McAllen, Texas (CNN) -- Even as the health care debate turns to blood sport in Washington, some analysts say the debate is ignoring one of the leading causes of rising costs: the way health care providers are paid.

Click on our link below to get the full details on the way select counties are the model of government waste: http://www.txbiz.org/news_articles/47

As the preeminent voice for the state’s business community, the Texas Association of Business often hears from employers about the challenges they face in growing their business and adding employees during this particularly difficult time in our state’s history.

Our state and nation are in the midst of an historic, global recession, but there are true glimmers of hope for our state. According to the Texas Workforce Commission’s most recent data, Texas added over 50,000 jobs in the last three months. Our 8.3% unemployment rate, while too high, remains far below the national average.

Despite the tough times, employers remain unwavering in their belief that Texas is best positioned to get out of this Wall Street-created mess sooner than our neighbors across America.

In just a few short years, Texas has become an economic beacon for the nation in large measure because of fiscally conservative leadership in the Legislature.

The business community has thrived in Texas, as we continue to maintain the highest number of Fortune 500 companies in our state than any other. We have been cited by countless publications as having the best business climate and being regarded as the best place in America to do business. Texas had more job growth in 2008 than all other 49 states in America combined.

That being said, a nod from Forbes doesn’t put food on the table for Texas families. The fact remains that men and women are struggling. People are delaying paying certain bills from month to month to make ends meet. Families are tapping into college and retirement funds to pay their mortgage. They are unsure that their representatives are taking care of their needs. And the constant refrain from Washington seems to be “Give us your money, and we’ll do a better job of taking care of your needs than you can.”

Here in Texas, we know that the best thing government can do is to get the hell out of its citizens’ pockets.

To get down to brass tacks, we stand taller than our peers because we keep taxes and spending low. The feedback our Association has received from employers is that Texas is attractive because they have to pay less to the state to make their businesses thrive.

A thriving business is not an extra comma in an executive’s salary. It is the resource that provides families with jobs, and often pays for health insurance and retirement programs. Attracting and retaining companies that employ Texans is job one for the business community.

Toward that end, the Texas Association of Business is proud to support two state constitutional amendments to limit spending growth to correspond with the growth rates of the state’s population and inflation, and require a two-thirds vote of the Legislature to approve all tax increases.

By controlling these two economic factors, we can avoid the disastrous results we have seen in California, whose 20 billion dollar budget shortfall has been caused by spiraling growth in taxes and spending.

We currently have a multi-billion dollar budget surplus. And to face the challenges to come, we must be prepared to fend off foolishly trying to tax and spend our way into a better economy the way that we have seen in Washington D.C. and California.

Taking these important steps will ensure that Texas remains open for business.

The Texas Association of Business is proud to present the inaugural Perspectives series, featuring commentary from influential, disparate voices on the important political and policy issues taking place in Texas and across America.

Today influential conservative watchdog Michael Quinn Sullivan shares his perspective on the Tea Party movement and its influence on elections taking place in Texas and across America.

Michael Quinn Sullivan, President and CEO - Texans for Fiscal Responsibility and Empower Texans: Predicting the future, especially of political movements, is a fool’s errand. What’s more interesting, and instructive, is the impact “tea parties” have had on the American political landscape in just the last twelve months.

Few would have suspected an unscripted rant from the Chicago trading floor by a CNBC analyst would turn into a national dialogue on citizen engagement. But it was a rant awakened many whose voices had gone silent.

Tens of thousands, then hundreds of thousands, took to rallies in the spring and summer. They were driven by many things, but mostly by a sense that America’s spirit was being shackled by bank bailouts, ill-conceived stimulus plans and a European-style collectivist health care proposal.

Dismissed by the left as “tea-baggers,” it was assumed they would go away once the signs waved at rallies got too heavy. Some have, but many continue to seek ways to invest their newfound political and policy interests.

With a super-majority in the Senate, President Obama’s health care reforms seemed a foregone victory. Except these people had other plans, which involved raising the political cost of supporting such a thing. Today, no one expects that legislation to see the light of day, thanks to the energy of so many tea party activists.

These were the people mobilizing turnout in New Jersey, Virginia and elsewhere in November. They were door-knocking and sign waving passionately for Massachusetts’ Scott Brown long before any polls reflected the intensity of their effort.

Even here in Texas the tea parties have been instrumental in shaking the status quo. Between new waves of volunteers to race-changing candidates, the 2010 election season has been radically transformed.

It would be tempting to consider the tea party movement as an auxiliary of the Republican Party. But that misses the point; many of these are people driven by principles, not parties.

What’s been shocking is just how spontaneous the activities really have been. It would be comforting for some, perhaps, to believe it was led or coordinated. Certainly no shortage of politicians future, current and former have tried to leap to the front of the parade. In reality, much of what these neophytes have done wouldn’t have been allowed by the “professional” political class.

It is impossible to predict the long term impact of the tea parties.

Frankly, the success of a grassroots movement isn’t measured in months; the tea party will be no different. Its impact will be most visible looking back, not ahead. What can be safely predicted about the remainder of the 2010 election season is that the political game has been changed.

The Texas Association of Business is proud to present the inaugural Perspectives series, featuring commentary from influential, disparate voices on the important political and policy issues taking place in Texas and across America.

Today influential progressive blogger and political strategist Matt Glazer shares his perspective on the Tea Party movement and its influence on elections taking place in Texas and across America.

Matt Glazer, Partner, GNI Strategies: The Tea Party is to Republicans today what the Green Party was to Democrats in 1999-2000. The biggest difference is that the Tea Party has been co-opted by corporate Republicans almost immediately, whereas the Green Party was brought into the big tent of the Democratic Party over a long period of time.

In 1999, Al Gore seemed perfectly positioned to take the torch from President Clinton. Yet, the social justice centered Green Party capitalized on an anti-incumbent, anti-corporate feeling among very liberal Americans who felt Bill Clinton’s “Third Way” centrism ignored their policies and passions.

After the 2000 election and subsequent 2002 Republican rise, the Democratic Party took careful steps to include more diverse voices. The only solution for Democrats was to move slowly into a two-front campaign to win the hearts and minds of both the far left and conservative middle. It is a struggle we see play out even today among Democrats on issues like health care – but the struggle is exclusively among Democrats. The electoral consequences of the Green Party peeling off voters from traditional Democrats are no longer a reality in American politics.

Texas Republicans, however, missed the lesson.

If the Republican Party had read the tea leaves and adjusted ahead of time, Debra Medina would not be polling at 16%. If Rick Perry and the Republican Party of Texas hadn’t fought against Ron Paul throughout the 2008 elections, Medina may not even be running for office.

Instead, Medina is rising in the polls, Kay Bailey Hutchison is falling, and Rick Perry cannot break the magical 50% marker. Medina, meanwhile, has suggested that if she loses she would support an independent or Libertarian-style candidate in the general election instead of Perry or Hutchison.

While Perry is doing everything in his power to co-opt the Tea Party movement, you have to remember: he only got 39% of the vote in 2006. The Libertarian Party in Texas can receive anywhere from 3-7% in Texas elections, easily. If Medina champions a Libertarian-style Independent candidate throughout 2010, that number could easily double.

That leaves Rick Perry to fight a two-front political battle as he’s running for election – much as the Democrat he once endorsed in 1988, Al Gore, tried and failed to do in 2000. Any attempts by Perry to galvanize and co-opt the Tea Party movement only moves him further to the right, leaving him vulnerable to recruit the moderates and independents in Texas he needs to pull away from Bill White in order to win in November.

Ultimately, the Tea Party movement does not indicate a fundamental shift in political identity. Instead, Debra Medina and the Texas Tea Party are signs of a growing problem for the Republican Party – one they are trying to co-opt before they suffer Nader-like consequences in the 2010 Governor’s race.

As a parent and as the President of TAB, education is a passion. I've been fortunate enough to be able to send my kids to good schools, which has allowed them the gateway to make a good life for themselves.

But for many in Texas, simple questions like "What schools are out there?" or "How am I going to pay for education?" cannot be answered because they don't know who to ask. I'd like to give a plug for a site that can help answers those questions at:

http://www.collegefortexans.com/

Maybe this site can help you, your family, your employees or their children take that next step to turning dreams into reality.

Thanks,
Bill

The political arm of the Texas Association of Business, the Business and Commerce Political Action Committee (BACPAC), today announced its first round of endorsements for the 2010 election cycle. For the complete list, please visit http://www.txbiz.org/bacpacJan.

Austin – In the biggest news in recent memory for the Texas Association of Business, President and CEO Bill Hammond was today awarded a Certificate of Environmental Stewardship by Texas Interfaith Power & Light.

"I’m speechless," said Hammond. "To be recognized for our organization’s commitment to real environmental change is gratifying. I am delighted that our charge to build a better Texas has helped our Earth as well."

Founded in 1922, the Texas Association of Business is a broad-based, bipartisan organization representing more than 3,000 small and large Texas employers and 200 local chambers of commerce.