The business of Florida is business
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
On the one hand the web site for Enterprise Florida–“the official economic organization for the state of Florida”–proudly proclaims: “Florida – The Perfect Climate for Business.”
And why is Florida the perfect climate for business? The folks at Enterprise Florida helpfully explain. “You can have peace-of-mind when you locate your business in Florida. The state’s favorable business tax structure, government policies and competitive costs …”
On the other hand, a new study by United Way finds that almost half of the state’s residents live either below the poverty line or so slightly above it that they must struggle to pay for basic life necessities, including food, housing and childcare. Sometimes they lose that struggle. When that happens, families go hungry, or they get evicted from their homes, or their children go unsupervised. Or all three: those are really the worst of times.
The reality of almost half of the population living in serious economic distress is not limited to “the sticks,” the depressed rural communities in the north of the state or the poverty belt that includes the sugar cane area around Lake Okeechobee. It holds in South Florida too, where some of the richest people in the world live–at least part of the year.
Now, if there were any validity to the ideology of such free market fundamentalists as Gov. Rick Scott–and along with him virtually the whole of the modern Republican party–a perfect business climate and mass misery could not coexist.
The sum total of what the GOP calls its economic philosophy consists of the notion that prosperity is a product of low taxes on business and the rich plus government policies that favor business and punish labor.
But, hey, we have it on the authority of Enterprise Florida no less that all of that is already in place in this state. Thus the “job creators” should be out there creating tons of jobs and competing with each other by raising wages in order to get the workers needed to fill so many jobs.
Yet, obviously, it’s not happening. When the percentage of people living in poverty or near-poverty is six or seven times the rate of unemployment, you know there are legions of workers out there getting lousy pay.
As is the case for tourists, for business the climate in Florida may be ideal. But that’s cold comfort for nearly half the people of the state who have to work hard just to keep their heads above water.
Rick Scott did not create nearly the number of jobs he claims. But that is not the real question. The real question is how many jobs that pay a decent wage he created. The findings of the United Way study indicate that the answer is not many.
The United Way findings come as no surprise if you realize that the so-called Republican economic philosophy is bogus, a smokescreen for defending the interests of corporations and the wealthy. There is no riddle here. By and large, the things that make Florida perfect for business are the same ones that make for rampant poverty. For instance, low taxes make for meager spending on education, health care, and other public goods that reduce poverty.
Another new study further demonstrates the price citizens pay for living in a state with a perfect business climate. The March of Dimes grades states on an A-F scale on their success in reducing premature births. Premature births can have many adverse consequences for the child. The rate of premature births is also a good indicator of the general well-being of a population. This year the March of Dimes awarded Florida a “D.” That places the state near the bottom of the pile.
These two studies offer a window on the results of two decades of Republican political domination of Florida: dismal. After four more years of Rick Scott, the word might have to be made stronger: abysmal.
