Leaving Children Behind

In a pointed Op-Ed in Sunday's New York Times, Nobel Prize winning Economist Paul Krugman looks at Texas' financial deficit and the children who will suffer as a result of Republican politician's malfeasence:

At the state and local level, however, there’s no doubt about it: big spending cuts are coming.

And who will bear the brunt of these cuts? America’s children....

And in low-tax, low-spending Texas, the kids are not all right. The high school graduation rate, at just 61.3 percent, puts Texas 43rd out of 50 in state rankings. Nationally, the state ranks fifth in child poverty; it leads in the percentage of children without health insurance. And only 78 percent of Texas children are in excellent or very good health, significantly below the national average....

Anyway, the next time some self-proclaimed deficit hawk tells you how much he worries about the debt we’re leaving our children, remember what’s happening in Texas, a state whose slogan right now might as well be “Lose the future.”

Read the full article at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/28/opinion/28krugman.html