Cost of living is not everything..."Silent Potential" brewing in Miami (Coral Springs: foreclosures, renting)

[tallrick]

If those Latin Americans have so much money, why would they want to come here? Obviously their home country is providing them with better income than south Florida residents are getting. Perhaps if they would not be siphoning money off to blow it in Miami things would be better.

[MiamiVice1985]

Originally Posted by miamiblue

MiamiVice, your intentions are good, but I think you're just slightly off on your hypothesis. But a good topic of discussion nonetheless. Yes, Miami-Dade needs to attract better businesses (and as others have said, that means an overthrow of local government, etc.) to help attract better paying jobs for a better workforce.

What Miami-Dade needs is LESS rich anyone - money is money, regardless of where you are from it pretty much spends the same. How is it different for a rich North American to spend $1.5 mil on a condo than a rich Venezuelan, Italian, German, etc.? The rich are already in Miami, and have been coming for the past 25 years, and see what we have? Miami-Dade is no longer a place that is possible for average joes to live even reasonably comfortably without a financial crunch. Therefore, you aren't going to be able to keep the quality teachers, policeman, service workers, etc. because why live somewhere where you are constantly competing against and stuggling with the rich? The ones who can get a job elsewhere will do so, leaving Miami-Dade with the ones who - for whatever reason - don't have the qualifications, experience, etc. to pick up and go someplace where they will be paid more equitably compared to the cost of living.

Miami-Dade needs a reality check - which I think it is getting. A community can never be only for the elite, because those that serve the elite will eventually not even be afford to live close enough to serve them. A healthy community is a diverse community, and not just culturally, but socioeconomically as well.

Yes, sir, you are very right. However about the rich people...

Please correct me if I am wrong. I believe that those who really "run" Miami Dade county are of an upper class of Latin American descent. I am talking about the business people and employers who get people like Mark Sarnoff and Carlos Alvarez elected. These kinds of people are really the ones who pull the strings in the City of Miami as well as Dade County.

The salaried workers "on paper," the $50k/year ones who keep the machine running are not to blame. The people of South American descent who in the backdoor cigar rooms plan on ways to starve the poor, fatten the rich, and make the belittled middle class stand at attention- these are the ones who must go.

Do I have evidence of where the cigar room is located? No. Do I know who attends these important decision making venues? No. But I have a good nose as to what goes on and why things are the way they are. Certain mayors are uniters; Mayor Daley of Chicago, Mayor James Curley of Boston, Rudy Giuliani of New York City. Carlos Alvarez is not in this prestigious group. He is merely bought and paid for exclusively by the "Rich refugees of banana republics" to maintain a economically stratified autocracy where main industry is the docking and resupplying of cruise ships.

[copacetic]

Don't forget Miami's other vibrant industries: Bacardi, Burger King, cocaine!

Yeah, city governments are notoriously corrupt. Miami certainly does not have a copyright on this concept.

[MiamiVice1985]

Any more ideas on how to attract rich northerners from the good old US of A? I strongly believe that an uprooting of the existing upper class and replacement by an upper class of domestic (US) origin would be the best thing that could ever happen to this city. It would be great to buy the influence that comes with U.S. interest without strong ties to foreign countries. Some people whine "no more rich people," but a fact of life is that they will always be here. If we could only choose what language our local rich people spoke as well as what culture they promoted... It would have a "trickle down" effect.

There is still a bastion of old American wealth in Coral Gables, Pinecrest, but that is it. It has been largely overwhelmed and marginalized by the class of Miamian that drives a $35k Mercedes. We need to attract wealthy FAMILIES, BUSINESSES, and ACCUMUlATED WEALTH from the "upper 48". We need to let the big boys come back to town and kick the "Old Guard" (Latin American sphere of influence) out of town!

[tallrick]

If you are going to have rich people, get the "self made" millionaires and those who did it through innovation. Personally I think that being the place where the rich come to spend their money is a terrible idea, I would rather have lower income people living in a cheap area, with a sustainable economy. As for the Latin American thing I tend to agree, other "American" wealthy people tend to be easier to relate to, but again a city with a stronger middle class seems more my style. Then I can focus on getting rich.

[miamiblue]

I'm not saying no more rich people. Maybe should have said "more middle class". The distribution of wealth in Miami (and pretty much the country as a whole, when you really think about it) is pretty dismal. Anyone wondering why the real estate market is the way it is?

Wealthier people came in inflating the prices of the entire area on speculation, driving them so high that lenders had to start playing creative math with mortgages to get the middle class into homes they should have been able to afford normally. People that ordinarily were able to live comfortably suddenly found themselves unable to continue to afford their lifestyle. This is not just hearsay, a very good friend of mine lived through it and had to move because her property taxes tripled (along with her home's value) in three years. She could not afford to live in the house she bought anymore, even though she had received promotions over those three years. The whole situation with the economy was begotten by greed.

There will always be the haves and have nots - no argument there. However, Miami desperately needs to revitalize its middle class, and its current economic situation (and all of FL) is proof that an upper-class only society is not sustainable. There must be room for the middle class to live without struggle or the entire society will collapse in some aspect. We are lucky that people are just moving elsewhere instead of rioting (maybe that's what they should have done instead, who knows). When middle class people are struggling to survive, they aren't going to just stick around and take it. Unfortunately for Miami, it needs the middle class for IT to survive as well.

[MiamiVice1985]

Sir, you are right about everything. We should be lucky the middle class doesn't riot! Imagine that! However, there will NEVER be a prominent middle class here if we don't dethrone the ruling class of "Spaniards" here. I am on an anti-Latin-upper class tirade this week! You can make excuses why the middle class avoids Miami or attack the heart of the problem, the greedy Financial-Real Estate-complex of Miami, which is run by rich Latin Americans with Latin business principles. BOOM-BUST-BOOM-BUST, just like the economies in their countries of origin! They made money in their countries whether the economy was in recession or expasion. They laugh their way to the bank all day long, just like here. They have a stranglehold on this beautiful city's heart! May their arms be cut of!!!

[copacetic]

That's absurd. The business cycle has nothing to do with Latin Americans. It is controlled by bankers in New York. And by their proxy in Washington, the Federal Reserve Board.

[StoneOne]

Originally Posted by copacetic

That's absurd. The business cycle has nothing to do with Latin Americans. It is controlled by bankers in New York. And by their proxy in Washington, the Federal Reserve Board.

Agreed. If it's all the Latin Americans, how do you explain the boom-bust in places like Las Vegas, much of California, etc? I think the spectacular boom and harder than average bust is more a function of sunny climes attracting lots of speculative investment from outside. That's what happens when such a large segment of the residential market is not owner-occupied on a permanent basis.

[tallrick]

The Latin Americans skew the business cycle by inflating prices when they siphon money from their countries to here. Everyone knows that the last Miami bubble was initiated by Venezuelans. The Federal Reserve set up the conditions, but Latin Americans blew up the property market starting in 2002. The earlier 80's bubble was Latin American in origin as well, but mostly from a domestic drug trade. While the business cycle is not caused by latin Americans, the money diverted from their homelands has a drastically bad effect here. Foreign money always has strings attatched, and the attitude it brings is rotten. Ever notice how most businesses in bubble areas are owned by foreigners? Those usually have poor customer service and high prices.