Rick Perry, the wannabe secessionist and Governor of Texas, must be doubly grateful that his state legislature ignored his empty talk about turning down money from the economic recovery package because:
... the Wall Street Journal noted this morning, the stimulus is the reason that Texas currently has a balanced budget:
[T]he economic downturn is catching up with Texas. Sales-tax revenue started falling in February 2009 compared with the previous year, and only started to recover a bit in April of this year. Although Mr. Perry has railed against the federal economic-stimulus program, billions of dollars from that initiative helped Texas legislators balance the current budget.
... which gave Perry more time to double his state's debt and to write a book:
... that will blast Washington for overreaching and intruding on the rights of states and individuals.
Titled Fed Up, it is described by publisher Little, Brown and Co. as a polemic that casts federal policies as a "legitimate threat to America's continued leadership in the free world."
Considering that Texas received a nearly $23 billion intrusion, perhaps Mr. Perry should change the title to "Fed."