3 ms·

I'm assuming ND, MT, and maybe TX are due to the shale oil boom?

by showerst 13y ago

ImprovedSilence 13y ago
ND and MT, probably yes. TX is just TX being awesome.
- 001sky 13y ago
  Notwithstanding the Awesome, there is plenty of fracking goin' on. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tight_natural_gas_plays_in_the_lower_48_states_of_the_USA.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tight_natural_gas_plays_i...
  - scarecrowbob 13y ago
    This meets with my experience, not to mention that north of Amarillo and Midland/Odessa are currently booming, at least as far as can see when I'm out there. Not to downplay the larger cities in the state that are growing.
    - tunap 13y ago
      Are all the improvements 'Public Works', say, highway/freeway construction? That was the feeling I got spending many months of the last two years in Austin & Dallas. Every freeway was being built, expanded or repaired... my GPS was constantly telling me to exit when nothing but dirt & Jersey barriers existed. Cannot recall the source, but I believe all this work is done w/ Fed stimulus + taxes from all the oil/gas they're pumping & petro refining.
- mikeyouse 13y ago
  Texas is... well Texas. Some things are awesome, some things aren't: * Highest percentage of employees at / below minimum wage [1] * Highest percentage of uninsured [2] * 4th highest poverty rate [3] * Lowest percentage of high school graduates [4] * 4th most citizens in jails / prisons per capita [5] * Most CO2 emissions [6] * 6th highest obesity rate [7] They have a lot of work to do before I'd consider them awesome (I say this as someone who's spending a lot of time there, and will potentially be relocating with a company there in the near future.) [1] - http://www.bls.gov/ro6/fax/minwage_tx.htm http://www.bls.gov/ro6/fax/minwage_tx.htm [2] - http://kff.org/other/state-indicator/total-population/ http://kff.org/other/state-indicator/total-population/ [3] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_poverty_rate http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_poverty_... [4] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_educational_attainment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_educatio... [5] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_incarceration_rate http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_incarcer... [6] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_carbon_d... [7] - http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html
BrandonMarc 13y ago
TX has a lot going for it. According to the census bureau [0], lots of people are finding opportunities there (nearly half of the 15 cities in the link are there). It helps that there's no (state) income tax [1]. It's a right-to-work state [2], I tend to favor that but YMMV. Lastly, while some areas are seeing looming bankruptcies of major municipalities [3], Texas is seeing surpluses. Yes, some of this is oil, but that's ignoring a host of other factors. -------------------- [0] http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/population/cb12-117.html http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/population/... [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_income_tax#States_with_no_individual_income_tax http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_income_tax#States_with_no... [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-to-work_law#U.S._states_with_right-to-work_laws http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-to-work_law#U.S._states_w... [3] http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/05/15/ten-california-cities-in-distress/2076217/ http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/05/15/ten-cal...
- _delirium 13y ago
  Is there a decent estimate of what proportion of the TX state budget comes from oil & gas? One number I can find is that oil & gas direct extraction taxes amount to 15% of the state budget ($7 billion out of $47 billion). But that's a lower bound, since the oil & gas sector also generates considerable additional tax revenue, through corporate income taxes, sales taxes, hotel taxes, etc. Besides good fortune, though, TX did make two good oil & gas decisions that CA didn't, one on purpose and one accidentally: #1, on purpose, to actually have an oil & gas severance tax, like Alaska and Wyoming, but unlike California, which foolishly levies no tax on extraction; and #2, accidentally, to keep some large oil reserves publicly owned, and put them in the hands of the University of Texas system (accidentally because UT was given huge tracts of ranch land before it was known there was oil on it).
protomyth 13y ago
ND and MT yes. TX has been on a roll and is just starting to gear up with the fracking. ND is expanding in the west to the point it is affecting infrastructure projects in the eastern side of the state. Too few skilled workers to do the projects since most are doing the oil thing.

I'm assuming ND, MT, and maybe TX are due to the shale oil boom?

ImprovedSilence 13y ago

ND and MT, probably yes. TX is just TX being awesome.

001sky 13y ago
Notwithstanding the Awesome, there is plenty of fracking goin' on. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tight_natural_gas_plays_in_the_lower_48_states_of_the_USA.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tight_natural_gas_plays_i...
- scarecrowbob 13y ago
  This meets with my experience, not to mention that north of Amarillo and Midland/Odessa are currently booming, at least as far as can see when I'm out there. Not to downplay the larger cities in the state that are growing.
  - tunap 13y ago
    Are all the improvements 'Public Works', say, highway/freeway construction? That was the feeling I got spending many months of the last two years in Austin & Dallas. Every freeway was being built, expanded or repaired... my GPS was constantly telling me to exit when nothing but dirt & Jersey barriers existed. Cannot recall the source, but I believe all this work is done w/ Fed stimulus + taxes from all the oil/gas they're pumping & petro refining.
mikeyouse 13y ago
Texas is... well Texas. Some things are awesome, some things aren't: * Highest percentage of employees at / below minimum wage [1] * Highest percentage of uninsured [2] * 4th highest poverty rate [3] * Lowest percentage of high school graduates [4] * 4th most citizens in jails / prisons per capita [5] * Most CO2 emissions [6] * 6th highest obesity rate [7] They have a lot of work to do before I'd consider them awesome (I say this as someone who's spending a lot of time there, and will potentially be relocating with a company there in the near future.) [1] - http://www.bls.gov/ro6/fax/minwage_tx.htm http://www.bls.gov/ro6/fax/minwage_tx.htm [2] - http://kff.org/other/state-indicator/total-population/ http://kff.org/other/state-indicator/total-population/ [3] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_poverty_rate http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_poverty_... [4] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_educational_attainment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_educatio... [5] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_incarceration_rate http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_incarcer... [6] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_carbon_d... [7] - http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html

BrandonMarc 13y ago

TX has a lot going for it. According to the census bureau [0], lots of people are finding opportunities there (nearly half of the 15 cities in the link are there). It helps that there's no (state) income tax [1]. It's a right-to-work state [2], I tend to favor that but YMMV. Lastly, while some areas are seeing looming bankruptcies of major municipalities [3], Texas is seeing surpluses. Yes, some of this is oil, but that's ignoring a host of other factors. -------------------- [0] http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/population/cb12-117.html http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/population/... [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_income_tax#States_with_no_individual_income_tax http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_income_tax#States_with_no... [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-to-work_law#U.S._states_with_right-to-work_laws http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-to-work_law#U.S._states_w... [3] http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/05/15/ten-california-cities-in-distress/2076217/ http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/05/15/ten-cal...

_delirium 13y ago
Is there a decent estimate of what proportion of the TX state budget comes from oil & gas? One number I can find is that oil & gas direct extraction taxes amount to 15% of the state budget ($7 billion out of $47 billion). But that's a lower bound, since the oil & gas sector also generates considerable additional tax revenue, through corporate income taxes, sales taxes, hotel taxes, etc. Besides good fortune, though, TX did make two good oil & gas decisions that CA didn't, one on purpose and one accidentally: #1, on purpose, to actually have an oil & gas severance tax, like Alaska and Wyoming, but unlike California, which foolishly levies no tax on extraction; and #2, accidentally, to keep some large oil reserves publicly owned, and put them in the hands of the University of Texas system (accidentally because UT was given huge tracts of ranch land before it was known there was oil on it).

protomyth 13y ago

ND and MT yes. TX has been on a roll and is just starting to gear up with the fracking. ND is expanding in the west to the point it is affecting infrastructure projects in the eastern side of the state. Too few skilled workers to do the projects since most are doing the oil thing.