Daniel TilsonThanksgiving’s coming, so let’s talk economic turkey.
Election 2014 has strengthened the grip of big business and rich folks on Florida government and economic policy.
The Florida Democratic Party (FDP) let the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) write and own the “narrative,” the storyline of what has and hasn’t happened in the economy on their watch, and why.
Unsurprisingly, millions of middle and lower-income people with little if anything to show for a supposed economic “recovery” were left with little if any compelling reason to vote.
That left the Florida Legislature with an even larger Republican majority than before.
We got a preview last week of how that’s likely to affect our everyday lives for at least the next couple of years.
New RPOF legislative leaders officially took control of their Tallahassee troops, giving speeches, interviews, and glimpses of what’s to come.
The bottom line is that being “business-friendly” to the “job creator” class, regardless of collateral damage, will continue to be peddled as sound economic policy, rather than the slow neutering of the middle class that it is.
When asked about a new requirement to allocate a third of tax revenue generated by statewide real estate transactions to environmental protection and preservation (thanks to passage of Amendment 1), new Senate President Andy Gardiner said:
“In this new reality, as we work to apply this new portion of our constitution and faithfully implement the will of the voters, there is going to be some pain.”
That translates to a thinly veiled threat of funding cuts to public transportation, affordable housing and other middle-class friendly programs.
Instead of looking for revenue to offset critically important new environmental spending, the go-to play is to make working families feel “some pain.”
That strategy works because it fits the RPOF’s storyline about cutting government spending at any and all costs.
It works because Florida’s formerly fair and ultra-targeted taxes on its richest residents and most profitable corporations were successfully slandered as tax hikes on everybody, and were eliminated — at a cost of $2 billion annually.
It works because the FDP, for now, remains unable or unwilling to go “all in” on flipping the script, regaining authorship and ownership of a new economic narrative.
Telling the true story about the gradual but systematic hijacking of our economy and weakening of the middle class can’t be that hard.
Telling it RPOF-style, with across-the-board commitment, consistency and repetition…is harder. But as “the loyal opposition,” Democratic leaders and legislators owe it to themselves, and us, to get it done.
To help “get the party started,” here are some fact- based questions to mull.
Why are Florida’s treasury and taxpayers losing $4 billion a year to “economic development subsidies,” tax breaks and loopholes for the largest, most profitable corporations?
Why are the 20 percent of us with the lowest incomes paying more than 13 percent in taxes, and the 1 percent of us with the highest incomes paying only 2 percent?
Why is average annual household income less in real terms now than a generation ago?
Why do more people live in poverty now, about one in seven of us?
Why’s the spending power of Florida’s $7.93 hourly minimum wage 26 percent less than in 1968?
Given that declining middle-class income and upward mobility historically mirrors declining union membership (from 50-plus percent in the late 1970s to barely 6 percent now), why is there a law blocking union organizing?
How can elected officials keep transferring wealth from the 98 percent to the 2 percent, and still be called “public servants”?
Daniel Tilson has a Boca Raton-based communications firm called Full Cup Media, specializing in online video and written content for non-profits, political candidates and organizations, and small businesses. Column courtesy of Context Florida.
