I read this article from the Business Insider with great interest yesterday.

If you know me, then you know that I have a strong relationship with Ireland. For this reason, I took this article with a serious grain of salt. At the same time, I found it interesting that business media is seriously viewing our budget situation.

There is one very clear and significant difference between Texas, Ireland and our budget situations, however. The Irish have been a long-suffering people who were able to pull themselves up through their affiliation with the European Union and through years of providing quality education.

The global business community became fascinated with their well-spoken population and their workforce skills. This gave rise to a new middle class in Irleand and the strip mall effect swept the country.

Texas, however, has always had a mandate to have a balanced budget. Our Constitution requires that we make the numbers work. We have a long history of overcoming the odds and not caring about what anyone else thinks. The spirit of Texans carries us far.

There is ultimately no question that we are facing a serious budget issue this year. We expect the actual projected numbers to be released in the next few days.

One question to ponder is will we continue to invest in the education of Texans in the midst of a budget crisis? For if we want to continue to attract business growth and opportunity to our state, we have to create a prepared and educated workforce.

How will our state’s elected leaders close the gap? That is the question we will ponder over the next few months.