Is $100-A-Barrel Oil Good For Texas?

Although the state’s economy is more diversified today and not as dependent on energy production, Jim Fuquay’s sources say the answer is still yes. Neither Jim nor his sources, however, take into account what I’ll call “the spillover effect.” The effect occurs when higher prices at no additional cost spill money into the pockets of multi-generational heirs of old oil fortunes whose assets consist primarily of stock in the companies that bought out their forebears. In other words, the old rich are getting much richer–and that money plows back into our local economy. To my mind, the net effect of this investment, while hard to trace, will make the high price of oil even better for Texas than the economists can calculate.