Florida’s Thriving, California’s Dying, & RIP New York

Do folks living in Florida know how fortunate they are?

In addition to sunshine, great weather, thousands of miles of scenic and recreational coastline, top ranked professional and college sports teams, and excellent public and private schools, Florida is free from Democrat governance that has turned socially declining states such as California, New York, and Illinois into abject failures.

Unlike that unholy trio of Democrat-run hellholes, a solid Republican Florida is blessed with politicians, police and sheriff departments, and courts that don’t treat criminals as victims. The state’s law enforcement organizations and courts don’t coddle law breakers, they punish them.  It doesn’t allow no-cash bail or sanctuary cities that provide protections for criminals, particularly illegal aliens.

As a result of its successes Florida’s residents are thriving. They’re pursuing their share of happiness at unprecedented rates. Registered Republicans outnumber Democrats and their numbers continue to increase.

Following the pandemic restrictions, which Florida lifted before all other states, some 32,500 New Yorkers registered in the state according to Florida’s Motor Vehicle Registration Department. A real estate firm’s analysis said that in 2021 there were 26,000 moves from New York to Miami in 2020 alone, just five years ago. And they’re still coming in increasing numbers with some bringing their entire companies with them, prompting many experts to predict that Miami may become the financial capital of the U.S.

Even New York’s Mayor Eric Adams, said at the time that many residents bolting his state were among those “paying 51 percent of our income tax.” Just wait until Zohran Mamdani takes over. The roads South will be clogged with Empire State license plates fleeing South

The American Legislative Exchange Council ranking of the economic competitiveness of state governments had Florida second and New York 50^th.

Imagine being a Florida or Texas based employee of a firm headquartered in New York, Illinois, or California, coming home, and telling your spouse: “Honey, I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is I’ve been promoted; the bad news is we have to relocate to (pick one; New York, Los Angeles, or Chicago).”

Being promoted and moving to one of those states is similar to the feeling of euphoria after buying a new car and while driving it home seeing three or four similar models broken down and being towed back to the dealer.

The only people not worried about losing their jobs in New York are the editorial staffs of the New York Times and TV networks ABC, NBC, and CBS. Well, at least until all their advertisers and ad agencies move South. Many of the NY based FOX News staff already live in Florida, broadcasting from studios there.

In addition to its great weather and recreational attractions, Florida doesn’t have a personal income tax, boasts low business taxes, and no sales tax on machinery and equipment. Florida currently has the nation’s third largest economy, and it is booming.

In Chief Executive Magazine’s 2025 survey of some 650 CEOs, New York’s business climate ranked 49^th. California was ranked dead last.

In Florida the Democrat’s socialist craziness stops at the state line. Under governor Ron DeSantis Florida has led the country in fighting what DeSantis says is the “woke mind virus.” In 2022 he signed the Stop WOKE Act, banning critical race theory and other such garbage in public schools

There is no more DEI nonsense in the state’s schools from kindergartens to universities. DeSantis also moved fast with no-nonsense measures to protect Jewish students. Attempt an antisemitic, pro-Palestinian protest on a Florida campus and you’ll soon find yourself transferring to an out-of-state liberal school after you bail out of jail.

For example, earlier this month Gov. DeSantis designated the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist organizations, following the lead of Texas, which took a similar step last month.

DeSantis posted the executive order, “Protecting Floridians from Radical Islamic Terrorist Organizations,” on X. The order directs Florida law enforcement and highway patrol to “undertake all lawful measures to prevent unlawful activities in Florida by the terrorist organizations.” The impotent left went berserk filing lawsuits, screaming, and stomping their feet.

Everything Florida is doing is paying off as the state has been ranked number one in in the country for higher education for eight years running according to U.S. News & World Report.

On the other coast, California, which used to be the golden state, is a basket case. It currently boasts two loony tunes (Kamala Harris and Gavin Newsome) vying for the Democrat party’s 2028 presidential nomination, and a Democrat congressional delegation that resembles a clown car jammed with a Senator (Adam Schiff) and representatives (Maxine Waters, Nancy Pelosi, Eric Swalwell, etc.) who all need serious mental health and/or criminal investigative attention.

California is ranked the worst state in the country for affordability, behind New York which is 45^th. It has the highest unemployment rate in the nation,  the country’s highest poverty rate, and the highest taxes.

In addition to its homelessness, high crime and fiscal liabilities, rampant crime, and botched response to wildfires, its roads are ranked the worst in the U.S. Nothing there works.

It’s not surprising that so many people are leaving California, it’s surprising that so many others have not.

The “Eureka” state is quickly sliding off the continental shelf of sanity into oblivion comparable to Atlantis.

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“Honey, I Shrunk The Government:” The Trump administration has dramatically shrunk the federal workforce to the smallest level in more than a decade, according to current economic data.

Total federal government employment fell by 6,000 in November, following a drop of 162,000 federal government jobs in October, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Tuesday.

There were about 2,744,000 federal workers employed in November, marking the lowest reported number since December 2014, in the middle of former President Barack Obama ‘s second term, according to Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED).

All of the job growth under Trump – 100% – has come in the private sector.

Under Biden all the job growth was in government.

In his Wednesday, December 17 talk to the nation Trump outlined his administration’s successes and detailed the upcoming boom in 2026.

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Go To Trade School Young Man, Learn A Skill: Recent studies and polls confirm what I wrote here a couple of weeks ago that trade school graduates are in extreme demand with eager employers waiting to offer generous pay packages and benefits while college graduates are scrambling to find work.

According to an NBC poll reported by the Wall Street Journal (Dec.13-14) only one-third of Americans believe a four-year college degree is worth the time and cost. It said that many young college graduates are out of work and having a harder time than high school grads finding jobs. A  Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank study reinforced that finding.

Ford Motor Company CEO Jim Farley publicly lamented just a couple months ago that his company can’t find enough qualified candidates to run his automobile plants. He said Ford can’t fill 5,000 auto mechanic jobs that pay $120,000 a year. Show me a gender studies or black history graduate that makes that much starting out or ever will.

Farley says the country is in trouble because schools aren’t providing what businesses need. He said, “We have over one million openings in critical jobs, emergency services, trucking, factory workers, plumbers, electricians, and tradesmen. Ford is struggling to hire mechanics at salaries that Ivy League grads might envy.”

Why encourage kids to go to college when trade school would be a much better fit? So parents can brag that their kid graduated and display photos of junior in his cap and gown? What are they going to do besides saying, “Do you want fries with that?” when they greet friends and neighbors at their new job site.

Many college graduates with their art history, sociology and gender studies degrees are ill-prepared for today’s workplace while there is a scarcity of young people skilled in the trades.

Throughout my working life I was never once asked by an employer or a boss to produce a degree nor was I ever asked about grades in any course. In fact, I was never even asked what courses I took. Not once.

It was contacts, references and experience that landed me every job I ever had. Family influence and connections were never a factor in my case as my widowed mother’s most influential acquaintances were members of her weekly no-limit, hard-drinking poker-playing cronies.

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Merry Christmas: There will not be a column next week as I’m taking time to celebrate Christmas with my family. I hope everybody out there has a very happy Christmas and a successful New Year.