Councilman Alvin Moore & Euri Cerrud, candidate for Orange County Commissioner joined local unemployed and underemployed residents on Tuesday, March 25th to let Governor Scott know what’s the real state of the economy for struggling Floridians.
Earlier this year Rick Scott bragged about Florida’s supposed economic recovery at the State of the State address. However, most middle and lower income families are just not feeling it. Florida ranks third worst in the nation for “prime-age worker” employment rates—24 to 54 year olds—and is number two in long-term unemployed. Experts say the drop in unemployment numbers are largely a result of discouraged unemployed workers giving up altogether.
Rhyane Williams, an unemployed millennial with a master’s degree, discussed the challenges of finding work in Rick Scott’s economy.
“Every day I’m sending out my resumes and hitting my nose to the grindstone. I’m doing all the right things but have not gotten any traction,” said Williams. “Other college grads are running into the same issues. The majority of jobs out there are minimum wage jobs in the tourism or retail industry. It’s simply not enough to pay the rent, bills, and your student loans.”
“Rick Scott has tried to paint a rosy picture of the economy, but the truth is our economy is stuck in neutral,” said Councilman Alvin Moore. “The Governor has made big promises, but has failed to deliver, especially on jobs.”
Scott has so far failed in his campaign promise of creating 700,000 jobs in seven years. His strategy of giving huge tax breaks and incentives to corporations, in exchange for creating jobs has also failed miserably. Scott has pledged $266 million in tax breaks and other incentives in return for 45,258 new jobs. Only 4% of those jobs have been created.
But, despite these anemic numbers, critics have said that Scott has largely ignored the needs of middle and working income families, while catering to the special interests and donors.
“Floridians are living on the edge—just trying to find a foothold into the middle class,” said Euri Cerrud, Candidate for Orange County Commissioner. “Rick Scott appears to be indifferent to the fact that his policies are making it harder for Floridians to get a decent education, get ahead, and in some cases, simply survive.”
Scott gutted the education budget in his first year in office, failed to expand affordable health care for over 750,000 Floridians, cut funding for Bright Futures scholarships, and rejected $2.4 billion in federal funding for high speed rail, which would have created tens of thousands of jobs. Scott has also said that raising the minimum wage, which would boost the overall economy and lift thousand of Floridians out of poverty, makes him “cringe”.
Meanwhile, Scott’s political committee, “Let’s Get to Work” has taken in more than $30 million largely from powerful special interests across the state. Critics have accused Scott of pushing for an agenda driven by political benefactors.
Protestors demanded that he focus on creating economic opportunities for struggling Floridians, rather than just looking out for his interests and those of his special interest donors.
“Rather than focus on creating jobs, Rick Scott has pushed for billions in tax cuts for special interests and sweetheart deals for well-connected donors,” said Councilman Alvin Moore. “This is no way to govern. We need real relief for our middle class. We need policies that benefit the overall economy, like helping small businesses grow, fully funding our public schools and keeping college tuition affordable.”
