Is Florida the new Ohio?

Filed in National by on August 3, 2008

According to the Washington Post… yes.

In 2000 and 2004, Florida was a bright spot on the nation’s economic landscape, reaping the rewards of a building boom that was drawing people to the state, filling government coffers and supplying jobs from construction to real estate sales to financial speculation. But Obama awoke Friday to a banner headline in the St. Petersburg Times declaring, “In Florida, it’s recession.”

The state’s economy contracted by 1.6 percent in April, May and June. The Labor Department reported on Wednesday that the Cape Coral-Fort Myers area recorded the second-largest jump in jobless rates in the nation in June, a 2.8 percent increase. The Naples metropolitan area ranked third, and the once booming Bradenton-Sarasota metropolitan area was fourth.

Second, third and fourth largest jumps in jobless rates? Perhaps the time has come to group Florida with Ohio and Naples with Flint, Michigan.

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A stay-at-home mom with an obsession for National politics.

Comments (10)

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  1. anon says:

    So does this knock Charlie Crist out of VP consideration?

  2. have a buddy that just moved to Ft. Lauderdale.

    Literally every street has at least one house for sale in the area. Tons of houses are foreclosures. It’s a mess down there.

    but it’s the democrats fault, they spend all the money. Not Bush and his free market brand of capitalism

  3. pandora says:

    Anon, not sure about what this does to Crist.

    DV, I agree that blaming Dems has been the meme in Florida, mainly because Floridians view themselves differently – who knows why, but I’d guess they wouldn’t like being compared to Ohio… for elitist reasons? 🙂 Personally I like the Florida and Ohio comparison and plan on pushing it.

  4. Feces Throwing Monkey says:

    Florida is a nice state…
    …for me to throw feces at.

  5. A. bundy says:

    Equating Naples, Florida to Flint, Michigan shows just how truly clueless you are.

    Pandora, your enormous box continues to reek of ignorance.

  6. Feces Throwing Monkey says:

    I fear A. bundy is trying to give her fellow Feces Throwing Monkeys a bad name.

  7. pandora says:

    Again Bundy is humorless. I visit Naples often. Perhaps all those gated communities should consider raising their walls in case of a revolution!

  8. nemski says:

    Wasn’t Ohio the new Florida in 2004?

  9. pandora says:

    Clever, Nemski! And, yes, it was, but not due to the economy.

  10. Art Downs says:

    Charlie Crist would not be a good VP choice and would be almost as bad as the oafish Tom Ridge.

    Obama could only make things worse. Is he a champion of free enterprise or a socialist? The latter have a track record of turning once-prosperous nations into basket cases. Look at the fate of Poland, East Germany. and Czechoslovakia.

    What nation ever taxed their way into prosperity?