When Rick Scott's claims of job creation weren't backed up by actual numbers, he just revised the math. He also ignored the fact that many of the jobs that were created were low paying jobs, and jobs likely without benefits, thanks to his corporate friendly policies. Many workers in Florida are barred from taking paid sick days, just for one example, while others were moved into part-time positions in order to avoid providing health care and other benefits. With more low paying jobs, there are more who could qualify for Medicaid, but Scott and the legislature said "no" to that too. Finally, for those who have lost their jobs altogether, Scott's botched unemployment website has made it nearly impossible to get benefits.
Yet Rick Scott chooses to hide all those factors in a little box, wrap them up, and put a "jobs and economy savior" bow on it.
Now, not only has his job creation claim gone down in flames, but his platitudes on what he's done for Florida's economy are tanking too.
The non-partisan Pew Charitable Trusts’ new analysis ranks the 50 states on where they fall on tax, spending, debt and economic issues.
The no-spin picture: Florida’s recovery is just ho-hum.
Pew’s "Fiscal 50" report compares mid-2013 fiscal data to pre-recessionary periods and determines states' “fiscal health” on tax revenues, spending, the workforce, long-term obligations, and fiscal policy.
While average state tax collections have bounced back to pre-recession levels, Florida was one of 11 states where tax collections remain more than 10 percent below the peak in 2006.
In fact, the report indicates once inflation and seasonal fluctuations are account for, Florida is roughly 21 percent below its boom days in the mid-2000s. Only Wyoming and Alaska were worse off.
"When it comes to buying power, Florida is still double digits behind where it was before the recession," said Barb Rosewicz, a research director in Pew’s state fiscal health project.
This comes on the heels of reports painting a grim picture of those low wage jobs, and further erosion of education in the state, thanks to big cuts Scott made from teacher salaries, public schools and universities. The amounts he's suddenly saying he'll put back now that it's reelection time will barely make a dent.
As many predicted, Rick Scott has proved to be a disaster for Florida, and four more years will only make things much, much worse.
Let's hope that this time, all that money he's investing in his reelection campaign won't buy them for him. Florida can't take much more of his policies at this rate.
