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Texas: Driving America's Export Train.

Trivia Tidbit of the Day: Part 954 -- Texas Boosting America's Exports-

In January of 2010, during his State of the Union address, Barack Obama famously committed America to doubling exports by 2015. It's an ambitious goal at first blush, but when you consider that he made the promise at the $143.6 billion per month level (not long after the trough of the most recent recession) doubling from that depressed point was not such a long shot. Just returning to pre-recession export levels ($165.9 billion per month) got us 15% of the way there. At present, we're about 25% of the way toward doubling exports (we're now at $178.7 billion per month).

So, really, how are we going to get there? How do we get to $287 billion in exports per month? With Chevy Volts and Solyndras and shutting down private investment in major infrastructure projects? No. Obviously not.

We may get there in spite of Barack Obama, but if America does double its exports by 2015, Texas will be disproportionately responsible:

On a percentage basis, Texas exported more of its home-produced goods that the United States as a whole. Nearly 19 percent of Texas' economic output was exported in 2011, while the United States exported just 9.8 percent of its total output.

With roughly 8% of the nation's population, Texas exports nearly 12% of the nation's goods and services.

Indeed, Texas is the number one exporting state, now going on a decade straight. With 12 million fewer people, Texas exports 56.8% more than California.

California! Think about that. California has Silicon Valley, Hollywood, and abundant produce and wine. California has natural deep water ports up and down its coast. California is closer to booming markets in Asia and Australia than any other state but Hawaii. California is as close to most of Latin America as any other state, including Texas. California has vast fossil fuel reserves off shore and under the ground. California should easily be America's top exporting state, and second place shouldn't even be close.

Yet, it's Texas-- not California-- winning the export battle. Texas added almost an entire Michigan worth of exports in 2011 alone.

America's manufacturing renewal is happening in states like Texas. America's jobs renewal is happening in states like Texas. So, of course America's export renewal is being driven by Texas.

Texas, with 8% of America's population, accounted for more than 16% of America's export gains in 2011. In dollar terms, that was a $42.9 billion increase in Texas in 2011, out of a $265 billion total increase in the United States as a whole.

Another way to look at it is to examine the relationship between population and exports.

This is what I call the American Export Power Index, or AEPI (click image for larger version):

Basically, you take a state's share of the nation's exports and bump that up against a state's share of the nation's population.

Here it is in table format:

So, seriously, how are we going to double our national exports by 2015?

One easy way: Obama's administration could stop targeting Texas for punishment.

And, rather than attempting to forcibly reshape America in California's image, instead respect the Tenth Amendment and allow the smart states to compete and strive toward being more like Texas (like Oklahoma is now doing with its income tax). The states that initially think they want to be more like California may temporarily get left behind, but as long as the rest of us don't subsidize and/or bail out failing liberal states, competition and people voting with their feet will eventually force even the most recalcitrant lefty states to reform.

We know what works. There's a blueprint. It's called Texas. Indeed, Talmadge Heflin of the Texas Public Policy Foundation notes:

Since June 2009, Texas’ economy, now the 14th-largest in the world, has added 357,400 jobs, almost triple the number of jobs produced by California, the state that has produced the second-most jobs since June 2009. Impressively, this means that Texas is responsible for nearly one of every four jobs created in the nation since the NBER declared the recession over.

And every day that this left-wing President tries to force the failed California/Illinois/Michigan blueprint on the entire nation is a day he is robbing our children and grandchildren of prosperity and economic security.

Previous Trivia Tidbit: America needs more spectrum.

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Posted by Will Franklin · 5 March 2012 04:52 PM

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