For those who believe that Texas might have one of the largest economies in the world,
I suggest looking at the GDP per capita. Texas is only a few steps higher on the list than NH…
suggesting that NH is just about as able to sustain it’s economy after secession as Texas is.
Texas comes in at number 15
NH comes in at number 19
NH is way ahead of Texas per capita
I don’t think GDP is a very good measure, since it includes too much government spending.
Since we are comparing apples to apples here, it shouldn’t make
a difference. GDP is an economic marker, not really a measure
of success. We have heard about Texas’ great economy, how
their economy is the one of the world’s largest.
Now, if we look at both of these figures together, I think it might
might be possible to say that NH puts more of the the produced
wealth back into the paychecks of the the people than Texas
does.
Now that’s something to take note of.
Gross Domestic Product per Capita is a terrible metric, for many reasons. Not the least which is that it’s based entirely off of official statistics, published by the government itself, not on open source statistics. So even the most educated of readers have to take these statistics on faith, as there’s really no reliable way to verify the data without referencing back to the government’s own sources. And one thing I really don’t trust about official statistics is that they are published by officials. Would you base investment decisions upon what the Chinese government said about their own economy? Additionally, as Russel already mentioned, GDP is highly distorted by government spending as well; which is a fact that even those same government officials will readily admit when pressed about it.
While I can agree with everything said so far, I must reiterate
that I was addressing the claim by Texas and others that it
had one of the largest economies in the world, top ten as a
matter of fact.
This discussion has been useful in bringing out the fact that
New Hampshire has just as much chance of surviving,
economically, as Texas does.
Texas has many of the same problems. Recently,
homelessness has become a huge problem in Texas.
There has also been the claim that in Texas the cost
of mental health is prohibitive.
There have also been claims that the cost of housing
has gone up, leading to the first problem mentioned.
Furthermore, the recent problems with getting a
referendum on Texas independence onto the
ballot in some ways mirror what’s going on in
New Hampshire.
Currently, the access NH resident have to their
legislature puts us far ahead of Texas on the
question of independence. In other ways,
we are very much the same.
Another way to think about this is to compare
the % of the annual state budget comes from
federal dollars, or return on tax dollars paid.
On both counts Texas is less dependent than NH.
I know that data is available to calculate how much of this comes from
things like social security, but I have not calculated that yet.
Re: federal government spending per capita
NH receives $1,238 per capita in government contracts (2021),
Texas receives $1,799 per capita in government contracts (2021).
Just another way of looking at Texas’ economy, compared to the
NH economy.
We can then look at defense spending. It should be expected
when independence happens, the US will want to pull out of the
state, for national security reasons, or that NH/Texas will request
them to pull out.
https://oldcc.gov/sites/default/files/defense-spending-rpts/OLDCC_DSBS_FY2021_FINAL_WEB_Revised.pdf
NH has 2.3% of their GDP in national defense spending.
Texas has 2.2% of of their GDP in national defense spending.
NH gets 0.4% of the total US national defense spending, $1,671 per capita.
Texas gets 8.5% of the total US national defense spending, %1,601 per capita.
If we look at state and local taxes,
NH pays $4,784 per capita in NH, $1,809 in other states (2022).
Texas pays $3,849 per capita in Texas, $1,146 in other states (2022).