The double calamity of falling stock and commodity prices hits states with specialized economies the hardest. The downturn was inevitable with the likelihood of this last couple of weeks not being a correction but lower prices lasting at least two years. Harvard¹s Kenneth Rogoff is quoted in today¹s NY Times and mentioned made of his book with Carmen Rinehart that presented data of these recurrent patterns over the centuries–

Texas has long been a state with an economy more like Saudi Arabia¹s than a California or New York or Germany. Cattle, then lumber then oil have been the major foundations of the economy over 150 years. Technology and perhaps health research represent a broader base for the state and research institutions like M.D. Anderson or the UT Austin campus or the SMU-UT Dallas complex are promising for the future. In all cases the quality of jobs being developed is critical. For example Austin has taken a wrong turn for a decade in promoting entertainment, live music and tourism. That builds a New Orleans economy of minimum wages and requisite tax-subsidies for housing, health care, transportation, education, etc..

Where Oil Turns Down And Unrest Builds

Texas may change from a state with increased jobs to increasing unemployment and given all the countries to its south are even more resource based and with younger populations, more immigrants headed north.