In the article, Texas Today: Strong Business Environment And Innovation Spurs Job Creation, author Steve Stackhouse makes the claim that Texas' economy is growing well, with many new jobs being created.
I believe that his audience is two-fold. First, I believe that he's talking to Texans, as this is a very Texas oriented blog. I also believe that he may be trying to address some non-Texans, because he gives a lot of background information on Texas that many Texans, and certainly most Texans who read his blog, would already know.
His purpose, therefore, is also two-fold. For the first group, I think he's trying to cast Texas in a positive light, to make them feel proud and happy with their state, and how it is going. I also think he's trying to make Texas look better in the eyes of others. He may even be trying to get others to want to move to Texas, looking for jobs, although he never mentions the idea in the article.
I believe that the author is fairly credible. He certainly backs up all of his facts. However, I feel that his argument is very one sided; he avoids even mentioning several critical facts. As noted here, Texas doesn't have the best pay rates in the nation. So, despite the fact that we have more jobs than average, many of those jobs are much lower paying, on average. He also glosses over the fact that the tax breaks for the businesses lead to much lower funding for many programs, like education.
In summary, while I believe that he makes a good point, I also think it's a one sided point, that ignores many of the negative aspects of the issue.
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