Florida Is America’s Paradise - Top 3 Takeaways – April 8th, 2024
- Florida is still America’s paradise no matter how you spin it. Why are you here? Is it because you’re a glutton for punishment? Why has Florida continued to be the top state for net migration. Is it because they’re masochistic too? Confession time. When I moved here nearly twenty years ago it wasn’t due to a burning desire to live in South Florida. It was due to my employer, then known as Clear Channel, saying that if I was going to advance in my career, I needed to make a move. At the time, I was in Savannah, a small radio market, but unlike many in this profession of that era, I wasn’t in a hurry to move. I was born and mostly raised in Georgia. As a young adult Savannah had become my home. It’s where I graduated high school, started college, established my first business, started in radio and met my first wife (and it’s where she was born and raised). We lived on one of the barrier islands outside of Savannah. As a water bug that was important to me. At the time I was perfectly happy with the thought of forever staying in that area. Thankfully, despite operating in a small market, there were executives who believed in my potential and allowed me to contribute to stations outside of my small home market. Most notably, one of the stations I grew up listening to in suburban Atlanta. While this was happening, there was also a push to get me to move to larger market stations in locations like Birmingham, Nashville and Minneapolis. I turned them all down without even traveling to any of the pursuing stations for interviews...which didn’t exactly go over well. It was explained to me by a senior manager that I should have been jumping at the opportunities that had been presented to me. He also said that if turned down any more opportunities in the future, that those would likely be the last presented to me. That was quite the career ultimatum for a 24-year-old so in return I said this...I’ll move if presented with one of these two types of opportunities. Take me back to Atlanta or keep me on the water. As luck would have it, in a matter of months I was presented with both opportunities. For weeks I was in contact with management in Atlanta and West Palm Beach. The opportunity in Atlanta, which in many ways seemed like a dream opportunity at the time as a kid who grew up listening to the station I would have ended up working for, progressed fastest. On an early December Friday, I was at what was to be a final interview for that position. My future boss in West Palm Beach caught wind of this and asked if, before I made a decision, I’d come to West Palm Beach. He asked if I could catch the next flight out of Atlanta. I said yes. It just so happened that there was an ice storm in Atlanta that day...one that made it a brutal endeavor to even make it to the airport to catch the flight. When I arrived at Palm Beach International, I was picked up in a convertible, top down, and shown around.
- I knew right then that this was where I wanted to be. Which is why I’ve stayed. It’s because Florida is still America’s paradise no matter how you spin it – which was the headline to a New York Post story heading into the weekend. The point of the story was to counter the ever-increasing number of news stories in national news media designed to make Florida sound like its fool's gold. Here are some recent examples... CNBC ranks Florida #1 for economy, one of the worst for living and working, The 10 best states to retire in—and Florida isn't No. 1 - CNBC, CNBC declares Florida, Texas among 'worst' in nation to live, The No. 1 worst U.S. state to retire — it’s not New York or California, Florida ranks as one of the worst states to retire on a budget, study says...and then there’s the one that takes the cake. The recent NBC News hit piece entitled: They came for Florida's sun and sand. They got soaring costs and a culture war. The story starts out by saying... Florida has seen a population boom in recent years, but many longtime residents and recent transplants say rising costs and divisive politics have them fleeing the Sunshine State. It then accounts the stories of five people who said things like this: This isn’t all you guys have cracked this up to be, at all...It wasn’t the utopia on any level that I thought it would be...You cannot engage in a conversation there without politics coming up, it is just crazy...It’s a complete fallacy. Now look, different strokes for different folks. There’s no doubt that in a state of 22 million people, millions of which are transplants in recent years, you can find some people who will say stuff like that. But while national news outlets are regularly attempting to paint Florida as “a fallacy”, the facts tell a different story. As noted in the Post story: The hard facts prove the opposite of what she seeks to put over on hapless readers (speaking of the author of the NBC News hit piece):
- Florida is in fact booming, popular, happy and free. It is, indeed, America’s own paradise. While (the NBC News story) claims almost 500,000 people moved out of Florida in 2022, (it) barely acknowledges the fact that well over 700,000 moved in that year, and the ratio of new Floridians to those moving away is rapidly increasing. Our 2022 net gain of 249,064 people was the largest of any state in the union, as it was the previous two years — while blue-state crime rates soared and most of our nation’s Democrat-governed big cities turned into underpopulated wastelands of crime and decay. Florida had a net gain of 365,205 people from July 2022 to July 2023, according to data (NBC) consulted but didn’t bother to cite, while the state’s Chamber of Commerce predicts another 225,000 to 275,000 arrivals in 2024. Unsurprisingly, the four states with the greatest net out-migration in 2022 were radical-Democrat-governed New York, California, Illinois and New Jersey. Many have horror stories about life up north you will never see in an NBC News column. For those who come and stay, our state is routinely ranked No. 1 in new business creation, job growth, talent development, entrepreneurship and ease of doing business. At 2.9%, our unemployment rate is the lowest among the 10 most populous states — so low, it meets economists’ definition of functional full employment. Tourism is at a record high. Crime is at a record low. Our 9.3% gross-domestic-product growth in 2023 was the nation’s highest and twice New York’s. Right, other than that...along with no state income taxes and wonderful spaces to enjoy nature and the outdoors twelve months out of the year it’s evidently all just a “fallacy” and those of us who love it here – which is most of us are in reality just gluttons for punishment. When you’re on top, you’re a target. And when failing blue states can’t beat Florida, your godless, soulless and slanderous news media will attempt to smear it. But even as subjective as quality of life can be...As always there are two sides to stories and one side to facts. Is Florida perfect? Of course not. But... Florida is still America’s paradise no matter how you spin it. We’re blessed to live here.