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Florida's Federal Tax Return

Florida appears to be in a rather bizarre "race to the bottom" with Nevada

and Virginia to see which state can recapture the lowest return on their

federal tax dollars.

The U.S. Census Bureau reports that last year Florida state and local

governments received about $1,500 per capita in federal education, health,

human services, transportation, housing, urban development and other

funds.

The national average is a little more than $2,000 per capita. Only Nevada

and Virginia trailed Florida, with each receiving about $1,300 per capita in

federal funds.

However, if Gov. Rick Scott and legislative leaders have their way, Florida

will soon own bragging rights for the absolute-rock-bottom position.

To show their disdain for the "Obamacare" Affordable Care Act, Scott and

lawmakers have already rejected tens of millions of federal health care

dollars this year. And they are hinting that if President Barack Obama's

latest stimulus proposal is passed by Congress, Florida will decline those

funds as well.

True, the fact that Floridians receive so little return on their federal tax

dollars is dismaying. Still, you can't put a price tag on political principle.

For now, Florida is No. 3 in this bizarre race to the bottom. But if our

politicians in Tallahassee stick to their "principles," our state will have a very

good shot at winning the top losers spot in 2011.

Rapid Wealth Expansion

The Congressional Budget Office's October report on income inequality

confirms the depth of the problem without clearly identifying the cause.

More than an explanation, however, the nation needs a solution, before

income disparity becomes irreparable.

The CBO determined that from 1979 to 2007 that income grew far faster for

the wealthiest Americans than it did for everybody else. The report stated

that, for the 1 percent of the population with the highest income, average

inflation-adjusted, after-tax income grew by 275 percent.

For the three-fifths of households in the middle of the U.S. income scale,

the growth was just less than 40 percent. For the poorest fifth, income rose

only 18 percent.

As the CBO's summary stated: "The precise reasons for the rapid growth in

income at the top are not well understood, though researchers have offered

several potential rationales, including technical innovations that have

changed the labor market for superstars (such as actors, athletes and

musicians), changes in the governance and structure of executive

compensation, increases in firms' size and complexity, and the increasing

scale of financial-sector activities."

Across the decades, factors — including higher pay, a larger share of

capital gains, and tax policies — have concentrated in favor of the

wealthiest households. This inequitable trend must be challenged. The

country must make reforms that ensure equal opportunity, fair taxation and

shared prosperity.

It's not news that after decades of automation, technical change and global

competition, the mighty U.S. economic engine no longer rewards unskilled

workers with high-paying manufacturing jobs. Today, affluence increasingly

is reserved for people with specialized skills and education.

The U.S. can fight income disparity by ensuring that Americans have the

right economic tools for success — particularly, affordable higher

education. To open the doors of opportunity to as many people as possible,

the nation needs high-quality schools and colleges. Yet the cost of a

college degree is skyrocketing. That must be addressed. One of the best steps the U.S. could take to ease income disparity is to invest heavily in public education at all levels — a reversal of the state trend toward budget slashing.

We must ensure that middle-class and low-income students aren't priced

out of college by tuition hikes or saddled with unsustainable debt. President

Obama took welcome steps last month to ease loan terms for students, but

this does not alleviate the need for greater public funding of higher

education in general.  We are the United States — but we cannot remain so when wealth is reserved for the elite few.

Governor's 7-7-7 Job Plan

No politician is immune from embellishing the facts to make himself look

better, but Florida's governor is in another category altogether. If he doesn't

like the facts as they are, he simply makes up new ones without

acknowledging the contradiction. And he does it without a trace of shame.

Scott has told plenty of whoppers since he burst on the political scene less

than two years ago, but he's outdone himself with his latest rewrite of his

own history. Remember that campaign pledge to create 700,000 new jobs

in Florida over seven years? He made it abundantly clear — repeatedly —

that his pledge involved new jobs, above and beyond the 1 million jobs that

economists projected through normal growth. It was a cornerstone of his

campaign.

But in his 10th month in office, when he's discovered that it's easier to talk

about creating jobs than actually doing it, Scott had made a huge revision.

Instead of having 1.7 million new jobs after seven years, they can look

forward to just 700,000 new jobs. Florida would lose 300,000 more jobs

than they could expect without Scott doing a thing.

See, anybody who thought Scott was promising 700,000 new jobs in

addition to normal growth was wrong. Scott claims to be baffled about how

they got that impression. "I don't know who said that," the governor said

last week. "I have no idea."

Perhaps a review of the televised joint appearance with his Democratic

opponent last October might provide a clue. "Our plan is seven steps to

700,000 jobs," he said then, "and that plan is on top of what normal growth

would be." He said pretty much the same thing to reporters during the

campaign and at another forum in October.

All are recorded and available on the PolitifactFlorida website at http://bit.ly/

n6LXbz. Both the Politifact analysis and an accompanying video with

before-and-after interview statements from Scott are worth looking over for

their direct-and-damning details.

Politifact, an independent fact-checking operation founded by the St.

Petersburg Times, concluded that Scott was guilty of a "full flop" on his

campaign promise. That shouldn't have surprised anyone. In 52 other

checks of Scott statements in his brief political career, Politifact concluded that 14 statements were entirely or mostly false, 12 were only half true and

three were so outlandish they merited the label "pants on fire."

Floridians have a right to expect better from their top elected official. Much

better.

Nation's Economy: Take Action On Jobs

To hear the political rhetoric, one would think that a job plan for America is

relevant only as a campaign talking point — an issue reserved for

discussions about who will occupy the Oval Office in 2013.

The nation's economic doldrums are far greater than the political fortunes

of a few candidates. More to the point, the nation can't wait a year for the

election before action is taken on these significant issues.

Americans need help and encouragement now. This was driven home by

an Associated Press poll released recently that shows more than 7 in 10

Americans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction and 43

percent — a record low — say the nation's economy is "very poor."

Meanwhile, the Associated Press-GfK poll found that 40 percent of

Americans believe unemployment will rise in the coming year, while fewer

than one in four expect it will go down. Sixty-eight percent expect the

economy will stay the same or get worse next year.

All of this underscores the need for what President Barack Obama has

been advocating, another initiative to stimulate the economy and put

Americans back to work.  But so far, Republicans in Congress have torpedoed every attempt to move forward with such a program. Congressional Republicans appear bent on

doing nothing between now and the presidential election, regardless of the

economic consequences, primarily as a political weapon. But it's not clear

they're getting the payoff they were hoping for.

Congress' approval ratings rose slightly from an August low, but it's not

much to celebrate. Overall, 82 percent of Americans disapprove of

Congress, including 56 percent who say they "strongly disapprove" of what

lawmakers are doing.

Meanwhile, 72 percent of respondents say Republicans have not been

doing enough to cooperate with Obama.

More than 60 percent of respondents support a plan to pay for Obama's

$447 billion job plan with a surtax on incomes of millionaires. Just one in

four oppose the plan. What's needed is bipartisan resolve in Washington to get the country — not just political candidates — up and running