You can scream until your blue in the face, that will not change the fact that one day oil will all be depleted. When that happens if we do not have a new leg to stand on the economy will be unstable as a two-legged bar stool. Another added benefit of researching renewables is the positive publicity Texas would receive for being an early a
Friday, April 28, 2017
Risks: Making Texas Economy Sustainable and Stable
If Texas were an economic bar stool, it would have three major legs: oil, meat, and technology. The stability of the bar stool is directly related to the stability of each individual leg and a bar stool with two legs is impractical. This is the way the Texas economy has largely run for the past 40 years and while it has worked to some extent, we know that this model is, by definition, unsustainable for the future as society begins to turn away from oil products like gas in favor of renewable sources of energy and away from factory farmed meats. That leaves technology as the most stable source of revenue for the state. Luckily, if we use the current surplus in the budget to invest in technology we could develop new technologies that are reusable and marketable.
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I agree with colleague Mallasch and the amazing visual example of the “Bar Stool” in the blog titled: http://anorthernperspective1.blogspot.com this blog entry was straight, to the point and effective. My only addition would be to consider the other forms of revenue Texas COULD invest in to replace oil and factory farmed meat. Technology is golden with; Google, Amazon and Hulu are all creating a Texas style “Silicon Valley” and will continue to help Texas gain revenues, (https://www.forbes.com/sites/navathwal/2015/02/12/5-markets-poised-to-be-the-next-silicon-valley-for-real-estate/#1ac55511703e). So I would like to focus on the other two legs, Meat and Oil. Meat I do not feel we should give up on. Texas is known for its land and agriculture to the extent that we encourage residents to invest into farms by offering Tax breaks. But we need to follow the consumer and turn those farms and manufacturing plants into the clean desirable meat. Which mean we need to invest back into the farmer and famers and update the technology as well as the techniques in the manufacturing’s plants. There are even movements occurring as we speak that push for a “clean meat” source which is the ability to make meat without animal slaughter (http://www.gfi.org/clean-meat-the-clean-energy-of-food) … which I don’t know how I feel about that. The other leg, Oil has got to go. But what do we replace it with? My go to is the shiny green because of the profits other states have made off of it.
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