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Quoted: Well, you all didn't in 08/09, so there's that View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Maybe all the yankees will go back from whence they came. Maybe. Maybe some of us will be buying foreclosed houses on the cheap. We'll see , Johnny Reb. They won't be buying cheap AR's either after FL gives the country to Biden. People down here have been wrecked, the .gov drove this country off an economic cliff in a rage of fear and panic. |
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Quoted: FL last in processing Unemployment. RPOF scared because of it. Florida among slowest states to process unemployment claims Analysis Shows Florida Ranks Near Bottom of Processing Unemployment Claims Floridians fear they'll run out of money before they'll get unemployment checks Florida slowest state in US to process unemployment claims Under then Gov. Rick Scott's two terms, the GOP gutted the unemployment system. Republicans were cheering the cuts when the good times were happening and the economy was rocking. But they didn't build a rainy day fund for possible economic downturns. Now as a US Senator, Rick Scott is further rubbing it in Floridians' faces. Rick Scott, who gutted Florida's unemployment system, says coronavirus stimulus will pay low-wage workers too much Now Gov. Ron DeSantis has a shit sandwich on his hands. 'It's a shit sandwich': Republicans rage as Florida becomes a nightmare for Trump Florida GOP Realizes Deliberately Impoverishing the Unemployed Has Downsides Meet the lawmakers who helped Rick Scott gut Florida's unemployment system Unemployment benefits debacle could leave DeSantis out of job Dear Gov. DeSantis: Rick Scott might have created this unemployment disaster, but it's your job to fix it I believe this will have the Sunshine State go Democrat in November and hurt Trumps chances and Democrat in 2022 for the Governor's seat. Floridians are pissed. The State's Department of Economic Opportunity reports that there is 600,000 unemployed, yet they have received over 1.2 million applications for benefits so far. Less than 10% of the applications have even been processed. On top of that, the entire system is a complete cluster fuck. People can't get their applications through due to the website crashing and no one answering the phones. The hubris the GOP has shown in this state the past decade will be catching up and biting them in the ass. Tampa Mayor Jane Castor gets 78% approval rating in pandemic, outdoing DeSantis, Trump, new poll shows Gov. DeSantis' approval rating drops as governors nationwide see boost The Pandemic and Black Voter Turnout A drop in black voter turnout was a factor in Donald Trump's 2016 win. Will COVID-19 - which is disproportionately killing African Americansbring more black voters to the polls? View Quote How do apply for unemployment in Florida? Punch cards and hanging chads? |
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Quoted: We've got a strong economic foundation built. If we were to open after this weekend, we would bounce back rather quickly. However, this foundation is eroding quick. Another 3 weeks and it will be a lot of work to get it back. I see it getting exponentially worse every three days here. View Quote It gets worse every two weeks. Two weeks is always the right answer except some have taken to using a month, or six weeks or a year. |
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Quoted: @SuperSixOne, half my family is out of work and hurting big time in South Florida. They all work the hospitality industry. The State's handling of Unemployment is also a complete clusterfuck. Lawmakers in Tallahassee have no clue. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: No cruise ships, no hotel stays, no tourism, no beaches. These D.C. government robots with paychecks coming off the money press are so out of touch with how many Americans have nothing coming in right now. My neighbor owns a commercial food distribution biz that services restaurants and she can't afford to reopen it. All the employees(50-60) are hosed. We have to get back to work.. We just got hit with an economic Pearl Harbor. People are out in the streets, but nobody is buying anything. It's more sudden here that most of the country, but the pain will reach Main Street before they know it. |
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Seriously, you cannot depend on the government. The pay checks to the government bureaucrats continue, but in reality it pays for endless changes in departmental logos, wars between different departments and agencies and constant reshuffling of org charts. You only find this out when you really rely on them.
The gov (local, state, federal) is just a building on a road housing people who can't do anything of value other than shuffle paper and it's to be considered a drag on society which no one would miss if 75% of it disappeared (including 100% of the DMV). |
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We’re in DEEP shit here in South Florida ~
Some Civil Unrest already appearing because of family finances and domestic / social problems... If the Florida Unemployment System doesn’t get resolved quickly people will start doing dangerous desperate things. Both of my businesses were forced closed by Broward County Decree on March 20, 2020 I tried looking for alternatives in trying to think outside the box in utilizing my fleet for something essential but the county sent me a letter from the Consumer Services Division forcing my business / industry to shut down... I was forced to shut down with no choice or appeal... Do I have a right to sue the Government under TORT claims statute for the unjust taking / stopping of my business ? I’m at a loss here... My damages amount to over $ 75,000.00 now in lost bookings / future reservations... |
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Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: No cruise ships, no hotel stays, no tourism, no beaches. These D.C. government robots with paychecks coming off the money press are so out of touch with how many Americans have nothing coming in right now. My neighbor owns a commercial food distribution biz that services restaurants and she can't afford to reopen it. All the employees(50-60) are hosed. We have to get back to work.. No clue? Right... The sooner you realize that it's "by design" the better off you'll be. Lol. I love all the sad Pablo memes! |
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Quoted: Well, you all didn't in 08/09, so there's that View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Maybe all the yankees will go back from whence they came. Maybe. Maybe some of us will be buying foreclosed houses on the cheap. We'll see , Johnny Reb. Lol. I didnt have any money then. Seeya soon, new neighbor. |
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Quoted: Lol, month? She gonna eat canned everything?!? Corona lives for days on some surfaces. You gonna disinfect her mail too? You gonna get other people to not touch her mail? Her food? View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: How does she get food? Her mail? To the doctor for her appointments? you buy her a months food, she gets tha mail once a week, and she aint getting to the doctors now anyway. Lol, month? She gonna eat canned everything?!? Corona lives for days on some surfaces. You gonna disinfect her mail too? You gonna get other people to not touch her mail? Her food? Nobody's grandma is more important than the livelihoods of 100's of millions of people. The fact you expect people to start eating out of trash cans to save your grammy, is pure fucking insanity. |
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Guessing Hawaii, Anaheim and the other tourist destinations are also feeling it
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Quoted: We’re in DEEP shit here in South Florida ~ Some Civil Unrest already appearing because of family finances and domestic / social problems... If the Florida Unemployment System doesn’t get resolved quickly people will start doing dangerous desperate things. Both of my businesses were forced closed by Broward County Decree on March 20, 2020 I tried looking for alternatives in trying to think outside the box in utilizing my fleet for something essential but the county sent me a letter from the Consumer Services Division forcing my business / industry to shut down... I was forced to shut down with no choice or appeal... Do I have a right to sue the Government under TORT claims statute for the unjust taking / stopping of my business ? I’m at a loss here... My damages amount to over $ 75,000.00 now in lost bookings / future reservations... View Quote This makes me angry. Everyone, at this point, understands the risks of opening the economy. High risk people can self quarantine and the rest of us should be allowed to take our chances and get to work preventing our entire civilization from imploding. |
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Quoted: No cruise ships, no hotel stays, no tourism, no beaches. These D.C. government robots with paychecks coming off the money press are so out of touch with how many Americans have nothing coming in right now. My neighbor owns a commercial food distribution biz that services restaurants and she can't afford to reopen it. All the employees(50-60) are hosed. We have to get back to work.. View Quote Yup. Fuck Desantis. Apparently its ok for me to go to Wal Mart to buy Chinese farmed Talapia, but its way to fucking dangerous for me to get in my boat , put it in the water at a ramp and go a few miles of shore and catch my own fish. He is the same as any other shithead Governonr during this. We have a ton of small businesses that should be open right now but he said fuck you. We could enjoy nature but he closed down a fuckload of public lands |
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Quoted: I have family in South FL, the lot of you want it to be shut down as much as those "DC" people. Not saying it's the boomer population, but it might just be the boomer population. View Quote Nope all the GenX and Millenials want it shut down here too. Florida is pretty much a lost case for the Right |
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Quoted: Well it’s green and climbing at least but there will be bumps... View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Stock market is doing fine...what are you talking about? Well it’s green and climbing at least but there will be bumps... It is stable....not in a free fall. No sign of depression. |
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Quoted: Sounds like your neighbor just didn't have the business acuity/agility to repurpose her food service sales into the consumer grocery market while this shut down plays out. Hell, the grocery stores were running out of stuff because people were buying multiple units...like food service sized packs. Worst case scenario she could have donated it all to food pantries and taken a write off. With the PPP money available, she should have been able to keep those people on her payroll. With the government dough being made available...there's damn little reason anybody with enough sense to operate a business is being forced to permanently close down. View Quote Its not lke they can just phone the local Wal MArts and Publix and say hey , I have a shit ton of food thats not made for retail sale going bad, do you wanna buy it to resell? Even if it were packaged for retail sale, its not like you are gona work out a deal fast enough before you are broke anyway |
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Quoted: We’re in DEEP shit here in South Florida ~ Some Civil Unrest already appearing because of family finances and domestic / social problems... If the Florida Unemployment System doesn’t get resolved quickly people will start doing dangerous desperate things. Both of my businesses were forced closed by Broward County Decree on March 20, 2020 I tried looking for alternatives in trying to think outside the box in utilizing my fleet for something essential but the county sent me a letter from the Consumer Services Division forcing my business / industry to shut down... I was forced to shut down with no choice or appeal... Do I have a right to sue the Government under TORT claims statute for the unjust taking / stopping of my business ? I’m at a loss here... My damages amount to over $ 75,000.00 now in lost bookings / future reservations... View Quote I have an attorney in Broward that will negotiate with the local Police to keep you open. Depending on the business. |
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Quoted: Yup. Fuck Desantis. Apparently its ok for me to go to Wal Mart to buy Chinese farmed Talapia, but its way to fucking dangerous for me to get in my boat , put it in the water at a ramp and go a few miles of shore and catch my own fish. He is the same as any other shithead Governonr during this. We have a ton of small businesses that should be open right now but he said fuck you. We could enjoy nature but he closed down a fuckload of public lands View Quote |
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Last week I remember you Floridians were just fine w/ shutting your borders... Fuck the tourists, close down 95 & all that BS. You really didnt see this coming?
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Quoted: I have an attorney in Broward that will negotiate with the local Police to keep you open. Depending on the business. View Quote Thank You for the offer but the damage has already been done unfortunately... I’m at the MERCY now of the Government opening up the economy in gradual incremental stages... No one is traveling or going anywhere in my industry right now... |
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Quoted: I've been in food service for a lot of my adult life and most stuff is in 40# packs. I've never seen a 300lb package of butter. 40# blocks? Yeah, but most foodservice operations prefer 40# cases of 1# individually wrapped blocks of butter. View Quote And there it is.. I guess some people would rather sit on their hand than try and save their business. |
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Quoted: @WildBoar, DeSantis for his entire term in office has been riding Trump's coattails and is pretty damn weak for the most part. He's been all talk and no walk. And what's worse is his lack of leadership during this crisis will hurt Florida even more. He figured being Governor would be easy under a Trump Administration. Well, it's proven wrong. Worse, he hasn't spent the political capital he amassed on what he campaigned. View Quote Yup. I mean I didnt want Meth Head Gillum but DeSantis has been a disappointment so far. This State is fucked |
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Quoted: Last week I remember you Floridians were just fine w/ shutting your borders... Fuck the tourists, close down 95 & all that BS. You really didnt see this coming? View Quote When have any FL folks here said that? We love Tourism, its why we have no State income tax. We just don't want New England Liberals to permanently move here. Are you butthurt that the non liberal Floridians don't want your Liberal cancer here? Sounds like it |
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Quoted: No cruise ships, no hotel stays, no tourism, no beaches. These D.C. government robots with paychecks coming off the money press are so out of touch with how many Americans have nothing coming in right now. My neighbor owns a commercial food distribution biz that services restaurants and she can't afford to reopen it. All the employees(50-60) are hosed. We have to get back to work.. View Quote I am in South Florida and I see many clients doing ok. There is for sure a 2 world economy. Those that relied on restaurant s/hotel/tourism are dead. Sadly that's not coming back this year or next. And it's has nothing to do with a shutdown. |
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Quoted: @SuperSixOne Your assessment is exactly what I'm seeing in some small business that I service as a small business. It is said that a true small biz has enough working capital to go.......wait for it.......... Only 27 days. I had customers with small businesses for 10-20 years throwing in the towel half way into week 3. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: It's not going to bounce back like people think. That ship sailed. This is going to be a depression. @SuperSixOne Your assessment is exactly what I'm seeing in some small business that I service as a small business. It is said that a true small biz has enough working capital to go.......wait for it.......... Only 27 days. I had customers with small businesses for 10-20 years throwing in the towel half way into week 3. How the fuck is that even possible? Does no one actually save money during the good years? |
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I had a coworker of mine yesterday tell me we need to stay shut down for another month.
Our economy will be fine. He comes from a failed socialist country and is usually level headed. But we are essential and budget covered for another year so no urgency. |
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Quoted: When have any FL folks here said that? We love Tourism, its why we have no State income tax. We just don't want New England Liberals to permanently move here. Are you butthurt that the non liberal Floridians don't want your Liberal cancer here? Sounds like it View Quote Its more than just Liberal ideals. Its NE attitudes. NE personality types. etc. They bring a whole bag of shit. |
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Quoted: Yup. I mean I didnt want Meth Head Gillum but DeSantis has been a disappointment so far. This State is fucked View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: @WildBoar, DeSantis for his entire term in office has been riding Trump's coattails and is pretty damn weak for the most part. He's been all talk and no walk. And what's worse is his lack of leadership during this crisis will hurt Florida even more. He figured being Governor would be easy under a Trump Administration. Well, it's proven wrong. Worse, he hasn't spent the political capital he amassed on what he campaigned. Yup. I mean I didnt want Meth Head Gillum but DeSantis has been a disappointment so far. This State is fucked I worked on his detail for a little bit and he was personally nice. But politically, he's a wet noodle riding the Trump wave and hoping it would get him higher office. His record in Congress is nothing spectacular and it was pretty much a nothing burger. |
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Quoted: When have any FL folks here said that? We love Tourism, its why we have no State income tax. We just don't want New England Liberals to permanently move here. Are you butthurt that the non liberal Floridians don't want your Liberal cancer here? Sounds like it View Quote Let me break it down for you... Your state has weather. So, the west coast & south west dont need you. Most of your clients are gonna be from the north east. Shitty weather & they can afford to visit. Your in a shitty position. Edit. No edit, dumb comment. Its on me |
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Quoted: No cruise ships, no hotel stays, no tourism, no beaches. These D.C. government robots with paychecks coming off the money press are so out of touch with how many Americans have nothing coming in right now. My neighbor owns a commercial food distribution biz that services restaurants and she can't afford to reopen it. All the employees(50-60) are hosed. We have to get back to work.. View Quote Everyone could "get back to work" tomorrow and not a whole lot would change. The economy isn't in great shape plus we're dealing with a pandemic that's killing thousands a week here in the USA. People won't be flocking to bars, restaurants, malls, movie theaters, car dealerships, department stores, airports, casinos, cruise ships ect as soon as governors open states back up. |
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Quoted: Gillum would have been absolutely horrible. But DeSantis has been a disappointment. He's capitulated to the RPOF in the Legislature and has allowed Galvano to call the shots for his first two years. He hasn't done much for gun rights, not even openly support them by encouraging the Legislature to pass pro gun bills. He fought an uphill battle to give teachers a pay raise. And he's pretty much been lackluster. My contacts in FDLE tell me he mostly plays golf either on Trump's course or he plays virtual golf in the garage of where FL-1 was stored under the Scott Administration since he's converted it to a virtual golf fairway most of the time. I worked on his detail for a little bit and he was personally nice. But politically, he's a wet noodle riding the Trump wave and hoping it would get him higher office. His record in Congress is nothing spectacular and it was pretty much a nothing burger. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: @WildBoar, DeSantis for his entire term in office has been riding Trump's coattails and is pretty damn weak for the most part. He's been all talk and no walk. And what's worse is his lack of leadership during this crisis will hurt Florida even more. He figured being Governor would be easy under a Trump Administration. Well, it's proven wrong. Worse, he hasn't spent the political capital he amassed on what he campaigned. Yup. I mean I didnt want Meth Head Gillum but DeSantis has been a disappointment so far. This State is fucked I worked on his detail for a little bit and he was personally nice. But politically, he's a wet noodle riding the Trump wave and hoping it would get him higher office. His record in Congress is nothing spectacular and it was pretty much a nothing burger. Desantis doesnt come across as brightest bulb. He hasnt really had a plan, except to suck up to Trump. Even the fact that the cruise industry implodeded and he had no real plan evan after the japan fiasco to deal with the cruise ships. I get that the ships are not registered here. But RCL, NCL and Carnival are huge employers in South Florida, and he basically fucked them. He goes back and forth. Frankly Giminez has done a decent job and even called out DeSantis for some of asshattery. God help us if we get a storm our way this year. In the end, this shit is more than these guys can handle, DeSantis didnt shutdown Europe or Asia, which is a huge supply of toursim for us. Everyone wants to open the economy. There is nothing to open. No Tourists to fill the hotels, no one is coming here, No one is going to restaurants to spend money, because we are in once in a lifetime recession. Sadly, I am telling people they need to plan right now to make a change because things are not going back to normal this year. |
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Quoted: How the fuck is that even possible? Does no one actually save money during the good years? View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: It's not going to bounce back like people think. That ship sailed. This is going to be a depression. @SuperSixOne Your assessment is exactly what I'm seeing in some small business that I service as a small business. It is said that a true small biz has enough working capital to go.......wait for it.......... Only 27 days. I had customers with small businesses for 10-20 years throwing in the towel half way into week 3. How the fuck is that even possible? Does no one actually save money during the good years? |
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Same thing is happening here in Gulf shores/ Orange Beach AL. but imagine that everyone makes minimum wage. Thank god that I work for a worldwide company and the wife works for a national company. If we didn't things would be rough.
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Quoted: Let me break it down for you... Your state has weather. So, the west coast & south west dont need you. Most of your clients are gonna be from the north east. Shitty weather & they can afford to visit. Your in a shitty position. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: When have any FL folks here said that? We love Tourism, its why we have no State income tax. We just don't want New England Liberals to permanently move here. Are you butthurt that the non liberal Floridians don't want your Liberal cancer here? Sounds like it Let me break it down for you... Your state has weather. So, the west coast & south west dont need you. Most of your clients are gonna be from the north east. Shitty weather & they can afford to visit. Your in a shitty position. But FL has resources to be a economic powerhouse. We can drill for oil. We can manufacture and ship goods from our ports. We can be the international banking center. We can be a major agricultural producer of non frivolous goods. We can rival Vegas in tourism if we legalize gambling. But our Republican Legislators blocked that economic opportunity and locked us into being a service industry based economy built around attracting well to do people from the north and having them invest in property for retirement or simple tourism based around Disneyworld. Our lawmakers are stuck in a economic mindset from the last century and has passed legislation or worse. Modified our Constitution to block diversity in our economy and restrict economic development in sectors that would be immensely profitable and capable. Our lawmakers suck the economic tit of Disney tourism, retirees, and Federal Agencies due to the military being here. Our economy is service based and it will fail. Worse, our lawmakers for the past two decades have squandered the opportunities that have been available to make this state better. And now with the House of Cards that is our economy collapsing. They will reap was they sowed in being cheap. You get what you pay for. Floridians were happy to have a cheap government. Well, this is the end result. Slow, inefficient, under staffed, and broken. |
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Quoted: Desantis doesnt come across as brightest bulb. He hasnt really had a plan, except to suck up to Trump. Even the fact that the cruise industry implodeded and he had no real plan evan after the japan fiasco to deal with the cruise ships. I get that the ships are not registered here. But RCL, NCL and Carnival are huge employers in South Florida, and he basically fucked them. He goes back and forth. Frankly Giminez has done a decent job and even called out DeSantis for some of asshattery. God help us if we get a storm our way this year. In the end, this shit is more than these guys can handle, DeSantis didnt shutdown Europe or Asia, which is a huge supply of toursim for us. Everyone wants to open the economy. There is nothing to open. No Tourists to fill the hotels, no one is coming here, No one is going to restaurants to spend money, because we are in once in a lifetime recession. Sadly, I am telling people they need to plan right now to make a change because things are not going back to normal this year. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Desantis doesnt come across as brightest bulb. He hasnt really had a plan, except to suck up to Trump. Even the fact that the cruise industry implodeded and he had no real plan evan after the japan fiasco to deal with the cruise ships. I get that the ships are not registered here. But RCL, NCL and Carnival are huge employers in South Florida, and he basically fucked them. He goes back and forth. Frankly Giminez has done a decent job and even called out DeSantis for some of asshattery. God help us if we get a storm our way this year. In the end, this shit is more than these guys can handle, DeSantis didnt shutdown Europe or Asia, which is a huge supply of toursim for us. Everyone wants to open the economy. There is nothing to open. No Tourists to fill the hotels, no one is coming here, No one is going to restaurants to spend money, because we are in once in a lifetime recession. Sadly, I am telling people they need to plan right now to make a change because things are not going back to normal this year. Quoted: [/b] Everyone could "get back to work" tomorrow and not a whole lot would change. The economy isn't in great shape plus we're dealing with a pandemic that's killing thousands a week here in the USA. People won't be flocking to bars, restaurants, malls, movie theaters, car dealerships, department stores, airports, casinos, cruise ships ect as soon as governors open states back up. |
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@Miami_JBT
We understand and we dont give a fuck.if we are backwater. I love backwater Florida. I love Cherokee sink and Big blue on the Wacissa river. I love chokoloskee canal fishing. Coming from Cuba, what do think Florida should be? |
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Quoted: @Miami_JBT We understand and we dont give a fuck.if we are backwater. I love backwater Florida. I love Cherokee sink and Big blue on the Wacissa river. Coming from Cuba, what do think Florida should be? View Quote Backwaters are conquered. I'd rather Florida conquer others. But because the State was a backwater, that ked to only 36% being born in her borders (I'm one of those 36% by the way). |
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Well keep in mind bro, you dont speak for all of us.
Remember that. Your vision for Florida is disturbing. |
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Quoted: Some of you guys seem to know jack shit about business. Thin margins are the norm in most industries now. Lots of cash churn needed to pay everyone their cut, including this gov. View Quote Oh come on. The last 10 years have been the most prosperous of any country, at any time, in history. Businesses running on the razor's edge before deserve to be out of business now. American business got "obese" because there has been so little stress, time to trim the fat. Sorry if I don't have any compassion. Its business, not someone's life. |
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Quoted: Oh come on. The last 10 years have been the most prosperous of any country, at any time, in history. Businesses running on the razor's edge before deserve to be out of business now. American business got "obese" because there has been so little stress, time to trim the fat. Sorry if I don't have any compassion. Its business, not someone's life. View Quote How in the fuck are you measuring the part in bold? |
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Quoted: Well keep in mind bro, you dont speak for all of us. Remember that. Your vision for Florida is disturbing. View Quote Why shouldn't we have a strong manufacturing base and a energy sector for our economy? The Chinese through Mexico and Cuba are going after oil right outside our EEZ and we decided to block ourselves from those resources. We have the land and weather that would be attractive to manufacturering and we have the seaports to ship those goods to the Caribbean and Latin America. As for tourism, if we legalized gambling, we'd put Vegas out of business. Our Agriculture could make us a major breadbasket and we should expand it. We have more International Banks than NY has. Yet we aren't developing that to make us a major handler of economic opportunity and management. Backwater Florida is nice, quiet, and quaint. But the future is now. The past holds us back. And honestly, backwater Florida is under populated and shrinking in political power. Soon enough, the urban centers will overtake them and they are already. The problem is, they're population is mostly service industry workers. If we had a strong diverse economy. It would have been more robust. But with the fsct that it isn't. These people that haven't been able to collect unemployment for a month now will be desperate and voting for Biden or worse in 2022. This stat3 has potential but it has been squandered. I love FL for her past, her history, and her experiences. But her future looks bleak.... like the cookie cutter strip malls that have shuttered empty storefronts due to the changing patterns in the spending and buying habits of the people. |
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Quoted: Gonna debate if the sky is blue too? Sometimes I think GD just wants to argue View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: How in the fuck are you measuring the part in bold? Gonna debate if the sky is blue too? Sometimes I think GD just wants to argue Our entire economy is based on consumerism and debt. Savers are punished on purpose. Since we as a nation have shipped our manufacturing overseas. Our economy is based on retail and we need to continue to motivate people to keep up with the Joneses and buy the latest widget. Well, the bubble is goie to pop As for busi5 and razor thin margins. This is true.... but again. Our economy runs of debt. Eventually you can't outrun math. |
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As coronavirus batters the economy, Florida leaders may have to slash budget
TALLAHASSEE The Republican-controlled Florida Legislature faces tough choices in balancing the $93 billion state budget decimated by the coronavirus crisis, decisions that could wipe out or drastically reduce teacher raises, road work, affordable housing projects and more. Lawmakers last month passed the spending plan based on revenue projections made in January, well before the coronavirus brought much of the economy to a halt. When state economists make new projections, likely no sooner than sometime in May, the Legislature will know how big of a hole they have to fill. If it is large enough, it could wipe out or significantly reduce $500 million in teacher pay raises, nearly $400 million in state worker pay raises, the boost in Medicaid reimbursement rates for nursing homes and other pieces of a budget that won so much bipartisan support the spending plan passed unanimously. Then the options left to lawmakers are decisions that Republican leaders don't typically want to make: accept federal bailout money to fill a large budget hole; borrow money in much larger amounts than in recent years; make drastic cuts to a range of programs; or raise taxes and fees long considered unacceptable by Republican leaders. Gov. Ron DeSantis and Senate President Bill Galvano, however, have pointed to Florida's $4 billion in reserves, the strong economy before the pandemic and the expected federal funding from the CARES Act as reasons to be hopeful the hit to state coffers won't be catastrophic. DeSantis has even suggested the Legislature might not even have to come back the Capitol to rewrite the budget. He could sign the budget while vetoing enough projects to give a cushion that, combined with CARES Act funds, could cover any sharp drop in revenues. "We've got to see what the economic prognosis looks like," Desantis said last week. "The numbers I've received are not anything that would cause us to have to redo the current fiscal year budget." "And even next year, given the amount of money we've received, a lot of people feel that could be doable," he added. But for now, the Legislature hasn't formally sent the budget to his desk, passed during the regular session that ended in March, and DeSantis has said he's solely focused on the pandemic response. The early indications, though, suggest the downturn could be too steep, and lawmakers will need to redraft a spending plan based on more realistic revenue projections. More than 26 million people filed for unemployment since mid-March, wiping out 10 years' worth of job gains. Retail sales for March fell 8.7 percent compared with February, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report. Industrial production fell 5.4 percent, the largest monthly drop since 1946. The Fitch Ratings agency predicted a "deep global recession" for this year on April 2. For a state as reliant as Florida is on tourism, it points to a prolonged recovery. Florida gets 20 percent of its sales tax revenues from tourists, and 79 percent of its $33 billion general revenue fund. The shock could ripple out beyond the hospitality sector, though, affecting parts of the budget not directly tied to sales taxes. Lawmakers opted not to raid the affordable housing trust fund this year, leaving $370 million in it, but if prospective homebuyers put off making that large purchase, it could put a dent in the real estate transaction taxes that flow into that trust fund. Gasoline prices have plummeted as residents have been encouraged to stay home except for essential trips. That equals fewer gas taxes to pay for road work. Galvano sent a memo to senators April 16 laying out how the CARES Act would benefit Florida, while acknowledging the abysmal economic news. Hospitals around the country will receive $30 billion; K-12 school districts will receive $770 million in grants; universities will be eligible for $792 million in grants. "We're trying to find 127 million tourists to have the confidence to come back and patronize our state," Patronis said during a task force meeting aimed at reopening the state. "This is a one-of-a-kind enemy we've never seen before." He's pointed to dire economic forecasts, such as a "stress test" from Moody's Analytics projecting Florida could face a $6.4 billion shortfall, combined with a $1.74 billion increase in Medicaid expenses, meaning lawmakers would be looking for $8.14 billion, or nearly 24 percent of its general revenue. Tax increases, however, would be tricky to pass. House Speaker Jose Oliva has staunchly opposed them and DeSantis made it a campaign pledge to veto any tax increase. Patronis has been urging state economists to convene to issue new revenue forecasts to account for the coronavirus. But Amy Baker, the state's chief economist, says they won't be able to make projections about revenues or the economy with any amount of confidence until mid-May at the earliest. New numbers on March revenues, April unemployment figures and updated global and national economic forecasts from rating agencies won't be released until then, giving leaders little time to react to the budget hole for the fiscal budget year that begins July 1. There will also be more decisions made in that time about when and how to reopen, which could give economists more clues as to how quickly the state will rebound. For his part, DeSantis said he'll likely have to wield a hefty veto pen, even on programs he believes in, to have a big enough cushion to account for the economic downturn. Some projects could get funding the following year, he suggested. View Quote Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis: "We're trying to find 127 million tourists to have the confidence to come back and patronize our state.'' View Quote |
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