[aidaolympia]

Originally Posted by yoko

I was reading an article in The Economist (7. 11th) about

" how sun, sand and seniors are not enough to revive Florida. Tourist arrivals in the first quarter fell by 10.6% from last year. In a global recession, dream vacations get deferred. And Ohioans are finding it rather difficult to sell their houses to live in the Sunshine State.

Mr. Mark Wilson, the head of the Florida Chamber of Commerce believes that Florida needs to shift from an economy based on tourism, construction and agriculture to one with more and better-paid high-tech jobs.

Mr. Wilson mentions opening of laboratories in Florida by three non-profit organizations. He also dreams of high-tech companies like NASA. But those laboratories and NASA are heavily subsidized.

The quality of education, vote for everything initiative and hurricanes slow down any progress.

Vote for everything initiative requires popular votes on changes to local land-use plans.
Two years ago, Mr. Charlie Crist, the governor, cut prices on insurance premiums and subsidized insurance policies. When the next hurricane hits, the repair bill will land squarely on Floridian taxpayers, rather than being spread among global insurers. "

From:
The Economist, July 11th 2009, page 43
Sorrow in the sunshine by Crystal River

To become a high-tech State, Florida has a long way to go.

A Tallahassee-based nonprofit organization reports:

Foreclosures in Florida have quadrupled over the last three years. In the first four months of this year, new Florida foreclosure filings totaled 198,880.

About 1.9 million Florida residents – about one in 10 – receive food stamps

With a poverty rate of 12.5 percent, the number of people living in poverty in Florida has increased by 180,000 in one year

Per-capita state government spending is 44th in the nation, and Florida spends proportionately more of its budget on corrections than all but two states and a smaller share on education than most
states.

Florida's population growth, which has driven the state's economy since World War II, is stagnant.

Florida's rate of income growth has fallen to 45th in the country.

The real rate of growth in gross state product – the value of goods and services the state produces – has fallen to 47th in the nation

"Improving these trends will require wise choices on both the spending and revenue sides of the Florida budget", says Mr. John Hall, the Executive Director of Florida Center for Fiscal and Economic Policy's (FCFEP) who finds that per person, income growth in Florida has fallen behind the rest of the nation and that the gap in income between the most affluent and those on the bottom rung of the economic ladder is among the widest in the nation and getting wider.

http://www.bizjournals.com/southflor...3/daily31.html

[yoko]

The same way multiplication table in grammar school is pounded in our head or the table of elements in high school is forced upon us to memorize, at the early stages of our education, ethics, must be engraved in our way of thinking, so that we don’t have to spend more on correction facilities than on schools. When the “greed” is passed on, somebody at the poverty line is paying for it.

[aidaolympia]

And what about what they learn at home from their parents?

[samjune2009]

Yoko,

Herald Tribune has a very interesting article about fraudulent property flips and foreclosures.

“According to Hearld Tribune investigation team, from 2000 to 2008
1,222 fraudulent flips in Lehigh Acres
1,815 in Cape Coral
1,010 in Port Charlotte and North Port
535 on the Cape Haze Peninsula”

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article...-1/NEWSSITEMAP

Map: heraldtribune.com/flip

[Synergy1]

I recently hear by my brother that some "flippers" are really buying homes at "fire sale" prices then performing minimum fix ups and refinancing them to the max....Then the "flippers" rent the homes collect the rents and just go away...

The renter is up against a home that will be soon under foreclosure and paying a person who has maxed out the value of a home by remortgaging and just going far away....

With todays economy these "flippers" may be the few who will not get hurt during the housing crunch......

I am not sure if it works well in most cities in Florida but my brother says it is working in DC and is a disgrace..

http://ezinearticles.com/?A-Beginner...Houses&id=4317

[yoko]

Sam, Synergy thank you for your posts.

More and more we learn about life on the other side of the river.

Herald Tribune reports about greedy fraudulent speculators who have damaged banks in billions of U.S. dollars which is passed on to honest tax payers to cover for the loss.

Articially inflating the sales to get larger bank loans then to default the loan and share the loan among friends and family members who helped faking buying/selling. This has been the recipe for the "free lunch".


http://www.hearldtribune.com/article...ticle907191031

[samjune2009]

Originally Posted by yoko

I was reading an article in The Economist (7. 11th) about

" Mr. Mark Wilson, the head of the Florida Chamber of Commerce believes that Florida needs to shift from an economy based on tourism, construction and agriculture to one with more and better-paid high-tech jobs.

Mr. Wilson mentions opening of laboratories in Florida by three non-profit organizations. He also dreams of high-tech companies like NASA. But those laboratories and NASA are heavily subsidized.

From:
The Economist, July 11th 2009, page 43
Sorrow in the sunshine by Crystal River

Subsidy, what it can mean...I will cover the name of the company and the individual involved so that it does not look as if I am attacking one particular person, but a situation.

"......, besides looking like Mr. Dithers on the Simpsons, has destroyed the lives of many people with his unethical hiring and laying off people.There was an actual club in ...... of former ......employees...... used to get money from the State for every new hire they had. So he crushed them through the mill and then layed them off with a box on the desk when they got back from lunch program. All while he collected awards from the State for creating so many new jobs."


What has brought down Florida is not alone the greed but lack of ethics.

[yoko]

Originally Posted by aidaolympia

Getting tired of "flippers" giving advice how to rip off other people.

A local T.V. station had a special and enthusiastic report about that professional flipper who wanted to have his own reality TV show.
Now, he is planning to have "seminars" to teach people how to make easy money through flipping houses.

"In Lee County, the median price has dropped from $322,300 in 2006 to $88,500 in May 2009, down 73.5% ."

But a man working for a cable company felt lucky that he could finally buy a house for $80000 as speculative buyers have left no chance for first time home buyers to get close to any affordable houses.

Very happy to read that at least one working poor could buy a house without having to pay too much to flippers before getting the key.

http://features.csmonitor.com/econom...ill-look-like/

[yoko]

Originally Posted by samjune2009

Subsidy, what it can mean...I will cover the name of the company and the individual involved so that it does not look as if I am attacking one particular person, but a situation.

"......, besides looking like Mr. Dithers on the Simpsons, has destroyed the lives of many people with his unethical hiring and laying off people.There was an actual club in ...... of former ......employees...... used to get money from the State for every new hire they had. So he crushed them through the mill and then layed them off with a box on the desk when they got back from lunch program. All while he collected awards from the State for creating so many new jobs."


What has brought down Florida is not alone the greed but lack of ethics.

Giving away money for "the number" of employees to make Florida a high tech state? I though in IT business what matters the most is "innovation".

[Synergy1]

My name is Synergy1 and I aprove of yoko's message