Perry on Texas’ Debt: Fact or Fiction?
Governor Rick Perry recently claimed that Texas has “the fourth-lowest per capita debt of any state in the nation.” PolitiFact Texas investigated the statement, rating it “mostly true.” Photo by Daniel Reese for KUT News. Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Governor Rick Perry travels to New Hampshire this weekend for a private party with Republican leaders, which looks a lot like it could be a campaign meeting.
In this context, KUT’s Emily Donahue spoke with Gardner Selby of the Austin American-Statesman’s PolitiFact Texas about claims the Governor made about Texas’ debt situation.
When the not-quite presidential candidate gave an interview to The New Hampshire Sunday News recently, PolitiFact noticed this statement: Texas has “the fourth-lowest per capita debt of any state in the nation, and we are the lowest of any of the big states”.
PolitiFact Texas rated this statement “mostly true.”
According to Selby and his team, Texas had nearly $38 billion in state debt at the end of August 2010. Using US Census figures, they were able to calculate how much debt per person the state had in 2009. That came out to $1,227, which was less than the per-capita debt the nation’s other most populous states. So Texas is lowest among the biggest states, as Perry said.
To listen to the full conversation between Donahue and Selby, click on the audio player above.
For more information on PolitiFact Texas, click the banner below.
Podcast: Download (5.0MB)
