Rick Perry, according to Jim Hightower

Hearing Jim Hightower's description of Rick Perry, you'd have to wonder what corporate entity wouldn't hand this guy endless campaign funding. If you thought the tea party was about to do all big businesses dirty work, guess again, it's Perry. His simplified messages, sweeping generalizations and ultra folksyness is scary. What's odd is the lack of information out there for this long time governor and corporate toad.

But this is at least a start. More to come. Chris Hayes....

NY Times: In North Texas, companies are drilling under schools, airports and parks. Tens of thousands of rig jobs have been created and many residents have received thousands of dollars in lease sales and royalties. The oil and gas industry now delivers roughly $325 billion a year to the state, directly and indirectly. It brings in $13 billion in state tax receipts, or roughly 40 percent of the total, financing up to 20 percent of the state budget.

The unemployment rate is 8.2 percent, a full percentage point below the national rate but still higher than other boom states like North Dakota and Wyoming, and Texas has one of the highest percentages of workers who are paid the minimum wage and receive no medical benefits.

Still more:

NY Times: In an unpublished interview, Gov. Rick Perry of Texas told Fortune magazine that if he had been president in 2008, he wouldn’t have engaged in the financial rescue effort. Without the bailout, initiated by the Bush administration, we would not have a functioning economy today.

Mr. Perry also wants to repeal the 16th Amendment, thereby eliminating the income tax, which accounts for 80 percent of government revenue. Like his fellow aspirants, Mr. Perry has offered no analysis to explain how the government would function under his vision.

For the best list of all, check out Texas Watch on the "Texas Miracle." It's all there, and here's a sample:

Texas has the highest rate of workers paid at or below thefederal minimum wage and ourmedian hourly wage is 10% lower than the national average.  We are dead last in the percent of individuals withhealth insurance and are near the bottom in the percent of workers with employer-based health insurance.

As for workplace safety, nine Texans die on the job every week, making Texas thedeadliest state to work in, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  As a percentage of workers, we also have the highest rate of workplace fatalities among the 10 biggest states.  Also, with a quarter of workers without workers’ compensation coverage, we are last in workers’ compensation coverage, lagging far behind the rest of the country.

And home ownership?  Texas ranks near the bottom in the rate of home ownership, a fact that is exacerbated by our low personal credit scores, and high rate of subprime mortgages.  Plus, with the highest home insurance rates in the nation, more of our money is going to pad insurance company profits.