were muted in Austin, as employment in Texas's capital city dropped by 2.3% from its pre-recession peak through the first quarter of 2010.

Leffingwell said that a decade ago, Austin worked to attract high-tech companies, and while some manufacturing jobs in the sector have since diminished, companies are still expanding their workforce, including Samsung Electronics, which recently announced a $3.6 billion project that boosts the company's payroll by 500 permanent positions.

Dallas: Fastest growing U.S. city

And during the last two quarters, Austin welcomed job growth, adding nearly 8,000 new jobs during the period and increasing payrolls by more than 1%. Augusta, Ga.; Jackson, Miss.; Dallas; and Honolulu also posted similar gains.

"We've worked hard to diversify our economy and are aggressively targeting companies focused on renewable energy, medical technology and digital media," Leffingwell said.

Earlier this year, Texas invested $1.4 million through its Texas Enterprise Fund to lure Facebook into opening its first office outside of Palo Alto, Calif., in Austin. The social media giant opened the office last month and is actively hiring for its online sales and operations team. Facebook said it plans to hire over 200 employees in Austin over the next four years.

Meanwhile, further south, McAllen, Texas, which also made the top 21, has been boasting job growth for the past four straight quarters, and employment in the city has only declined by a modest 1.1% during the recession.

Houston, another Texas city, is included among the recession-proof metro areas for enjoying the smallest slide in housing prices at just 0.5% through the first quarter of 2010 compared to three years earlier. Austin followed close behind with a 0.6% dip during the same period.

[_Simpson_ 250]

The proofs in the pudding. The most liberal state are in the worst condition and the most conservative states are much better off.

Edited June 24, 2010 by _Simpson_

[Obama 2012 1,714]

The proofs in the pudding. The most liberal state are in the worst condition and the most conservative states are much better off.

Harry Reid should be enough to tell you that right there.. Figuring his precious Las Vegas was hit the hardest by the housing bust!

[_Simpson_ 250]

and then theres California.... Edited June 24, 2010 by _Simpson_

[IndigoSkies 168]

Texas isn't as connected to the world as NY or CA. So it's not effected. And I'm sure herding cows in most part of the world wasn't effectd. You don't hear cow farms in Chile closing en masse either. Just like in Tahksus!

[Obama 2012 1,714]

Texas isn't as connected to the world as NY or CA. So it's not effected. And I'm sure herding cows in most part of the world wasn't effectd. You don't hear cow farms in Chile closing en masse either. Just like in Tahksus!

you've got to be kidding...

[jimnlena 8]

Texas isn't as connected to the world as NY or CA. So it's not effected. And I'm sure herding cows in most part of the world wasn't effectd. You don't hear cow farms in Chile closing en masse either. Just like in Tahksus!

Talk about someone being out of touch!!!

[SMOKE 1,426]

The article of course fails to mention that we're friendly to business, have lower taxes than other parts of the country, lower cost of living, etc and you get the same ####### you get in NY/LA minus the congestion...

everytime i've made the mistake of driving into the metroplex around rushhour the freeways are parking lots. one time i was driving a standard. that will NEVER happen again. it took 30 minutes to drive a 1/4 mile.

states with conservative leadership do seem to have an edge on states with liberal leadership recently.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Obama will "fix" them next.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

The proofs in the pudding. The most liberal state are in the worst condition and the most conservative states are much better off.

I was born in Texas and choose Vermont to live. Vermont is often called "the most liberal state" but I am not sure. Texas has far stricter gun control laws, oppressive compared to Vermont, and now they are going to start telling you what part of your body your wife can put in her mouth in your own bedroom (and vice/versa). Or where she else she is allowed to put your #######. Seems like that would be a personal decision to me. Call me crazy, but do grown adults in Austin need to be having committee meetings to decide such things for us? Does anyone else object to paying the salary of people sitting around talking about what you do in your bedroom? No thanks, way too restrictive for me, I would hate to think I could be imprisoned for 15 years for a whoopie session with my wife.

Vermont has the best economy in the NE, our unemployment is under 6%. Taxes are high, it is true. Property tax particularly. It is sparkling clean compared to Texas, not even a comparison, beautiful mountains, summer weather to die for (but winter weather that can kill you) great fishing, great skiing.

Texas is not "recession proof" anyone that says that was in diapers in the late 80s when the state turned into a ghost town, compared to good times. For now, it is good times again, but that can change. All glory is fleeting.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Texas isn't as connected to the world as NY or CA. So it's not effected. And I'm sure herding cows in most part of the world wasn't effectd. You don't hear cow farms in Chile closing en masse either. Just like in Tahksus!

Ignorance is such bliss.

[Dan J 277]

Lets see, Texas biggest industries are defence and energy.

Defence is booming for obvious reasons. Ironically driven in a large part by federal government spending.

As for energy, it has a lot of open areas for wind farms. Demand for oil hasn't significantly dropped due to the recession as well as supply is pushing into its peak.

Now if Texas relied much more heavily on housing, finance or the auto industry, the story would be diffrent.

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

I was born and raised in Texas. Lived in Temple, San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, but mostly Austin where I went to High School and attended some college.

Texas is always last to be affected by any recession. It's like the article said, "they have a diversified economy." The University of Texas, one of the largest campuses, gets a lot of it's money from oil. It's a big oil state. While rural parts of Texas are conservative it's capitol city, Austin, is the most liberal and has a motto of "Keep Austin Weird". A lot of the bigger cities are liberal.

I remember when there was a big controversy in the State Legislature when the district lines were redrawn before an election. By doing that they made it so that the majority within the district were conservative voters instead of what it had been, democratic or liberal, prior to the lines being redrawn. Several of the Democratic Legislatures walked out on their seats in protest while Legislature was in session that year. There were repercussion for that. The Democrats cited that it was rigging the elections to represent Texas as more conservative then it is. That was when Bush was governor and who knew he had Presidential ambitions to be like his father back then? Texas has 34 electoral votes for the Presidential elections and 32 members of the House of Representatives and 2 US Senators.

I remember when Austin was being called the next silicon valley. Austin has also been called the 3rd Coast or the next Hollywood with many movies produced there such as Dazed & Confused, Michael, Miss Congeniality, Varsity Blues, The Ringer, ect... Many celebrities have homes in Austin such as Meg Ryan, Sandra Bullock, Matthew McConaughey, Lance Armstrong, Robert Rodriguez, Bob Schneider, George W. Bush, Owen Wilson, Mike Judge, Michael Dell, Harry Conick Jr. Those are just the ones I can remember from when I grew up there. I don't know if they all still have residence there. The University of Texas also started their own production company for Graduate Students called, Burnt Orange Productions.

It does have congestion though. I can remember when I was learning to drive in Austin on a popular highway called MoPac, short for the Missouri and Pacific railways that run along side it, that it was nicknamed Slow&Packed.

I haven't been back since 2003 but when I did go back to visit my friends and family there for 6 months I was amazed at how much more it had grown. Since I was last back there it seems Austin is growing still bringing in companies such as Facebook, and opening other sustainable companies. I always said I would go back to Austin after I finished college but now that I'm done and since my last visit I'm not sure I want to go back. It felt like Austin was getting too big and the friends and family I'd left behind had stayed the same while I had changed.

[mawilson 2,133]

Demand for oil hasn't significantly dropped due to the recession

Yes it has.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Lets see, Texas biggest industries are defence and energy.

Defence is booming for obvious reasons. Ironically driven in a large part by federal government spending.

As for energy, it has a lot of open areas for wind farms. Demand for oil hasn't significantly dropped due to the recession as well as supply is pushing into its peak.

Now if Texas relied much more heavily on housing, finance or the auto industry, the story would be diffrent.

During the Iran/Iraq war in 1980-88 those two countries were dumping so much oil on the market to fund their war (how else to pay for it?) that the price dropped to under $10 per barrel. Texas was devastated. Texas gets royalties on every barrel that comes out of the ground and when the pumps were shut off because they could even get the oil to market for $10 per barrel, it was a calamity. No income tax and no oil money to supplement the state funds. The sales tax was increased, property tax increased, sales tax was added to many thinghs that was previously tax exempt (and have not been removed since) and I was beginning to wish that the $2 gasoline would come back. Commercial Real estate collapsed and with it the Savings and Loans. In case no one remembers that whole debacle started in Texas. Home values plummeted. The company I worked for closed off all their business in Texas and moved me out of state, they have since returned to doing business in Texas.

I still believe one of the reasons we are in Iraq was to prevent a warand keep oil prices up. There IS no war in Iraq, it is just a civil mess. Were they to go back to real war, the middle east oil would start gushing again and Texas would be devastated, again. Not something GW Bush wanted. We would have $1 per gallon gasoline though, just as we did in the 80's...at Texas's expense. Texas was also one of the worst hit states in the great depression. The state is NOT recession proof and anyone believeing that is bound to repeat history.