How Does Transportation Affect The Texas Economy

Ayman Alshami Professor Sharifian Assignment 3 Local Control in Texas Texas is a small government state that has many politicians who have most control on the state’s legislative orders and any kind of concern in the state of Texas;

The Lone Star state also known as Texas is ranked second in area and population. With a growing population and a decreasing unemployment rate the state has a borderline healthy economy. With an average infrastructure grade and an 8.8 million surplus the state is looking good all around.

In the late 1850’s, a million acres of land were offered by the Texas legislature as an endowment. Later, in the early 1880’s, this land mass would double its size, and all this land was set aside for drilling what was called “Texas Tea”. Most of the prophets made by this found oil were donated to the local colleges. By 2008, the total money given to the colleges (U.T. and Texas A&M) was $4.4 billion. (Doc. A)

The people of Texas are diverse and carry their “big can-do attitudes and accents” (Pearson); making Texas a bigger than life state. The political culture of Texas is impacted by two different subgroups of

Cullen and Wilkinson begin the book describing the Texas political movement with avowed ends of a more equal and humane society through reform, restructure or a revolution of the economic or social system. This was given a great emphasis with adequate change. The geographical aspect sparked the practice of everyday life, environment and its Influence in the history of Texas. Geographical history patterned the American economy and politics within the ongoing development in shaping, structuring and implementation.

v. One of the reasons for astounding growth of Houston – federal investment. More willing to go to federal government or state government.

Texas is home to about 27 million people and continues to grow. Texas’s major public policy problem right now would be in infrastructure and can be fixed by compromise. There are two types of infrastructure which are economic and social. Infrastructure means those basic facilities and services which and facilitate different economic activities and thereby help in economic development of education, health, transport, communication, banking & insurance, irrigation, power, and etc.... There are two types of infrastructure which are economic and social. Infrastructure is the foundation upon which the Texas economy balances.

There is no question, oil and gas funding drives Texas ' political and economic atmosphere. Oil tycoons contribute to political campaigns and fund lobbyists in order to expedite favorable bills in both state and national legislatures. The Texas Legislature passes hundreds of bills while in session and the 84th legislature was in session last summer. The 84th session showed Texas constituents just how quickly they move when motivated and just how powerful big oil is. Hydraulic fracturing, fracking, or the process of polluting millions of gallons of water to create a viscous toxic solution that is then highly pressurized and injected thousands of feet below the earth to break apart rocks and release natural gas and oil deposits, was at the

The economy of Texas it’s no longer based on farms and ranches, but on the industry, finance, shipping, energy, etc. (67). All this explains why the constitution it’s now outdated and doesn’t connect with current Texas. In conclusion, Texas constitution has both strengths and weakness, but it feels that the weakness outshines the strengths. The main problem is that it does not represent Texas anymore, so the rights given by the constitution and the limited government feel useless against this fact.

1. Explain what Jillson means by “The Myth vs. The Reality” in Texas? According to Cal Jillson, many people see Texas as a successful model of small government, light regulations, and low tax, basically an entrepreneurial state rapidly growing in population and creating jobs faster than any other state in the nation. Unfortunately, while some of the aspects of this view are true, it is not the complete truth.

In Texas, we have two different culture and type of people. We have the type of people that are very dedicated to the old lifestyle and old ideals. They believe that farming is what makes a man a man, and that art is a waste of time. Even though they consider themselves a Texan, they consider themselves as a tougher breed. These are the ones that live up North.

Texas is the second largest State in the United States consisting of 261,914 sq. miles. When you travel out of state, for business or pleasure, there is usually one person that asks the question, ‘Do you own cows?’ Most people from other States believe that Texas is flat pasture land where everyone owns cattle or has an oil derrick in their backyard. Texas’ large land mass is not all flat. Far West Texas or The Trans-Pecos Region is the most unique portion with the presence of the Eastern portion of the Rocky Mountains that form the Rocky Mountain Cordillera. These mountains along with the Altiplanicie Mexicana plateau region, as well as, The Gulf of Mexico contributes warm, moist air throughout the year. These are the three main

Texas is the second most populous state as well as the second largest state in the United States of America (Brown, Langenegger, Garcia, Lewis, & Biles, 2014). With a huge number of people currently calling Texas their home, it would make sense to draw the conclusion that the Texas government must make this state a great place to live by serving its citizens to the best of its abilities. However, it is best not to make assumptions and in order to ascertain whether the local government actually fulfills this role we must look at multiple aspects of the government.

Richard Walker in his California’s Golden Road to Riches, described California’s economic order as “prospector capitalism,” or “resource capitalism.” Walker quotes David and Wright (1997:1) in order to describe this form- “intensity of search; new technologies of extraction, refining and utilization; market development and transportation investments…” (http://geog.berkeley.edu/PeopleHistory/faculty/R_Walker/CaGoldenRoad.html, Walker). This statement has clear comparisons to Takaki’s America Errand as both put a large focus on economic expansion via technology, increased transportation, and market development. Similar to when Takaki’s argument that the land must not go to waste, in the four statements that correspond to the dimensions of the capitalist economy it is written that “nature…converted into ‘resources’ or nature staked, claimed, and commodified”

Transportation is an important sector that drives economic activities within and outside the state. Although transportation as a sector does not bring in significant revenues to the economy of Arizona, it does assist the smooth operation of other industries such as manufacturing, tourism, agriculture and mining. Without roads, rail, and airports, it would be difficult to move goods and services from one part of Arizona to another. Arizona’s transportation industry does not have a great impact on its economy because the state is largely used as a transit hub. More than half of the freight that comes into Arizona originated from outside, rests for some few days and moved to their destinations in other states. This means that the Arizona state government can only gain relatively small revenues from the freight may be in the form of storage charges, repackaging, and accommodation for truck drivers. The remaining 50% of freight is intra-state implying that no money is brought in from outside Arizona. Transportation sector acts as a vital factor in attracting investors because modern businesses critically examine the transport infrastructure before deciding whether to relocate or not. For instance, manufacturing companies depend on well-established road and rail network to move large volumes of bulk freight. Some also rely on the trucking to move containerized freight on highways with low congestion levels.