#RickPerry and the 8.4 pct unemployment miracle

Ripped from the AP headlines:

The unemployment rate in Texas jumped to 8.4 percent in July, hitting the highest level since 1987 while climbing at the fastest pace since the state was still stuck in a recession two years ago, according to employment figures released Friday.

Let's see Tricky Ricky try to spin away this baby.

Well, a flunky already is:

"Texas continues to feel the effects of a stagnant national economy," Texas Workforce Commission Chairman Tom Pauken said in a statement.

(Pauken, for the information of non-Texans, is a former state GOP chair, amongst other things.)

And, here are more details that show this isn't just a blip:

The jobless rate in Texas increased from 8.2 percent in June, and after being at 8.0 in May, the rate has now risen 0.2 in consecutive months for the first time since the recession in 2009.

Government and construction were down. The 9,400 government jobs lost last month was the sharpest monthly drop since September, with Central Texas taking the brunt of those losses.

In other words, this is a trend, not an aberration. Two consecutive months of two-tenths increase means Texas' economy (sadly for those of us who live here and know that Perry, and much of the state GOP, are nuts) is in trouble.

The second quoted paragraph? The drop is government jobs is primarily, I think, school districts already cutting jobs due to the GOP-passed austerity budget of June. Look for more of that in the next month or two. The construction jobs drop? That's more worrisome yet. It heralds, perhaps, a more general economic slowing. It may also indicate homeowners are more worried about buying houses, among other things.

Sadly, between Comptroller Susan Combs refusing to tell voters last October just how bad the state budget was shaping up to be, and the general "Perry luck" in elections, he's again dodged a bullet that could and should have prevented him from continuing to run Texas into the ground while boasting about his gubernatorial greatness.