Florida’s unemployment rate is down, jobs figures are necessarily up and Gov. Rick Scott is reminding voters that he’s the one to thank. Additional tax cuts in a low-tax state and poaching letters to states with Democratic governors obviously turned the tide.
Three quick points.
First, Florida is participating in an ongoing national economic recovery. Why wouldn’t we?
Second, many of the Sunshine State jobs are in service and tourism sectors that pay less than the jobs that fled.
Third, Florida’s economic future lies in the jobs of the future. The ones that are attracted less by marginal tax cuts and gubernatorial prose than by investments in infrastructure–notably transportation–quality of life and education.
You want to talk serious jobs–as well as quality-of-life enhancements? Accepting high-speed rail funding and lobbying for Medicaid-expansion assistance would have helped. Might even have helped mitigate feelings over Scott’s deposition from hell in that notorious Columbia/HCA Medicare fraud case. Might have.