Economic report: With a really bad financial outlook, Florida is ‘a state in trouble’
Reading through the latest report from the Florida Center for Fiscal and Economic Policy I felt the words of Jeffrey Lebowski (”The Dude”) come to mind: “That’s a bummer, man.”
I have never seen Florida’s economy and shortcomings so well explained and so depressing and dire. Here are the report’s conclusion:
Key indicators of the health of Florida’s economy point to a state in trouble.
Of particular concern for the future will be the need to direct spending to the most important priorities of the state, such as investments in education that will strengthen the capacity of Florida residents to prosper in a different kind of economy, with the goal of producing higher-paid jobs. The traditional drivers of economic growth in Florida have weakened and in some cases there is no prospect for change in the near future. Population growth is not expected to match the historic post-World War II rate, providing less demand for new homes and other construction – demand that spurs economic activity. The huge supply of existing houses for sale will further depress construction and economic activity which, in turn, will dampen tax revenue collected by the state. As the recession wanes, tourism spending will begin to recover, and so will jobs in that sector of the economy. But most of those are of the low-wage service variety — not the kind of higher-wage occupations around which to build a vibrant economy.
Creating an economy with better jobs in the future will be made more difficult against the backdrop of state funding in many areas that has long been inadequate and now is being further cut as a national recession drives down the tax revenues needed to pay for government services.
Still not at panic attack stage yet? Try these bullet points:
