Much has been made about America's lack of net job growth over the past decade. Some places have added jobs, though. Others, not so much:

The first decade of this century was a dud for job creation nationwide. With a weak recovery from the 2001 recession followed by the Great Recession, the nation as a whole gained almost no jobs during the decade (actually, there was a 0.3 percent increase). That made the aughts the first decade since the Great Depression without any substantial job growth.

But as with so many national statistics, this national average hides enormous regional variation. And since, for most people, job markets are regional, this regional variation really matters for working people. The map below shows what happened to employment in each of the nation’s 100 largest metro areas from the end of 1999 to the end of 2009.

Ideas matter.

There is no reason cities like Cleveland can't turn it around. They just need to throw off the big government, big union dogmas that are dragging them down:

When cities like Cleveland and Detroit are doing well again, it will absolutely benefit cities that currently seem to be benefiting from their decline. Houston, Dallas, Austin, and other red state cities are eventually going to be bled dry by the failure of cities in the Midwest, California, and Northeast. There is no doubt that under Obama and the Democrats, successful cities and states-- conservative, for the most part-- will have to subsidize the failure in those left-leaning places. It doesn't have to be that way. States competing is a good thing. Right now, our national policy seems to be to eliminate competition, subsidize failure, and redistribute wealth. That can't last in any society, even one as strong as American society.

We won't fully pull ourselves out of this recession until we get that Washington-centric economic tinkering problem resolved.

Previous Trivia Tidbit: Unpopular Obama.

A year ago, if you would have gone on television and predicted that Barack Obama would be incredibly unpopular in one year, you'd probably be mocked, ridiculed, hectored, derided, marginalized, laughed at, and otherwise scoffed at by others.

Obama was supposed to be transcendent. He was supposed to be a different kind of politician.

He turned out to be just as far left, just as "business as usual," and just as indecisive and poor at leadership as we said he would be.

Barack Obama has increased America's national debt by $2 trillion in just 421 days in office. He is pressing on with an increasingly unpopular government health care takeover.

No wonder he is so unpopular:

Melt those phone lines, folks. We can still stop Obamacare if enough members of Congress understand just how mad people on both sides of the aisle are about this bill.

Previous Trivia Tidbit: Conservative Ideas Work.

It is no secret that the United States is in one of its toughest economic situations in quite some time, and the recession has taken its toll on every corner of the country. That being said, there are places that entered the recession earlier, are feeling the pain much deeper, and will probably not leave the recession until much later. There are other places where the recession has been much later to come, far more shallow, and will end sooner than elsewhere.

Look at which cities are performing relatively well, according to the Brookings Institution, not exactly a right-wing, red state-loving kind of organization:

In terms of overall performance, every Texas city, other than Bill White's Houston, are among the strongest 20 in the nation.

Texas has the top three metro areas for jobs: San Antonio, Austin, and McAllen. Liberal Democrat Bill White's Houston is the only Texas city that is not in the top 20 in the country.

This stuff doesn't just happen by accident. California is a beautiful place, well-situated for global commerce, with abundant natural resources and fantastic weather. It is also dysfunctional fiscally and economically. California offers us a glimpse of things to come for America if we continue down the path the Obama administration is taking us.

Previous Trivia Tidbit: Biggest GOP Lead Yet.

Rasmussen:

Throughout the fall and winter of 2008, support for Democratic congressional candidates ranged from 42% to 47%. Republican support ranged from 37% to 41%. When President Obama was inaugurated, Democrats enjoyed a seven-point advantage on the Generic Ballot.

The two parties were very close on the Generic Ballot throughout the spring of 2009, but in late June – around the same time Democrats began their campaign for health care reform -- Republicans pulled ahead for good.

Let's have a good year in 2010, shall we?

Previous Trivia Tidbit: Government Dependency.

Dependency on the government is on the rise:

* The Index now stands at 240, based on data through the calendar year ending in 2008. That is up three points from its value of 237 in 2007;
* The Index has grown by 31.2 percent since 2001, when it stood at 183. In other words, nearly a third of its increase since 1980 (the base year of the Index when it stood at 100) has occurred in just the last eight years; and
* This rapid growth of the Index has been accompanied by a rapid increase in the percentage of tax filers who pay no taxes. That percentage jumped from 21.3 percent in 1980 to 34 percent in 2008. In 1980, 20 million tax filers paid no taxes; in 2008, 48 million paid nothing.

And here come the Baby Boomers.

Previous Trivia Tidbit: Climbing The Debt Mountain Under Obama.

Obama's new proposed debt ups the ante in a huge way:

President Obama has harshly criticized the $3.3 trillion in budget deficits accumulated in eight years under President Bush. Yet President Obama is now proposing to borrow $7.6 trillion during what would be his own eight years in the White House. In fact, President Obama would add more to the national debt than every other President in American history from George Washington through George W. Bush combined.

Obama. One-termer. Drag on Democrats in 2010. Hope. Change. Failure. Now we just need good candidates to rise to the challenge and return America to our limited government roots that propelled our nation to exceptional greatness in the first place.

Previous Trivia Tidbit: The Great Recession.

Some in America are faring far worse than others under Obama, and ironically, many of his most ardent and loyal supporters are the hardest hit:

In last year's election, 96 percent of black Americans voted for President Obama. Since then, they have suffered immeasurable harm, harm that could have been eased by these and other conservative policies.

Republicans have a great case to make. Can or will we make it properly?

Previous Trivia Tidbit: Where The Green Homes Are.

Texas is the number one wind energy producing state in the nation. Texas is one of the few states that has successfully limited the growth of carbon dioxide emissions in the past decade. Texas is also number one in the nation for green homes:

Texas did not achieve these things through an aggressive California-style (or Washington, D.C.-style) regulatory scheme or draconian cap & trade style mandates.

Economic vitality and growth, plus a relatively free market and fair regulatory system, led Texas to environmental success, even as the traditional oil and gas industry continues to thrive and produce energy and chemicals for the rest of the country. Texas produces a fifth of the nation's crude oil, a fourth of the nation's fuel supply, a fourth of the nation's natural gas, roughly 60% of the nation's chemicals.

Since 2000, the population in Texas has grown by nearly 3.5 million people. Yet, statewide ozone levels have fallen 22% and nitrogen oxide levels have fallen 46%.

Not surprisingly, all four major Texas metropolitan areas are among the top ten cities where the recession is easing up already.

The Democrats, even many Congressional Democrats from Texas, want to change all that. Whether it's cap and trade, or EPA rulings that amount to the same impact as cap and trade, Obama's Washington is aiming for Texas. The Texas Agriculture Commissioner, Attorney General, and Governor are fighting back against the EPA in court, as are Alabama and Virginia.

We don't need a one-size-fits-all environmental scheme in this country. We also don't need a Governor in Texas such as liberal Democrat Bill White who disagrees with Texas' EPA court challenge and agrees with Obama and the Democrats in Washington, D.C. on environmental over-regulation.

Previous Trivia Tidbit: Taxpayers' Friends.

Regularly scheduled blogging will resume next Tuesday.

Do it for America.

Too many Republicans are absent from this list of Taxpayers' Friends, from the National Taxpayers Union:

Wake up, Republicans. Every one of you should be scoring in the 90% range on this index.

Previous Trivia Tidbit: Obama's Tax Hikes.

Heritage with another great but terrifying graph showing where taxes will have to go under our current path:

Congress is now considering yet another multi-billion-dollar stimulus that features tax breaks for businesses that hire new workers. The House of Representatives passed its bill in December 2009. The Senate voted recently to limit debate on its plan and will soon vote on final passage. After that, the House will have to vote on the Senate bill, or a conference committee must be formed to reconcile the differences in the two bills.

No wonder Larry Sabato's Crystal Ball is predicting Republicans may come just three seats shy of taking back the House.

Previous Trivia Tidbit: Washington Regulating Energy, Aiming At Texas.

At this point, it is clear that the Obama administration is indeed attempting to punish Texas on a variety of issues, particularly energy.

Look at what Cap & Trade would do to Texas:

The economy would take a hit:

And consumers would face higher bills:

The EPA under Obama will attempt to use its regulatory authority in the executive branch to do to the energy industry what likely may never be approved by Congress. Overregulation by the EPA may be just as damaging as legislative action. This is why Texas is currently suing the EPA. While Texas, the number one wind power producing state, has cleaner air and has reduced carbon dioxide emissions in recent years, Obama's Washington wants to impose a one-size-fits-all regulatory scheme that will disproportionately harm Texas.

Hat tip to @john_w_fleming of the Heritage Foundation.

Previous Trivia Tidbit: Texas Spending Restraint.

While the federal government is staring right in the face of annual deficits over a trillion dollars, Texas is sitting on a multi-billion dollar Rainy Day Fund because it has exercised spending restraint:

Ideas matter. A Constitutional requirement for a balanced budget works.

Previous Trivia Tidbit: The EPA's Job-Killing Ruling.

Waxman-Markey would have a decidedly negative impact on Texas, which-- not so incidentally-- is the number one wind energy producer in the country. Texas is also reducing carbon dioxide emissions at a much greater rate than the rest of the country, but the reality remains that fossil fuels are and will remain the most important energy source years from now. The Texas economy has diversified significantly, but cap and trade legislation out of Washington would have a disproportionately negative impact on the Texas economy:

Jobs are also in question:

*Overall manufacturing output declines by 4.6 percent in the low cost case and by 5.4 percent in the high cost case in 2030 compared to the baseline forecast.

*Texas now derives 47 percent of its electricity from natural gas and 38 percent of it from coal. Without commer cially available, cost-efficient carbon control technology, Texas’ electricity prices for a typical household could be 54 percent higher in 2030 under the Waxman-Markey bill.

*Another important segment of Texas’ manufacturing industry, chemical product manufacturing, will decline by up to 14 percent in 2030.

*Certain energy intensive sectors like primary metals (e.g., the smelting and refining of ferrous and non-ferrous metals and alloys usually to make ingots) and nonmetallic mineral product manufacturing
(e.g., bricks, cement, glass) also decline by as much as 19 percent to 26 percent in 2030. Coal production falls by 86 to 87 percent.

*Gross state product will decline by $29.9 billion to $40.8 billion in 2030. Such reductions in GSP will reduce state budget receipts and force policymakers to make hard choices.

*Texas will see a reduction in job growth; there will be 144,597 to 196,928 fewer jobs in 2030. Employment in key manufacturing sectors, e.g., chemical products and fabricated metal, would see the greatest decline relative to the baseline forecast.

*Disposable income will fall by an average of $612 to $1,103 in 2030. Low-income families and the elderly will spend a higher proportion of their income on energy.

Cap and trade. Not helpful to the environment. Bad for the economy. It is central planning and Washington engineering of the economy, and it must be stopped.

Previous Trivia Tidbit: United Nations' Bloated Budget.