Uh oh, HOT DOG!

Texas' government might go BOOM!  Why do you ask?  Well, the state has a $25 billion hole in its plot of its $1.2 trillion budget called a "deficit".  It's big enough to drive a mad truck, train, and plain through it.  However, pro-business pundits bills Texas a shining example of a "lean, mean, business-friendly" state, but what can they do if their majority healthcare and educational budget state going to do if they can't fill it?

In the Dallas Morning News back in October, newly re-elected Texas governor Rick Perry said on the campaign trail that he would be for doing away with Medicaid and Medicare-funded sCHIP (state Childrens' Insurance Program) altogether.  Now he is really trying to piss off the Babyboomers whom are the core of his voting base because if they can't get their health care then his ass will be burnt like toast.

Well, that's the $64,000 question that the GOP super-majority-led Texas State Legislature will have to figure out in the next few months...

Birmingham Business Alliance is pushing forward with plans to recruit more businesses to the region

The Birmingham Business Alliance, the recently formed organization which is the combination of Region 2020, Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Metropolitan Development Board, has hired Market Street Service to come up with an economic development strategy and plan for the Greater Birmingham area.  The Atlanta-based planning firm will help them come up with a plan with the region's demographic data, education attainment levels, and infrastructure to think of ways to recruit more businesses.

Hopefully, they will use UAB as their crown jewel of their recruitment strategy since it is one the leading research universities in the nation and medical centers.  Like Huntsville with high-tech jobs, Birmingham needs to focus on biotechnology jobs and firms along with financial and insurance companies in the region.  If they can get those particular sectors attention that Birmingham is open for business along with the new state incentives law allowing the recruitment of white-collar businesses with tax incentives then we might be on to something.

I'm crossing my fingers that they can get something major and the leadership of Birmingham will be wise and aggressive enough to push forward with these places to get most of these businesses placed into the city.