Texas must improve its shameful poverty statistics

From the Houston Chronicle editorial board:

According to the new data, one in six Texans lived in poverty last year. And Texas was home to three of the nation's 10 poorest counties, including the top two — Cameron County, with 42 percent below the poverty level, and Hidalgo County, with 41 percent. With 29 percent of its population poor, El Paso County was listed as the country's fourth least-prosperous.

A full quarter of all Texas children are poor, the Bureau's American Community Survey found. Almost 20 percent of Texans are economically deprived, which the government defined for a family of four as earning $19,971 or less. Only 13 percent of Americans overall were found to be poor.

The news was no more heartening in Houston. A full 29 percent of black families here were impoverished, a jump from 25 percent in 2000. Among Hispanics, the number living in poverty climbed to 30 percent from 26 percent. Fewer white Houstonians, 9 percent, were found to be poor.

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Even though their hearts are obviously in the right place, the Chronicle's editors end their essay with a plea to Texas political leaders to not engage in blame games and to figure out why so many Texans are rotting in poverty. Fools. This is exactly how the Texas political establishment likes it. This is how it's been since the founding of the Republic of Texas. In my home state, it doesn't really matter which party is in charge. Everyone's conservative. Everyone always places business interests above the interests of average citizens. Hell, Texas was founded by business interests for business interests. This is deeply ingrained in both the political and civic cultures.

Here in Louisiana, people joke about how corrupt the politicians are: my response is always something to the effect of it being the same back home, but because businessmen have more money and influence, the laws are written such that what's corrupt in Louisiana is legal in Texas, thus, no corruption. The Lone Star State has made rule-by-business an art form.

And there's no profit in helping out the poor.

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