Out of Touch, Out of Control

This is a really short blog entry to simply suggest you read the insightful article in this week's TIME MAGAZINE by Tim Padgett: Florida Exodus: Rising Taxes Drive Out Residents.

This is a real case study in what happens when government officials forget they are public servants, instead acting like they are royalty. And, on a state level, this is a tragic example of exactly what is happening in Washington. Politicians completely out of touch with citizens.

Both Padgett's thesis and his examples are compelling.

"Homeowners, especially in Broward and Miami-Dade, have been falling out of their flip-flops in recent days as they open their preliminary property-tax notices to find increases of 15% or more. That's sizable in a low-income region where the median property-tax bill is already some $3,000, and it's doubly frustrating given that property values have slid by some 25% during Florida's housing bust."

"Residents have barely digested the recent news that their hurricane-insurance premiums, which can top $5,000 a year for most South Florida homes, will rise 10% a year for the next three years (vital, officials claim, for handling claims from the next big storm)."

"And their public utility, Florida Power & Light (FPL), is lobbying the state for a 30% rate hike."

" 'It all seems out of control to people here at the time when they can least absorb it,' says Dr. Jose Valladares, president of the conservative Fair Property Tax for All in Miami-Dade."

This is all eerily similar to the event that have devastated Detroit and left it a mere shadow of its former greatness. Will the same scenario destroy Miami?

More importantly, will our officials in Washington, including President Obama, realize they are doing the exact same things to all Americans?