Texas is is the biggest state in the contiguous U.S. and, to borrow Walt Whitman‘s words, it “contains multitudes.” The size and diversity of Texas makes the Lone Star state hard to define and hard to pin down — consider that the state most closely associated in the public consciousness with the oil business is actually by far the leading producer of wind-sourced renewable energy in the U.S.
Sen. Ted Cruz thinks Texas and all its success — especially as a place to do business — is misunderstood. Wait, that’s not quite right: Ted Cruz thinks Texas’s reputation is being purposely sabotaged by “left wing hacks” at CNBC, the business-focused cable channel not particularly known for left wing bias.*
Cruz was stirred to castigate CNBC’s coverage of Texas after CNBC published a study that said Texas was no longer a “Top State for Business.”
Cruz writes: “Really sad to see left-wing hacks at CNBC weaponizing their woke criteria to try to attack Texas.”
The woke criteria Cruz evidently references includes what CNBC calls “a rollback of diversity, equity and inclusion” — though CNBC also cites “power grid issues, rising crime, and poor health care” as factors in Texas’s rank drop.
Really sad to see left-wing hacks at @CNBC weaponizing their woke criteria to try to attack Texas.
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) July 12, 2023
They ADMIT that the Lone Star State is #1 in job growth, #1 in “Access to Capital” and #2 in “Workforce Development.” https://t.co/FYxFipDODZ
Texas still ranks #1 in major categories such as job growth and access to capital, as Cruz points out.
The Lone Star state finished out of the CNBC Top 5 this year for the first time since the rankings began in 2007, but its drop was hardly precipitous. It finished at #6. CNBC has ranked Texas #1 overall four times.
Leadership at CNBC changed last year, as KC Sullivan replaced longtime CNBC boss Mark Hoffman at the top.
*[NOTE: AllSides, which measures bias in media, gives CNBC a “Center” rating. The site explains: a Center media bias rating does not necessarily mean a source is totally unbiased, neutral, perfectly reasonable, or credible, just as Left and Right don’t necessarily mean extreme, wrong, unreasonable, or not credible. AllSides encourages people to read outlets across the political spectrum.]
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