Living beyond one's means in south FL?

[T.Winter2001]

Originally Posted by ThreeOz

It's the Caribbean and Central American influence that makes Miami suck. I have no problem with South Americans. At least many of them, from the cities, are educated.

This dude is saying this because his wife is a Colombian immigrant, living in Pompano, and she is prolly watching him type. He does not want to offend her by lumping her in with the Colombians as part of the blame for the 3rd world like LIVING conditions in So. Florida including Broward county. They are ALL to blame for the demise of Miami AND BROWARD to a 3rd world city in a 1st world country: Cubans, Colombians, Venezuelanos, Brazzers, Haitans, etc.

[HotandHumid]

The majority of the wealth you see in South Florida is owned by people from somewhere else. You have to remember that South Florida is the only area of the world at this latitude that is not a desert and has water and that's because of the Everglades. There are no other areas of the U.S. with this climate and having a warm tropical climate in a country with a stable government is very attractive to wealthy people from all over the world who want to own property that they can escape to in case their government falls because usually when a government falls, it's been kept in place by rich people and rich people in countries where the government is taken over by poor people usually end up in prison or worse (think French Revolution). You also have to remember that Florida has very lenient inheritance laws so a lot of wealthy people who really live in other places where their money comes from register as Florida residents buying property here and having a Florida driver's license so their kids don't have to pay out large sums of their inheritance in taxes when mom or dad or both kick the bucket.
The Miami New Times once printed an article about all the deposed dictators, generals and other wealthy government officials forced out of their countries by revolutions who were living in wealthy areas of Miami.

You can't look at income averages for South Florida to get a true picture of the incomes here because much of the reported income from the wealthy is investment income, not from working jobs in the area. Their high incomes are also averaged against the low incomes of the working classes to come up with those "official" income figures so if you consider the high incomes of the wealthy, you get an idea of really how low the incomes of the working people in South Florida really are. And don't forget South Florida still has a lot of unreported income in the form of illegal drug sales, according to several reports in the media. Most honest reports about South Florida indicate that the nobody who lives in South Florida and works here who has the average South Florida income can afford to buy any property in South Florida that is at the median price of a home in South Florida.

Many of the new cars you see in South Florida here are leased and not owned and because the Latin culture has a history of the young not leaving home until they marry, you have a lot of Latin households in South Florida with multiple incomes coming in to pay the rent or mortgage even though that didn't necessarily prevent South Florida from being ground zero in the country in home foreclosures during the last recession, also an indication of just how low the incomes here are that are based upon tourism much more than in other areas of the U.S. because when people in other places couldn't afford to vacation in Florida during the last recession, the economy in South Florida bottomed out worse than in other parts of the U.S.

Miami is a very pretty veneer over a very rotten core since Miami has the highest rate of poverty of any city it's size in the U.S. Miami is lacking in good paying manufacturing jobs and it's a perfect example of the way the rest of the country will go if we keep shipping manufacturing jobs out of the U.S. with the U.S. having more and more people in poverty and less and less working at middle class jobs.

Having worked at Bloomingdales at Aventura, I can tell you from first hand experience of the multitudes of people that used to buy expensive designer clothing to show off their supposed wealth only to return it after wearing it out to a nightclub or to a social event on the weekend for a refund which Bloomingdales granted because of it's long standing policy of taking back anything it sold in any condition.

[City Guy997S]

Whew......that last post was well written but not real accurate on the facts side of the equation. I would love to see some links to back up the statements given as facts.

1. Average income is based on investment income to cover up the low earned income? So how do these people accrue the assets to have such a huge investment income in the first place? The transition into the "relocate to Florida to save on inheritance taxes" is also full of errors.
2. Leased cars....ok I can see that but all the cars are going home to Latins that cram into a single house because no one moves out until they are married? That might have "taken the stereotype train to crazytown."
3. Nobody in Florida can truly afford a home unless they have illegal drug income?
4. Miami has the highest poverty rate for a city of its size? This is 100% false. Miami has 420K residents, here is a list of the top 10 poverty stricken areas in the US. 6 of the 10 have a population within the 400-450K resident range. Tallahassee FL is the only city in Florida on the list. 10 Metro Areas With the Highest Poverty Levels - US News

[Papillons2]

Originally Posted by City Guy997S

Whew......that last post was well written but not real accurate on the facts side of the equation. I would love to see some links to back up the statements given as facts.

+1 ... let's see some numbers.

Cutting through all the analysis and opinions on this thread, there's one simple, indisputable fact: If you spend more than you earn (no matter how you earn it), you are living beyond your means. Just like if you eat too much and don't exercise enough, you will gain weight.

Because South Florida has high housing costs, many temptations and a keeping-up-with-the-Joneses mentality that encourages spending on things that aren't necessities, people are susceptible to living beyond their means here. But my educated guess is that it's becoming increasingly common in many regions (especially major metro areas) because incomes are stagnant while the cost of living continues to increase.

[BigSicily954]

To the OP...

South Florida is a trendy place. People are very focused on image. Jewelry, cars, purses, etc.

People will eat ramen noodles if it means they can drive a BMW and carry an MK purse.