Gov. Rick Scott is insistent on maintaining Florida’s reputation as a national punch line.
Last week, he made national headlines with the news that under his administration, it has been the “unofficial policy” that state agencies refrain from using the terms “climate-change” and “global-warming.”
Ironically, one of the agencies that is most affected by this gag order is the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)—the very agency whose utmost concern should be keeping this state literally afloat.
If that wasn’t enough, the governor had the audacity to announce a plan—in the style of former Texas Governor Rick Perry—to travel to California in an attempt to lure businesses from The Golden State to The Sunshine State.
This could be considered a noble attempt to keep Florida competitive in the national job market. However, Scott is specifically targeting the California shipping industry, which has recently been the subject of contentious labor disputes between dockworkers and West Coast port operators.
All of this comes just off the heels of Scott’s recent denial that climate change is real. With his “I’m not a scientist” attitude of ignoring the uncomfortable truths about global warming, the very ports to which he is inviting the California shipping industry will be underwater in a few decades—a short-sighted business decision for an industry that depends on coastline infrastructure.
Scott wants to tempt executives of the shipping industry to bring jobs over to this low-tax, anti-union, Right-to-Work, fiscally conservative haven of a peninsula. The goal is to take decent-paying jobs away from California, and entice shipping companies to move to a state where the labor force is used to working for much less. Think of Florida as a low-wage country that businesses look to for outsourcing labor.
“Florida’s low-tax, business friendly climate and our commitment to investing in our transportation infrastructure are great reasons for you to consider shipping your goods through Florida ports,” said Scott.
By the time we are all suffering the consequences of competitively low wages, Scott will be out of office and the vast income inequality will be the next governor’s problem. He may leave on a high note, touting Barack Obama’s economic recovery as his own, all the while maintaining that the 2008 Great Recession was Charlie Crist’s fault.
During the CNN Florida gubernatorial debate in 2014, when asked whether or not he supports the concept of a minimum wage, Scott responded, “How would I know—I mean, the private sector decides wages.”
Allowing the private sector to define the minimum wage will not lead to an increase in wages overall. Why would anyone pay you more than they have to? There may be a handful of companies that are willing to do the right thing, but those jobs are few and far between. Lowering wages and busting unions for the sake of job competitiveness is a race to the bottom. What good is low unemployment if the majority of those who are employed earn scant, measly wages?
California may not be the exemplar a booming economy, but in the long run, their residents will benefit from avoiding the Right-to-Work pitfall. The leadership in Sacramento, in contrast to Tallahassee, also takes climate change seriously—and for sea ports to function properly, they must remain at or above sea-level.
Maybe when Gov. Scott’s yacht is swallowed by the Atlantic Ocean, he will realize the errors in his short-sightedness about climate change—but by then it will be too late. In the meantime, we will have to wait to see if Scott can convince some maritime shipping companies to head east and make Florida’s ports home.
