POLS 207 1st Edition Lecture 1 Outline of Current Lecture II Population and its affect of policies A Household Income Statistics B Why has the population changed III Texas State Services IV Texas State Government Current Lecture Population Population increases are different if you divide by ethnic groups It is steady when looked at as a whole More foreign born than native born that make up the population Population is important because it has an impact on politics especially public policy Different people are interested in different policies so a changing demographic will alter public policy White population is decreasing Whites are no longer the majority in Texas Predictions state that Texas may change from Republican to Democrat without two Presidential elections It is predicted that in 2030 the majority population of Texas will be Hispanic It is the fastest growing minority The main reason that the Hispanic population is growing is that they provide cheap labor and therefore they are hugely in demand by various companies Asians are a very small minority and below average in Texas population They propel educational expectations of Americans they are often high achievers that Americans must strive to meet 1 in 2 Asian Americans have a degree Compared to 1 in 4 on average for whites This is because SES social economic status is very important to Asian Americans However white people have the highest per capita income despite being secondary to Asian Americans in educational standards Potentially due to the glass ceiling for many minorities and the lack of connections Household Income Statistics Asian will have a higher household income than whites Theoretically this is because of their culture they still live under the same household as their parents etc Even when the first born son gets married they will stay with their parents because it is their responsibility to look after them Fertility levels Hispanic have the highest so they are the fastest growing People who are uneducated have more children because those who are educated are putting it off they are putting off marriage etc often for their careers Poverty level for Texas is high this is linked to education Incarceration rate is high in Texas 150 people per 100 000 more than the average for the USA Enforcement levels are high in Texas Why has the population changed Texas didn t like immigration they were racist Only wanted certain types of whites as well such as the English Germans etc Chinese Exclusion Act they excluded the Chinese from immigrating This also meant that they excluded most Asian people So they created another act Japanese Gentlemen s Act Japanese were now excluded This also spread to include most other Asians Lyndon Johnson changed the policy so that people could not be excluding from entering the country due to racial background Family Reunification people can sponsor their family members to enter the country so one person can lead to entire family immigrating to America More Hispanics are here legally rather than illegally Mainland China is offering a lot of incentives for Asian Americans to return to China because it is growing so fast they need those educated individuals Texas State Services Texas is rated 50th for the percentage of residents with health care 1 in 4 people are uninsured Spend the most on developing health care but lowest on those who are insured Education can be linked to life expectancy Texas State Government Texas has very low taxes ranked number 49 on revenue per capita This also means that they spend very little on residents Texas must have a balanced budget so they will cut spending on public services public parks etc TEST INFORMATION We will be tested on the rank but no specific numbers Only range such as ranked high or low