Jerry Brown To Job Thief Rick Scott: Poach This!
Florida's "jobs" Governor Rick Scott is back to his old tricks again.
Because he can't create jobs as promised six years ago, and every day since, he often resorts to stealing them from other states instead. So now the job-poacher-in-chief will be back at it again next week in California.
If you assume you already know who matters more to Scott, Florida's citizens or the business world, you won't be surprised to hear his latest plan. Scott has just released an ad, courtesy of the Florida taxpayer, to lure California businesses to the Sunshine State. So what else is new, you might say? Well, here's the kicker. His argument is that businesses should relocate to Florida because they can save lots of money by paying Florida workers lots less because we don't raise the minimum wage here, and Scott is proud of that.
In other words, Scott is bragging that California businesses can save money by exploiting Florida workers by paying them such low wages they can't make ends meet. And while he's at it, Scott's also bragging about the low taxes in Florida, while he uses taxpayer money to sell businesses on the whole idea.
What a guy!
While California is raising their minimum wage from $10 to $15 over the next few years, Florida's stands at a low $8.05, and another of Scott's selling points is that minimum wage laws are a job killer, in spite of the fact that there is no evidence to prove that whatsoever.
Even though Scott won't be making his pitch in person until next week, California's Governor Jerry Brown isn't waiting for him to show up to prove Scott wrong.
Here's Scott's pitch:
On Monday, Enterprise Florida released a radio ad titled 'Keep the sunshine, Lose the taxes.' It’s running in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and takes the Golden State to task for raising the minimum wage to $15.
“700,000. that’s how many California jobs will be lost, thanks to the politicians raising the minimum wage,” chimes a female voice in the ad.
Scott opposes a minimum wage hike in Florida.
“Why do oppose a hike in the minimum wage?” we asked Scott.
“I want more people to get jobs. One of the things…there’s a study that says in California if they raise the minimum wage, their gonna lose 700,000 jobs,” Scott said.
And here's Governor Brown's response:
"As one of the millions of tourists flocking to the Golden State this time of year, we'd like to extend a warm welcome to the governor," Brown spokesman Evan Westrup said in a release Tuesday.
"We can understand why he's coming back — there's lots to do and plenty to learn. In fact, since his last 2,000 mile cross-country jaunt, California has added twice as many jobs as Florida, while paying down debt, building a robust rainy day fund and taking bold action on issues Gov. Scott continues to ignore, like climate change and poverty."
Ouch.
So, as tempting as it might be to a business's profit margin to set up shop where they can save money by paying workers next to nothing, the fact is Florida is still backwards when it comes to living in the real world, and a clueless Rick Scott doesn't seem to get that he's making a fool of himself yet again on the national stage to prove it.
Unfortunately taxpayers will still have to foot the bill for what's now more of a vacation for Scott than a worthwhile business trip on the state's behalf, since Scott's ideas have already been shot down before he even gets there.
