Don't tell the Tea Parties movement, but Texas is a hotbed of socialism. Specifically, corporate socialism.

Texas has a poor record on pollution, and pollution has a cost to all those exposed. Yet, due to Texas's low-regulation, low-tax environment, those corporations aren't paying the full cost of the pollution they cause. In other words, corporations are able to privatize the profits from pollution-causing activities, while socializing the costs of those activities (the pollution) more so in states with more regulations like California.

A recent example of this comes from Huy Fong Foods - maker of Sriracha hot sauce - based in Irwindale (about 10 miles east of Pasadena). In October Irwindale sued them as a public nuisance (link):

Residents complained last fall the fumes seeping from the factory during the chile grinding season burned their eyes and throats and forced them to stay indoors.

Officials from Texas tried to lure them to move to that state, and - of course - those in the Tea Parties sphere cheered the possibility of another business moving out of California. However, the story had a different ending with the city dropping the suit and the business owner making changes:

The company recently installed stronger filters on its rooftop air filtration system, which [Sriracha creator David Tran] said he tested with pepper spray.

It is unknown if the new filters will be adequate until the company begins to process chiles, which is expected to begin in August.

"At the commencement of this year's chile harvest season, if the air filtration system does not perform well, then Huy Fong Foods will make the necessary changes in order to better the system right away," Tran wrote in a letter to the [Irwindale] council.

There's a very good chance that would not have happened if they'd moved to Texas. Instead, the company would probably have continued to emit annoying fumes. They wouldn't have to spend the money on the filters but instead would have been able to pass part of the cost of manufacturing off on to others.

If anyone disagrees, leave a comment or contact @24AheadDotCom_ with examples of Texas officials holding companies accountable for the full costs of manufacturing.