Joe (@Notsoavgjoe91)

Q: Is Texas too integrated with the United States to Texit? A: Texas is indeed highly integrated with the United States. However, these political and economic ties are not so tight or intricately interwoven that it would be impossible to untangle them. In many instances, it would not be necessary to untangle them at all. There is no part of the relationship between Texas and the rest of the United States that could not be accomplished by utilizing existing State-level institutions and agencies, executing bilateral agreements between Texas and the United States, or by Texas signing onto multilateral international agreements that are already in place.   The free trade agreements that the United States already has in place for 20 other countries around the world treat trade with them as though they were one of the States of the Union. Yet no one would argue that any of those countries are inseparable members of the federal Union. Hypothetically, Texas could execute a free trade agreement with the United States and adopt the United States tariff schedule with the World Trade Organization for external trade, and no one would even notice the difference (not to imply I am in support of Tariffs).   Texans currently pay, in all, federal and state taxes of $336 billion per year. This represents the total amount of revenue readily available to an independent Texas without increasing the financial burden on Texans one single cent. From that amount, subtract the amount spent by both the federal government and state government in Texas. $228 billion is the total amount of expenditures required to maintain every program, every job (both civilian and military), every department, every facility (including military bases) and fulfill every function (including current federal contract spending to Texas companies) provided by the federal and state governments. This level of government revenue would rank Texas 12th in the world for government revenue collected.   Texas has the 10th largest economy in the world.   Texas ranks 40th in the world in size.   Texas ranks 47th in the world in population.   Texas ranks 40th in the world in the size of its labor force.   Texas is a net global exporter ranking 22nd in the world and leading all other States in the United States.   93 percent of Texas exports are manufactured exports.   Texas is the 12th largest technology exporter in the world.   Texas ranks 19th in the world in the size of its active farms and ranches.   Texas is the largest energy producer in the United States, accounting for more than half of the entire United States energy production and one-quarter of the refining capacity with over 26 petroleum refineries.   Texas has the 7th largest coal reserves.   Texas is the 6th largest producer of wind energy in the world.   Texas has its own power grid.