Rick Scott throws away a key to Florida’s recovery

The fatal flaw of the Tea party is the desire to cut government to almost zero services and expenditures in a hope to save the country. They are acting as if the current condition in America is something that needs to be preserved. The sad fact is that most of America’s infrastructure dates to the 1950’s, and over 80% of jobs are in the service sector. Both of these indicators point to the fact that America has been broken for decades. It needs to be fixed, and fixing America is not free.

I understand that Rick Scott is simply acting to please his voter fan base. OK. I also think he should be proud of being a fiscally responsible leader. Here is where Rick Scott completely drops the ball. Florida is a tourist state. Mr. Scott says that over and over in all of his speeches. His job is to increase visitors and to increase the net spending of visitors in Florida.

OK, now lets take a look at the state. There are two internationally known destinations in Florida: ORLANDO and MIAMI. Both of these are islands that are difficult to get out of. Orlando is in the center of the state and requires a car rental or plane flight to get to a beach. Miami is at the south of Florida and it requires a full day to get to Disney World or to travel to key West. In a game of tourist revenue Florida seems to be doing everything it can to limit the spending of tourists. It has more unpaved roads than most 3rd world countries. The airports are so busy that you can expect to spend a full day simply getting through security and to your final destination within the state. It seems that the leadership in Florida is actually fighting against increased tourism revenue and that Rick Scott is leading that fight.

High speed rail is the BEST opportunity that Florida has had to upgrade its status from a “Red Neck” backwoods state that just happens to have alot of sun, to a world class tourist destination. Florida doesn’t need just one high speed train from Orlando to Tampa. Florida needs a network of high speed rail from Key West to Miami to Orlando to Tampa to Jacksonville, to the Pan Handle, and even a spur linking Atlanta.

Tourists are getting smarter and more demanding. They no longer want to fly to one destination and spend their entire vacation there. They want to have multiple experiences. Florida does NOT offer that. Florida is a fly in – fly out destination. As long as Rick Scott kills any infrastructure progress in Florida, it will remain a second class tourist destination.

Itia (Abroad)