Sorry, Rick Scott, Florida's economy is tied to the nation’s…

@MarcACaputo

Florida’s economy, like that of many other states, is closely tied to the nation’s economy. 

But when it comes to Gov. Rick Scott’s effort to identify his office with the improved economy, there’s a good chance that the effort is a lot like his campaign slogan: “It’s working.”

A Tampa Bay Times poll this week indicated about 7 in 10 voters said the governor can do “a lot” about jobs in this state. The numbers of jobs are growing -- as are the numbers of Scott ads and his polling percentages over Democrat Charlie Crist.

Has Scott made jobs a priority? Definitely -- and certainly on the campaign trail. But there's only so much a governor can really do. And so WSVN-7’s Blake Burman asked Scott yesterday about how much credit he could rightfully take.

Burman: "There are some who would say the stock market is at an all time high, the unemployment rate nationally is dropping just like Florida. Isn’t just Florida following, basically, what’s been going on nationally?"

Scott: "Let’s look at the difference. When Charlie was governor, unemployment went from one of the lowest in the country to one of the highest…."

Burman: "But that followed the national trend, too…"

Scott: "No. It was the lowest. It went waaayyy up… The unemployment rate went way up in Florida than it did nationally. Home prices dropped about 48 percent in Florida. They didn’t drop 48 percent nationally. They dropped about 20 percent nationally.

"So if you look at all the indicators, under Charlie, it was a disaster under Charlie…. He didn’t focus on the job. He was running for something else the whole time he was here…"

Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera: "You’ve got to look at the numbers. If you go to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Florida went from a 3.5 percent unemployment rate to a peak of 11.5 percent. When we lost 832,000 jobs in Florida, there were other states like Texas that added 200,000 jobs. So it was not impossible. It just took leadership."

In taking Lopez-Cantera up on his offer, the BLS statistics certainly show what he said about the unemployment numbers. But, contrary to the "no" from Scott, Burman is right about the national trends as the BLS graph below shows. Incidentally, the graph was contained in a state economy report this summer furnished by state economists who are all employed by the Republican-controlled House, Senate and governor's office.

The graph also shows that Florida's unemployment rate started to tick up under then-Gov. Jeb Bush, under whom it also previously declined. Bush's brother, President Bush, was sitting in the White House.

It's tempting for Democrats to pin the blame on the Bushes, but there's bipartisan blame to go around. And this might not reallly be a partisan issue at all. There's plenty of blame for the Fed, banks, monetary policy, credit-card companies, buyers and sellers.

As for Texas, BLS doesn’t have a “leadership” index. But there are other ways to see what happened with Texas’ economy – namely by reading what Texas newspapers have to say about it. And they say the Lone Star state could thank its lucky star for oil, government spending, immigration, tech and even the illegal drug industry.

Florida’s economy, whether it was under Scott, Crist, Bush, Lawton Chiles, Bob Martinez, Bob Graham etc has been heavily service-sector and housing-bubble oriented.

Guess what happens when the housing bubble pops? Florida gets a ring in its ears. And when the bubble inflates again? We get amnesia.

 

Scott: "Let’s look at the difference. When Charlie was governor, unemployment went from one of the lowest in the country to one of the highest…."

Burman: "But that followed the national trend, too…"

Scott: "No. It was the lowest. It went waaayyy up… The unemployment rate went way up in Florida than it did nationally. Home prices dropped about 48 percent in Florida. They didn’t drop 48 percent nationally. They dropped about 20 percent nationally.

"So if you look at all the indicators, under Charlie, it was a disaster under Charlie…. He didn’t focus on the job. He was running for something else the whole time he was here…"

Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera: "You’ve got to look at the numbers. If you go to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Florida went from a 3.5 percent unemployment rate to a peak of 11.5 percent. When we lost 832,000 jobs in Florida, there were other states like Texas that added 200,000 jobs. So it was not impossible. It just took leadership."

In taking Lopez-Cantera up on his offer, the BLS statistics certainly show what he said about the unemployment numbers. But, contrary to the "no" from Scott, Burman is right about the national trends as the BLS graph below shows. Incidentally, the graph was contained in a state economy report this summer furnished by state economists who are all employed by the Republican-controlled House, Senate and governor's office.

The graph also shows that Florida's unemployment rate started to tick up under then-Gov. Jeb Bush, under whom it also previously declined. Bush's brother, President Bush, was sitting in the White House.

It's tempting for Democrats to pin the blame on the Bushes, but there's bipartisan blame to go around. And this might not reallly be a partisan issue at all. There's plenty of blame for the Fed, banks, monetary policy, credit-card companies, buyers and sellers.

As for Texas, BLS doesn’t have a “leadership” index. But there are other ways to see what happened with Texas’ economy – namely by reading what Texas newspapers have to say about it. And they say the Lone Star state could thank its lucky star for oil, government spending, immigration, tech and even the illegal drug industry.

Florida’s economy, whether it was under Scott, Crist, Bush, Lawton Chiles, Bob Martinez, Bob Graham etc has been heavily service-sector and housing-bubble oriented.

Guess what happens when the housing bubble pops? Florida gets a ring in its ears. And when the bubble inflates again? We get amnesia.