Well, if *Rich Lowry* says so....

(Pardon my cattiness.)

My wife seriously thinks we should buy a small piece of land in Texas so that if/when Texas secedes we can claim land ownership and move there; we assume there'll be a mad rush to do so.

Ya gotta wonder tho': will the rest of the Union still want to do the Antietam bit? And will they insist Texas give back whatever nukes the SAC keeps there?

Texas also has the highest percentage of residents who have no health insurance (5.8 million; 11/2 to 2 times the national average); lower than national averages for high school and college graduation rates; the 4th highest crime rates in the country; and a median household income below the national average. Hmmm.

“Texas also has the highest percentage of residents who have no health insurance (5.8 million; 11/2 to 2 times the national average)...”
Presuming that's true (and remembering what Twain had to say about statistics...), that doesn't necessarily mean much; perhaps the average age of citizenry is lower. Young people are notorious for not carrying health insurance, since (whether they consciously realize it or not) that means they're subsidizing the health care of their elders.
“...[L]lower than national averages for high school and college graduation rates...”
Public education is waay overrated; funny how their economy is doing well despite that, eh? Maybe it's the homeschooling...
“...[T]he 4th highest crime rates in the country...”
Wow; only 4th despite their border issues? Amazing! Must be the armed citizenry...
“...[A]nd a median household income below the national average.”
But what's the COL?

Cost of Living will be hard to dig up, but I'll search for it. Lower taxes will make that cost less, but since voluntary retirement contributions are based on real monies, not indexed for cost of living, what matters in the end is the bottom line...in order to stretch those numbers, the goal is to move to the lowest cost of living area you can find. As for statistics, actually this is straight demographic data, no statistical manipulation is needed. The information is all readily and publicly available. High school diplomas are not based solely on public education...private high schoolers and home schoolers also earn them. Since they're also running a budget deficit (even with all that oil money), and their governor is in trouble for reallocating education money to other areas of the state budget in order to deal with the deficit, I wouldn't exactly say that their economy is doing all that well. It's certainly not California, but it's not the Dakotas either. Perhaps you'd be better off singing the praises of the states that have actually not run at a deficit over the past couple of years.

Nor is it DC. I have cause to visit Bethesda and couldn't help but notice how the area's economy is booming.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/oct/17/in-throes-of-recession-capital-stands-apart/

Yabbut only Texas has any significant chance of seceding from the mess that the unConstitutionalists have made of the rest of the Union. Of course there's no guarantee they'd follow a similar Constitution, but one can always hope...

My wife seriously thinks we should buy a small piece of land in Texas so that if/when Texas secedes we can claim land ownership and move there; we assume there'll be a mad rush to do so.

Don't do it. Property taxes down here are outrageous. Tyranny, I tell you. That's what you get for not having an income tax . . .

Aren't property taxes local in Texas? Aren't they assessd by county, as in change your county and the property tax rate is different?

Besides which, I'll take a property tax over an income tax any day (presuming rates aren't too punitive); as for Bethesda's 'growth', isn't the bureaucrat class sucking the money to DC? Don't a lot of them live in Bethesda?

Yes, Bethesda is a lovely suburb of DC and everyone there seems to work for government in some way or provides goods and services for those who do work for government. My daughter-in-law sells expensive Italian furniture and most recently also works as a bartender to fill her time while my son is deployed in Afghanistan. They love the DC area because it is busy and prosperous and full of fun things to do.

Bureaucracy is DC's major industry (if industry is the right word) and yes, they are sucking money into the area. I like that you call them a "class", but I am not sure it is accurate. When you have a growth industry in an area, plenty of money can be made selling them things and doing things for them. A rising tide lifts all boats and you know the tide is rising in the DC area, because it simply hums with activity. It's the place to be.

I don't know to what extent Texas' Hispanic population contributes to employment generation in the State, but I do know that more than one-third of the population of Texas is Hispanic. That pretty much accounts for all of Mr. Anonymous' dire statistics. You can't be busily lifting that many people up from poverty and have great specs at the same time.

I might also add that, under welfare capitalism (i.e., socialism), you get great equality but progressive impoverishment. Pretty soon, everyone (except the political class) is share equally in a big pie of nuthin. I'd take good job creation and bad social statistics any day over a declining economy and a gold star from radical levelers.

You da man, Red!