Texas' Subsidies to Companies for Jobs Scrutinized

(MoneyWatch)  The state of Texas, like a great deal of other ones, operates two funds to help companies move to the state with a goal of creating jobs. The Dallas Morning News writes that payments from the Texas Enterprise Fund to Countrywide and Washington Mutual are being criticized due to the companies recent troubles. Both companies signed deals a few years ago to received state money with the stipulation that they create a certain number of jobs each year. Last year neither met their goal and were due to the mortgage crisis absorbed by other financial firms. Now some in the state are criticizing the deals as a waste of state money. To make matters more interesting the state government claims that due to higher job growth in earlier years they have met their goals. Unfortunately the state refuses to make that information public as it is considered proprietary. While there is no real reason to doubt that goals were met without proof it leads people to believe their is some sort of grand conspiracy. The fact that the two companies involved were major contributors to the mortgage and financial mess in the U.S. doesn't help. Without the state government clearly proving that the firms deserved the funds there will always be this criticism.