This was in today’s newspaper:

State ranks 49th in getting funds

Texas ranks near the bottom in federal stimulus funds received so far, according to a newspaper analysis of grants and contracts.

The Dallas Morning News reported Monday that Texas has been approved for about $12.9 billion in stimulus grants and contracts, not including an estimated $4.2 billion received through the law’s main individual tax credit.

Adjusted for population, Texas’ share of grants — about $533 per person — ranks 49th, according to the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board.

Texas lawmakers say funding formulas are often written by lawmakers in small states, creating a disadvantage for big states. Texas also has fewer research universities, less subsidized housing and a smaller contribution to programs such as Medicaid and unemployment insurance, so that means less emergency stimulus funds.

Sure they can blame the fact Texas is 49th in receiving stimulus funds on any damn thing they like, but if anyone wants to lay the blame where it belongs, they need look no farther than Governor Perry. He didn’t want any stimulus money from the government. The federal government said “fine” and gave it to states that did want it. Such is life.

Politicos in Texas are fond of complaining about how the federal tax monies collected from Texans are never returned to Texas (we get less than a dollar back for every dollar we pay in), but every time the federal government tries to give us back more federal dollars, they raise a stink and don’t want it. Looks to me like they have no one to blame but themselves for putting Texas on the fast track to being a third world state.