It is all well and good that a "West Coast high tech firm could bring hundreds of jobs to Florida". Florida's media has been trumpeting the (mere) possibility of "hundreds" of new jobs for several days, the implication being that "Jeb!" (and the Jebbites) is leading us out of the economic desert.
- "Florida is still experiencing weakness [sic] in some industry groups, including manufacturing (-17,600 jobs, -4.3 percent), trade, transport and utilities (-8,300 jobs, 0.6 percent), and information (-7,200 jobs, 4.1 percent)."
- "Manufacturing losses were primarily in durable goods (-11,200 jobs, -4.2 percent), with the largest loss in computer and electronic product manufacturing (-5,000 jobs, -8.7 percent)."
(Emphasis supplied.) Just in August, then, Florida lost 17,600 manufacturing jobs and 7,200 highly coveted "information" jobs (respective -4.3% and -4.1% declines in those sectors); importantly, the largest loss in the manufacturing sector was in the prized computer and electronic product manufacturing area, with an -8.7 percent decline (a loss of 5,000 jobs). Florida lost thousands of jobs we aleady had in the computer and electronic product manufacturing area in just one month. Hence, while "Jeb!" chases a few hundred "good" jobs with expensive government incentives, little if any effort is being expended to keep the good jobs we already have. The economic ship of state is sinking around Captain "Jeb!".
More importantly, a few hundred jobs state subsidized jobs (even if Florida gets them) will not dent the overarching, apparently systemic, problem reflected in these recent stats: Florida was one of only five states to experience both a decrease in household income and an increase in families in poverty from 2001 to 2002, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Friday. . . .The state's income declined at almost twice the national rate. "State has more poor, less income".
It is simply amazing that the media is lauding "Jeb!"'s expensive chase for a few hundred jobs while giving little play to the ongoing destruction of the Florida economy while "Jeb!" has been at the helm. To quote a Bible passage that "Jeb!" (and the Jebbites) might appreciate, this chase for a few "hundred" good jobs with expensive government incentives is "meaningless, a chasing after the wind." (Ecclesiastes 2, Verse 17).
TO THE EXTENT FLORIDA HAS A "MIDDLE CLASS" . . . The number of Americans without health insurance jumped to 43.6-million last year, the largest increase in a decade, but the more ominous story is inside these numbers. More than half the increase came from households with incomes between $25,000 and $74,999, and slightly less than half are people who work full-time. One in five middle-class families had no insurance. "Uninsured in the middle".
"JEB!" PASSES THE BUCK -Gov. Jeb Bush told leaders from faith- and community-based organizations Friday that government needed their help to solve the social problems plaguing American society. The governor's second conference on faith-based initiatives held workshops on the challenges in promoting healthy marriage and strong education values, tips on running homeless shelters, making grant proposals more effective and other topics. "Gov. Bush: Government needs religion's help to solve society's ills".
FAT CHANCE -A positive political reform idea has lain dormant for way too long. State Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Dania Beach, wants to resurrect it. He deserves widespread, enthusiastic support from Florida voters.
Ryan wants to take the once-a-decade job of reapportionment -- redrawing legislative and congressional districts -- away from the Legislature, to which he belongs. Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers have repeatedly bungled the redistricting job, drawing misshapen districts that carved Florida into a jumbled jigsaw puzzle. Also, lawmakers have an unavoidable conflict of interest, protecting their own jobs and those of colleagues.
Ryan will soon submit two proposed state constitutional reform amendments, asking voters to place them on the ballot by the "citizen initiative" process. "Take Politicians Out of the Loop".
THE FLORIDA LEGISLATURE AT WORK - The court was bound by what Florida's well-kept Legislature plainly intended. Still, it brings to mind what a Chicago reporter once wrote about a certain notorious case: "Law, the bastard offspring of justice, handed her mother a frightful beating in criminal court today." Read Dyckman's "Limitation periods pit law against wronged patients".
THIS WAS SO OBVIOUS, EVEN "JEB!''S DEP COULDN'T IGNORE IT -It was good to see state environmental regulars, after such a long record of pitiful enforcement, finally move against Coronet Industries. The Department of Environmental Protection said for the first time Wednesday that toxins from the Plant City factory appear to be linked to polluted drinking water found near the eastern Hillsborough County plant. More tests are needed to establish the cause and extent of the pollution, and to quantify the health risks to anyone who drank the water. But at least the government has been compelled to act. "Taking polluters to task".
As many as 2,500 farmworkers, most of them poor, most of them minorities, lost their jobs when Florida bought out Lake Apopka's muck farms. To soften the blow, legislators established a $5 million program meant to retrain and replace farmworkers, and rehabilitate the areas where businesses relied on their patronage.
But five years after the muck farms closed for good, many familiar with the buyouts say the relief program has failed.
Retraining programs weren't set up until long after workers became unemployed. Once established, programs produced only a few dozen graduates.
Meanwhile, much of the money slated for economic redevelopment has done little to help the affected areas. Hundreds of thousands of dollars went to build community centers in places far from the muck farms. More than half of the $5 million still has not
A "JEB!" "JUBILEE" -Gov. Jeb Bush's announcement Thursday that he won't block efforts to divert $30.1 million, the one-time cash payout value from an unclaimed $50 million lottery prize, to Florida's 67 school districts was met with jubilation by educators. "Lottery money flowing to schools cheers educators". It seems there was much swooning and joyful chants of "We Love 'Jeb!'" and "'Jeb!' for president in 2008" in midst of what the reporter referred to as"jubiliation" over what can at best be considered a short term, small-time stop gap.
FLORIDA'S "WATER . . . UNDER PRIVATE CONTROL"?In 1999, the Legislature changed education in Florida without any thought and debate. The state has been trying to work out the details ever since, making life chaotic for students, parents and teachers. That lesson shows why Florida should not debate hastily and put into place a plan that would alter the state's water resources and could place water now owned by the public under private control. "Still the public's water".