It is interesting that this study focuses so much on matters of concern 
to libertarians.

Some of these results are a tad obsolete for Texas as the result of the 
just completed legislative session, which should raise Texas a couple of 
positions on the personal freedom ranking. On the other hand, the fiscal 
situation in California has dramatically deteriorated. I can quibble 
with some of the criteria, and it is difficult to apply them to a state 
like Alaska that actually pays a dividend to its citizens from oil revenues.

Missing from the analysis is of the efficiency of state and local 
government. From my observations of state and local government, 
especially in California and Texas, I can testify the disparities are 
dramatic. I generally conclude that Texas state agencies get as much as 
three times as much done as California state agencies for the same 
amount of money. I also note that in Texas computer-related projects 
and  contracts invariably come in on time and under budget, while in 
California they seem to fail as often as not. Texas computer project 
managers are computer experts, whereas California project managers are 
political appointees with little or no computer expertise.

Nevada state agencies are efficient in large part because a very large 
part of their revenues are from grants from private foundations.

Jacob Roginsky wrote:
> http://www.mercatus.org/uploadedFiles/Mercatus/Publications/Freedom%20in%20the%2050%20States.pdf
>   
-- Jon

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