u/Prozeum • • 6h ago

President Zelenskyy: We are ready not to hit sensitive parts of Russia’s energy sector if Russia stops hitting ours. Putin said no.

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Early voting starts today Duval!!!
 in  r/jacksonville •  12h ago

​Since you decided to respond, I'll do the same. I'll start with your claims first and then ease into the metrics I actually use to determine how well Florida is doing.

​First, citing ALEC as proof that everyday Floridians are thriving is hilarious. ALEC is literally a corporate lobbying group that grades states on how little they tax corporations and how weak their labor laws are.

​Even funnier, if you actually open ALEC's report past the headline, they rank Florida 46th—nearly dead last in the country—in "remaining tax burden," which is all the local fees, tolls, and excise taxes we get nickel-and-dimed with every day. Piling up low-wage hospitality and retail jobs makes raw GDP look great on a campaign flyer, while the United Way's ALICE report shows roughly 45% of Florida households can't even afford basic necessities.

​And your "why are people fleeing California and New York" line is just basic population math. Those two states have nearly 60 million people combined—where did you think the highest raw number of movers would come from, North Dakota? Meanwhile, the people moving into California are high-earning tech workers, engineers, and doctors chasing the highest wages and venture capital in the country, whereas Florida mostly imports retirees cashing out their northern home equity.

​Plus, your migration stat is three years out of date anyway. Net domestic migration into Florida has cratered by roughly 90% from its 2022 peak according to Census and UF data. Turns out when you have the #1 most expensive home insurance in America and soaring HOA and electric bills, the "low cost of living" disappears and working Floridians start packing up for Georgia and the Carolinas. ​As for "no income tax" and "eliminating property taxes," that's only a flex if you're in a high tax bracket. Florida has the #1 most regressive tax system in the country because we fund the state on sales taxes and fees instead of income. The bottom 20% of earners here pay over 13% of their income in state and local taxes, while the top 1% pay 2.7%. If you make under $55k a year, you literally pay a higher effective state and local tax rate in Florida than you would in California.

​And speaking of taxes and that "surplus"—if Tallahassee is bragging about having all this extra cash, why are we voting on amendments like Amendment 3 that blow a multi-billion dollar hole in local city and county budgets? Even Moody's warned that starving local governments of property tax revenue will force cities to hike fees and slash services, proving that state politicians love to hoard a surplus in Tallahassee while shifting the financial pain down to local taxpayers.

​On education: that high U.S. News ranking you're thinking of is carried entirely by cheap state college tuition (#1 in Higher Ed). In actual K–12, we're ranked 22nd overall, 41st in per-student spending, bottom 10 in SAT scores, and dead last—50th out of 50 states—in average teacher pay, while state auditors just lost track of nearly $400 million in the universal voucher program. ​Now here are the metrics I actually use to judge how this "lower-regulation paradise" is going:

​"Lower regulation" in Florida just means corporate welfare while working people pick up the tab. We pay nearly triple the national average for home insurance. After Tallahassee bailed out insurers with taxpayer money and stripped homeowners of one-way attorney fees to sue over lowballed claims, a buried state study revealed that Florida insurers cried broke while quietly funneling $1.3 billion in fees and dividends into their own corporate parent companies.

​That's right up there with state regulators rubber-stamping the largest utility rate hike in U.S. history for FPL, and lawmakers banning local cities from requiring water breaks for outdoor workers in 100-degree heat.

​And speaking of our political leadership, look at Ashley Moody currently running for the U.S. Senate. On her watch, $10 million in taxpayer money meant for children's healthcare from a Medicaid settlement was funneled into political campaigns—and now she's dodging debates and running away from reporters whenever anyone asks her about it.

​Best of all, between Tallahassee wiping out North Florida's Congressional District 5 and local districts getting busted for racial gerrymandering, politicians here have rigged the maps so badly they don't even have to care if you can afford your next insurance renewal. They already picked their voters.

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Early voting starts today Duval!!!
 in  r/jacksonville •  14h ago

Who's ran Flo(R)ida into the ground?

u/Prozeum • • 19h ago

It finally happened!

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u/Prozeum • • 19h ago

Republicans have officially started cheating I’ve already seen 100+ reports of the same thing

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u/Prozeum • • 1d ago

Republicans are doing everything in their power to rig elections in California.

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u/Prozeum • • 1d ago

"Russia, frankly, has been fine on Ukraine. They haven't been doing much," Trump says, as Russia strikes a local park full of families in Kharkiv region, killing 6, including an infant, and injuring 16.

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1 Upvotes

u/Prozeum • • 1d ago

Every masterpiece has its cheap copy

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A MAGAt is asked "Should the Bible be taught in public schools?"
 in  r/facepalm •  1d ago

Which is funny when paired with his Freedom shirt. When they say freedom it means they are free to do what they want, not you.

u/Prozeum • • 3d ago

School shooting on the rise, Child Sex Surgeries stay the same.

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u/Prozeum • • 3d ago

Fired Press Secretary accidently provides evidence that can be used against Trump in court.

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u/Prozeum • • 4d ago

World's richest man: "the only escape route for humans to avoid being eliminated by AI is to voluntarily merge with machines and become a new species." In other words, you will be assimilated into the Borg. Resistance is futile. How are any conservatives OK with this?

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1 Upvotes

u/Prozeum • • 4d ago

Shots fired in Alaska

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Zacharia on high prices: Trump has done everything he is able to. I would urge Americans to be patient. You can't correct the ship overnight.
 in  r/economy •  4d ago

To piggyback off of you, the Treasury has been doing stealth QE with their 1 Trillion dollar slush fund propping up the bond market. It's yet another bubble bound to burst while contributing to the already terrible inflation caused by Donald Trump and his Regime.

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Would you guys recommend Bridge Constructor Portal?
 in  r/Portal •  4d ago

It's legit fun but those last few levels you may want to save your anger and look up strategies.

u/Prozeum • • 4d ago

Order to limit Starshield for Ukraine came from inside White House, sources say

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u/Prozeum • • 5d ago

That's a big stone for your glass house

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u/Prozeum • • 5d ago

Infinite money glitch!

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u/Prozeum • • 5d ago

Judge rules Elon Musk, Kristi Noem spread false info to fire FEMA official

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u/Prozeum • • 6d ago

Trump administration announces intention to strip U.S. citizenship from Rep. Ilhan Omar, deport her with criminal investigation

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u/Prozeum • • 6d ago

ICE Planning $100 Million ‘Nightmare’ Domestic Spy Program - The American Prospect

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u/Prozeum • • 6d ago

Stephen Miller's pointless point today...

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u/Prozeum • • 6d ago

trump's only job is to hold rallies and brag about how great he thinks he is. 10 rallies since end of Sept, another 12 scheduled

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u/Prozeum • • 6d ago

The silence that cost $276 million

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Verify your voter registration!
 in  r/jacksonville •  7d ago

It's every year now