The Freedom Effect - Texas Style

Forbes has put out their list of the 10 Metropolitan areas where the recession is easing, but it's in one of those annoying formats where you have to hit "next" 10 times to see all 10 cities.  Go to this Newser summary of the rankings if you find that to be tiresome. 

Their formula takes into account projected job growth and housing prices. Here's the list:

1. (tie) Washington, DC-Arlington-Alexandria
2. (tie) Austin-Round Rock
3. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
4. (tie) Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington
5. (tie) Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown
6. Denver-Aurora
7. San Antonio
8. Boston-Cambridge-Quincy
9. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana
10. Kansas City (Missouri and Kansas)

Skip this rant, since it doesn't really contribute to the argument in this post:  Seeing Washington D.C. ranked as the most recession-proof enclave on the planet should come as no surprise, since our system requires all the tax, stimulus, lobbying, porkulus, and kickback money to go there first so that our Lords and Masters can take their cut off the top.  Look at the huge pay increases given to Department Of Transportation employees, for instance.  The number of employees breaking the $170,000.00 per year barrier has increased by 1,680 % in just two years, while the rest of us struggle through a recession.  Nice, recession-proof work if you can get it. 

With a Statist Congress and The Teleprompter Jesus running the show, D.C.'s ranking at #1 is to be expected.  Ranking any other American cities with Washington is like comparing Chihuahua, Juarez, and Guadalajara, Mexico's financial well-being to that of the Sinaloa Drug Cartel. 

Now that we have that out of the way....

Tied for first is Austin/Round Rock, Texas. 
Next is Fort Worth/Arlington/Dallas, Texas.
Next (tied with the Minnesota Metroplex) is Houston/Baytown, Texas. 
Denver breaks up the Texas winning streak, and then you get....
San Antonio, Texas. 

Now let's hop over to Statepolicy.com, which ranks U.S. states by Fiscal Freedom, Regulatory Freedom,  and Personal Freedom.  You can hit the link to see the methodology used to rank each state. 

In the Fiscal Freedom category, which includes things like proper restraints on local government, a high ratio between private vs. public employee earnings, and low local taxes, Texas was ranked #4 in the nation. 

In the Regulatory Freedom category, which covers freedom from labor regulation, health insurance mandates, occupational licensing, eminent domain, the tort system, environmental regulation, and utilities, Texas was ranked at a shameful #27.   I suspect this is because some of our billionaires like to dabble in eminent domain schemes and monopolies via regulation.  This is a good subject for further research. 

This gives Texas an Economic Freedom score of  #7 in the nation.  

The next big category is personal freedom.  It can be summarized as the right to do what you want to do, just as long as you don't harm anyone else.  It includes everything from gambling, to alcohol regulation, bicycle helmet regulations, forfeiture laws, tobacco bans, gay marriage, fireworks regulation, gun control, and home schooling.  Texas came in at #5 on the personal freedom list. 

All of these ranking combine to give Texas a Freedom Index score of #5 in the nation. 
Colorado (home of Denver/Aurora on the list of Metro areas recovering from the recession) is  #2 on the Freedom Index. 
Missouri (home of Kansas City on the list above) is #6 on the Freedom Index. 

Boston and Los Angeles distort the curve, since Massachusetts and California are only #44 and #47 on the Freedom Index.  (I have no theory on why Boston, Massachusetts, is doing so well ; California doesn't matter since their state government will be bankrupt within two years.) 

This is still enough to show a nice, neat correlation between freedom and prosperity.  Here's one of the Heritage Foundation's graphs showing the correlation between freedom and per capita GDP.  What's good for the states is obviously good for the nations:

Note to everyone moving to Texas:  Welcome !  We're glad you're here.  But if you're a refugee from another state, trying to outrun the consequences of your votes, please repent.  We're doing well here because we're willing to leave each other alone.