‘Keep Florida, Florida?’ That’s not tethered to reality.
Florida Chamber of Commerce CEO Mark Wilson wants new arrivals to “help us keep Florida, Florida.”
Wilson expressed this sentiment in a Chamber op-ed article that the Sun Sentinel published on Monday. “Florida,” Wilson wrote, “is a special place and we want to keep it that way.”
Amen to that. Conditions are so good here that we don’t need imported wonks pushing new policies. Please bring only your money.
As of 2018, Florida ranked 41st in median wage. Excellent. Our reputation as a state of mostly low-paying jobs seems safe. It’s worked for decades. Why change?
According to United Way of Florida, nearly half of all Floridians live paycheck to paycheck. Sounds like a good business model.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, only 40.3% of workers in Florida had health care coverage through their employer in 2019. That’s the lowest of any state and nearly 10 points under the national average. No problem there. Clearly, all is well.
“As we work to become the 10th largest economy in the world by 2030, we welcome new residents and businesses that champion free enterprise,” Wilson wrote. “But the last thing we need is for those choosing to relocate to Florida to bring the politics of their state with them, impacting and changing the Florida they chose to move to in the first place.”
You can see why, from Wilson and the Chamber’s perspective, nothing needs to change. Wilson’s compensation in 2018 was roughly $500,000, based on the organization’s Form 990 report to the IRS. That’s almost 15 times the median wage.
In addition, the Legislature regularly prioritizes the chamber’s agenda. This year, Republicans want to make out-of-state companies finally pay sales taxes for online purchases. Rather than spend the money on services to Floridians, legislators want to replenish the unemployment fund and spare businesses the cost.
The Chamber’s wish that the Legislature not reflect reality in Florida is working. Tallahassee likely will do nothing on criminal justice reform this year, but it may pass more restrictions on abortion.
Homeowner insurance costs keep going up, but the Legislature’s answer may be “reform” that limits how much policyholders can collect.
Wilson boasts that Florida’s population keeps growing. That’s true, but here’s more reality.
Wilson said “800 net (emphasis mine) new people” are coming each day. Despite all the stories about the pandemic driving people from the Northeast, Florida in 2020 had the lowest rate of growth since 2014.
The Wall Street Journal reported that last year Florida saw fewer moves from other states than since 2011. Almost as many people moved out, citing hurricanes, heat and home prices. Analysts suggested that Florida is most attractive to the wealthy, and mostly because the state doesn’t have an income tax.
For eight years, Wilson and the chamber backed a governor — Rick Scott — who forbade members of his administration from saying “climate change” or “global warming.” The only “climate” Wilson considers important is Florida’s “pro-business, pro-jobs climate.” That’s short-term thinking.
As the Environmental Protection Agency reports, Florida sea levels have been rising by about 1 inch every decade. At that rate, scientists estimate, South Beach will be underwater in 30 years and the southern third of the state will be submerged by 2100.
Because the Chamber acts as a wing of the Republican Party of Florida, Wilson warns Floridians not to let “politicians who want Florida to be like New York,
California, Illinois and New Jersey ever lead Florida’s Legislature, 67 counties or our over 400 cities.” All those states have Democratic governors.
Yet Wilson does not mention the threat from invasive imports such as energy deregulation. Republicans foisted that upon Texas. We saw in February what a bad ideological bet that was.
When they took power two decades ago, Republicans didn’t discover a secret sauce to make Florida attractive. The state’s population grew from five million in 1960 to 15.3 million in 2000, when Democrats held all control in Tallahassee or shared it.
For many Floridians, this remains a good place to live. But the Florida that Wilson, the Chamber and the Legislature want to keep does not work for many other people, and the numbers show it. The real danger to Florida is keeping Florida, Florida.