Texas Governor Rick Perry is looking at a 2016 presidential run. Why should that concern us?

Check out the quote to the left. And, then compare it to what has happened in Texas.  Under Perry, Texas has seen a significant rise in income inequality:

The top 1% in Texas eared 26.3 times more than the bottom 99%.

A study found that Texas ranks 7th worst in the country in the gap between rich and poor.

Four of Texas’ major metro areas — San Antonio, Houston, Dallas-Ft. Worth and Austin — in in the top 10 nation-wide for large, metro areas most segregated by income.

The reality is Prick Perry has created a different Texas for different people. The system works for those with the most, and is paid for by those with the least while everyone in the middle gets the squeeze.

2016 Republican presidential candidate · Gov. Perry · income inequality · Rick Perry

The above title is from a post on the NationalMemo.com website by Froma Harrop on October 9, 2014.  In the post, the author discusses how Republican governor Rick Perry is dealing with the first U.S. case (and now death) of a person with Ebola.

While Gov. Perry has established a task force to address the Ebola threat, that seems like shutting the upper half of the barn door after the cow’s escaped.

What is the author concerned about?  When states had the option of participating in the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), there was a group of Republican governors including Gov. Perry who were more concerned with making political points against President Obama than seeing their citizens obtain decent health insurance.  What’s the difference?  States participating in the ACA have seen sharp declines in the number of uninsured people in their states.  The states that didn’t participate have about the same number of uninsured  as before the ACA went into force.

What’s the concern with this situation?  Not only are there humanitarian reasons for seeing more people with health insurance, there are now self interest reasons for more people to be able to obtain health care.  Why?  To quote the author, “Even the reach don’t enjoy divine protection from deadly infectious diseases.”

The article proceeds to discuss how the situation in the states with large numbers of uninsured Americans can exacerbate the spread of communicable, deadly disease.  It’s well worth the read.  Here’s a link to the full post.

ACA · Affordable Care Act · Ebola · Obamacare · Rick Perry