Not another chance

Stephen Goldstein Columnist

March 16, 2012

For going on 14 years, the Florida Republican Party has fiddled and belittled the middle class. It isn't an act of God that's destroying the American Dream; it's petty, self-serving, greedy acts of Man, justified by a perversion of capitalism that's the equivalent of economic rape. Relentlessly, a political, ideological mind-set has been robbing generations of their "pursuit of happiness."

Of course, the nightmare doesn't have to continue. It is within our control to stop it — if, but only if, enough people face reality. In the meantime, as long as Floridians remain passive, their future is bleak —and getting bleaker. There will be no long-term economic recovery in this state until and unless the middle class recovers its buying-power. That's just a fact of our consumer-driven economy.

Since 1999, Florida has been the guinea pig for a failed experiment in top-down, free-market economics on a scale never seen before. The assault on the middle class began in earnest when voters elected Jeb Bush and a Republican-dominated Legislature, a consolidation of power that gave them unprecedented carte-blanche to implement year after year of elitist economics — without a peep from those getting shafted.

Florida's sorry state of affairs is well-documented in the briefing paper, "Under Attack: Florida's Middle Class and the Jobs Crisis," co-published by Demos and the Research Institute on Social and Economic Policy. Here's a summary of some of its conclusions:
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1. "The future of Florida's middle class, which has been the backbone of Florida's economy for more than half a century, is at risk."

2. "Florida workers have fared worse than the nation as a whole in terms of wages, benefits and employment levels."

3. The substantial gap between the median earnings of working men and women in this state has remained nearly the same for 30 years. "In 2010, women's median earnings were $9,800 less than, or 76 percent of, men's."

4. Florida has one of the biggest gaps between rich and poor in the nation.

5. The percent of Florida workers who didn't have access to health insurance through their employer jumped from 27 percent in 2000 to almost 33 percent in 2010.

6. Ironically, in the state in which so many relish retiring, "in 2010, only 45 percent of the state's workers had access to a retirement plan at work, similar to the late 1980s."

7. Service-sector jobs, which typically pay less and provide no benefits, grew from 29.6 percent of employment in 1980 to 45.7 percent in 2010.

8. Manufacturing jobs declined from 14.7 percent of employment in 1980 to 5.6 percent by 2010.

Pick a subject, any subject — child care costs, college graduates' debts — they prove the briefing paper's conclusion: "for the first time in generations, more people are falling out of the middle class than joining its ranks." Read the report at tinyurl.com/7mh39ow.

The Florida Legislature has just passed and Rick Scott will sign another budget that favors corporations over people and that continues more than two decades of Republican assaults on the middle class. But ask yourself: If the same policies haven't produced a vibrant, stable economy that benefits the vast majority of Floridians for 14 years, why should they do so now? And if the Legislature and the governor continue to get away with it, who are the real belittlers: Republican fiddlers or Floridians in the vanishing middle?

Stephen L. Goldstein duels the issues with Kingsley Guy on alternate Fridays. E-mail him at trend sman@aol.com.

Mr. Steingold, What?? Without corporations and business activity you would not have a middle class and thus no reason to have unions or benefits. Why do so many middle class retirees move to Floida, Zero Taxes may be the reason, what do you think Mr. Steingold?

Mr. Steingold, What?? Without corporations and business activity you would not have a middle class and thus no reason to have unions or benefits. Why do so many middle class retirees move to Floida, Zero Taxes may be the reason, what do you think Mr. Steingold?

Mr Steingold has no problem with retirees not paying taxes in Florida, as retirees are mostly middle class people. But to say that retirees pay zero taxes is a lie. Ask any retired cop if he or she pays taxes and you will be surprised with the answer. Most pay around $650.00 a month, then they pay between $3000.00 and $10,000.00 in property taxes, and let's not forget that 8% in every purchase at the store. So if you come down to Florida and you are a middle class person, bring the checkbook because you will pay taxes. Now the corporate taxes?... No, no, no, they will end up being free in a few years as planned by republican governor Rick Scott. You see our pensions have been gutted so that the millionaire corporations can rake up even more money; in other words we the people of Florida will pay to benefit zero taxes to corporations.

Give me a break, Huh dude,

Everyone pays taxed, you want us to be excluded??? Look around, find me more than just a few states that are as generous as Florida, with everyone, Please.

Stephen Goldstein Columnist

March 16, 2012

For going on 14 years, the Florida Republican Party has fiddled and belittled the middle class. It isn't an act of God that's destroying the American Dream; it's petty, self-serving, greedy acts of Man, justified by a perversion of capitalism that's the equivalent of economic rape. Relentlessly, a political, ideological mind-set has been robbing generations of their "pursuit of happiness."

Of course, the nightmare doesn't have to continue. It is within our control to stop it — if, but only if, enough people face reality. In the meantime, as long as Floridians remain passive, their future is bleak —and getting bleaker. There will be no long-term economic recovery in this state until and unless the middle class recovers its buying-power. That's just a fact of our consumer-driven economy.

Since 1999, Florida has been the guinea pig for a failed experiment in top-down, free-market economics on a scale never seen before. The assault on the middle class began in earnest when voters elected Jeb Bush and a Republican-dominated Legislature, a consolidation of power that gave them unprecedented carte-blanche to implement year after year of elitist economics — without a peep from those getting shafted.

Florida's sorry state of affairs is well-documented in the briefing paper, "Under Attack: Florida's Middle Class and the Jobs Crisis," co-published by Demos and the Research Institute on Social and Economic Policy. Here's a summary of some of its conclusions:
Surveillance Video: Check out these videos of crimes caught on camera

1. "The future of Florida's middle class, which has been the backbone of Florida's economy for more than half a century, is at risk."

2. "Florida workers have fared worse than the nation as a whole in terms of wages, benefits and employment levels."

3. The substantial gap between the median earnings of working men and women in this state has remained nearly the same for 30 years. "In 2010, women's median earnings were $9,800 less than, or 76 percent of, men's."

4. Florida has one of the biggest gaps between rich and poor in the nation.

5. The percent of Florida workers who didn't have access to health insurance through their employer jumped from 27 percent in 2000 to almost 33 percent in 2010.

6. Ironically, in the state in which so many relish retiring, "in 2010, only 45 percent of the state's workers had access to a retirement plan at work, similar to the late 1980s."

7. Service-sector jobs, which typically pay less and provide no benefits, grew from 29.6 percent of employment in 1980 to 45.7 percent in 2010.

8. Manufacturing jobs declined from 14.7 percent of employment in 1980 to 5.6 percent by 2010.

Pick a subject, any subject — child care costs, college graduates' debts — they prove the briefing paper's conclusion: "for the first time in generations, more people are falling out of the middle class than joining its ranks." Read the report at tinyurl.com/7mh39ow.

The Florida Legislature has just passed and Rick Scott will sign another budget that favors corporations over people and that continues more than two decades of Republican assaults on the middle class. But ask yourself: If the same policies haven't produced a vibrant, stable economy that benefits the vast majority of Floridians for 14 years, why should they do so now? And if the Legislature and the governor continue to get away with it, who are the real belittlers: Republican fiddlers or Floridians in the vanishing middle?

Stephen L. Goldstein duels the issues with Kingsley Guy on alternate Fridays. E-mail him at trend sman@aol.com.


Dr. Stephen L. Goldstein is an interesting guy.
I Google his name and not much comes up other than some of his past writings and his scams for non proffits.
His writings are posted on “Progressive” blogs (code for Socialist) and he is so far to the left, he is off the charts.
Even on his newspaper page the Bio part is omitted, wonder why?
Now, the scary thing about this guy is that he teaches at Nova and has an influence on young minds.
Perhaps he is looking for another “Barry” to indoctrinate.

Cool, now lwt's see how many cops get sucked in by his bs??

[MOD 646]

Why is this topic here in a cop forum?

Give you something important to think about dummy!!!!!!!!

Why is this topic here in a cop forum?

Well it's no secret that the republican party has been on the attack against law enforcement officers and firefighters, it is also no secret that we are mostly middle class people, therefore the article above goes right to the core of an issue that affects us directly in law enforcement, especially in this department.

It was bound to happen, could have been stopped several times, there you go??

It was bound to happen, could have been stopped several times, there you go??

I agree the republicans could have been stopped specially when their candidate for governor was a known dishonest and con artist millionaire, who promised to go after police, fire, and all other public employees. But money changed everything during the campaign, and even police officers who were told by the PBA and the FOP not to vote for the republican candidate, went and voted for him anyway. That act of stupidity of some officers cost us a 3% decrease in our paychecks, and much, much more. Let's not make the same mistake come next elections vote all these republicans out of office.

How about Charlie Crist, talk about a bs artist, works for Morgan & Morgan, 3rd largest contributer of the Obama campaign. Remember the hug, even Kendrick Meek ran this coward down.
Na, Na, no Crat's for cops, no way !!!!!

How about Charlie Crist, talk about a bs artist, works for Morgan & Morgan, 3rd largest contributer of the Obama campaign. Remember the hug, even Kendrick Meek ran this coward down.
Na, Na, no Crat's for cops, no way !!!!!

Look who this idiot attacks, Charlie Crist, the only republican that at least did not try to hurt us in law enforcement during his time at the governors office. Now who does he fail to mention? Well first his corrupt republican governor and enemy of cops, Rick Scott. He has never mentioned any of the dozens, and dozens of republican state legislators who have voted time after time to gut our pensions, cut our budgets, reduce benefits, privatize public employees positions, including correctional officers. How about mentioning his republican Miami-Dade mayor? No, no, no, those guys are all GOP and he would not talk about that, he prefers to talk about Charlie Crist, who is no longer a GOP member, or better yet he will talk about Obama, who has nothing to do with our problems, in fact Obama has brought jobs to MDPD, via the cops grant, something that republicans hate. Yes my friends, this guy is a professional republican operative who has never been a cop in his life and his only mission is to promote the republican agenda. Pay no attention to this idiot and vote out all republicans in November 2012.

How wrong you are, so much so I can't begin to say everything. As a very tenured cop I speak as a GOP person and will never stop, like most cops? You only wish you could say with any degree of accuracy that I am not a cop, you are wrong, big time.
I also notice your Crat dna when you begin to call names, that's what they do when they are loosing their arguments.So, you are very intitled to your views although I don't agree and don't think most cops do either.
Obama, please my man, he is now leaped over Carter as the all time failure and as far as $$$$ is concerned, how about barrowing $50k per second, and you don't think that has a thing to do with our problems, please. All I can say is you are in the minority in our profession but keep cheering for Obama and his absolutely crazy bud, Eric Holder, have a ball fella !!!!!!