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MOORE CRITICIZES REPUBLICAN GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE SCOTT'S 7-7-7 JOBS PLAN
Says Scott's Plans Cannot Be Achieved, Won't Solve Florida's Economic Woes, and Rewards the Few
Monday, November 1, 2010, Spring Hill, Florida: Former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Brian P. Moore harshly criticized Republican Rick Scott's economic plan for creating 700,000 new jobs over seven years, as "Unachievable, insufficient and wrong-headed" and will do little to alleviate Florida's looming fiscal crisis. Florida faces a $3 billion budget shortfall next year.
Moore, speaking earlier today from his residence in Spring Hill, said Scott's 7-7-7 plan, if achieved, would only address a small fraction of the almost two million Floridians who are out-of-work now, and the growing numbers will probably be "much higher in the coming years," thus making Scott's best projections at "meeting his target, by only one-fourth of the jobs needed." Moore further added that the type of jobs Scott is projecting are "mostly in the professional and higher income sectors" and will provide few economic opportunities for Florida's struggling working poor and middle-class families.
According to reporter Jim Stratton of the Orlando Sentinel, January 23, 2010, "Florida's official unemployment rate in January, 2010 was at 11.8 percent, which is "the highest level in almost 35 years...up 4.2 percentage points from last year and...almost 2 points higher than the national average of 10%."
Stratton wrote that this [11.8%] represents about "1 million unemployed out of a work force of 9.2 million," but "does not include individuals who have stopped looking for a job, those who have been forced into part-time work and those who have accepted jobs far below their skill levels."
Writer Stratton concluded "When those people are added, the percentage of workers who are unemployed or underemployed exceeds 19.5 percent."
Those numbers are reflected in the current U-6 rates.
Moore calculates there are really about 1.7 million Floridians currently unemployed, a figure that is likely to increase to 2.2 million jobless workers within the Sunshine State in the next four years. "Scott's figures, at best," says Moore, "are highly questionable, and would only provide one-third of the solution, over seven long years, by end of 2017."
The recession has hurt everybody, says Moore.
Moore wrote that state representative Marti Coley, a Marianna Republican, said that "she cannot see how another 5% of state job cuts can be elimininated after doing so in the past few years." Mr. Scott's calculation of cutting another 5% of state jobs, after eliminating a similar number during the past years, is just "unrealistic and unwise," Moore stated.
Despite his equally harsh criticism of Democrat gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink during the campaign, Moore said that "at least Ms. Sink is unwilling to take such drastic action with state employees."
Moore also criticized Scott's proposal to add a 6% matching pension contribution for state employees, saying that while it's a standard practice in the private sector, it's still "a draconian measure" and will further harm state workers, many of whom haven't experienced a pay raise for several years.
A staunch advocate of labor unions and workers sharing in the profits, the self-described democratic socialist believes the state banking concept, advocated by Independent candidate Farid Khavari, if enacted, will "enable the state to cover the pension costs comfortably."
Scott's call to tighten welfare payments by requiring drug screening and imposing more stringent work requirements on welfare recipients "is preposterous and outrageous," Moore stated. "It smacks of fascism," said Moore, the Socialist Party's candidate for President in 2008.
Moore also blasted Scott for "turning a blind eye to corporate welfare, and the Republican candidate's call for phasing out the 5.5% corporate income tax. Moore says "they are bleeding the Florida taxpayers now, and Florida is one of the worst states in the union for treating corporations too leniently in meeting tax obligations."
Scott's economic program, he said, is more "Robin Hood-in-reverse."
Scott's call for regulatory reform, further corporate tax cuts, and slashing property taxes, without any demonstration of having new revenues to accomplish it, is "wishful thinking," on Scott's part, said Moore. His decision to follow the old-school mentality of trickle-down corporate economics, which apparently, is embraced by Democrat Sink as well, will not lift the state out of its current economic abyss.
Both major candidates, concluded Moore, also support the extension and continuation of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, a reckless fiscal policy that has done nothing for job creation while robbing the federal treasury of between $3 and $4 billion, making the United States increasingly dependent on China and wealthy Middle Eastern countries to meet its obligations.
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*Translation provided by babelfish.altavista.com