Jeb has done a fine job with the handling of hurricane emergencies.
Regarding the cost of homeowners insurance... you are right... it ain't pretty
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Jeb has done a fine job staying in front of the camera. The truth is, people in Florida have less security than Jeb admits to. I75 goes north and south, the turnpike, and 95. When and if there is an evacuation, one leaves quick and finds themselves now completely locked in unmoving traffic grid. Most sane Floridians I know would never evacuate, knowing they could afford better protection for themselves and their familes than being stuck on a raised road of stalled traffic, a sitting duck, and on
the two big exits, 75 and 95, just inland, at crosswind to the gale force.
Some will outrun the storm, but only a small percentage; the rest would congeal in mass, stupid suicide, on any hurricane above a 3.
While not mentioning any of that, Jeb does indeed mention flashlight batteries, duct tape, battery radio, plywood, food and water for three (!) days, and don't forget the pets.
Those most especially appreciative of Jeb are your aforementioned insurance companies and all those real estate people and developers.
In some ways, developers--who pay little to no taxes now--are moving into communities performing grand theft.
In Pasco County, not a week ago, local news covererd the plight of a man who owns a small marina
on the Gulf Coast. His county commissioners assessed his taxes with a new increase this year to the tune of $47,000 extra dollars. Their rationale?
A spokesman for the County Commission told local news that the assessment was one of potential; they calculated the taxes on what the property WOULD be if there were a large, modern condomium there instead of the small marina.
He could sue, but there you are, owning a business one day, told to produce $47,000 in tax increase the next, based on an invisible but flush developer's rah rah predictions. And when they hit you with that meant-to-be-impossible demand, you can go out and spend what you may have left to hire an attorney, who may be a good ole boy too. In fact, you might bet on that, should the paucity of lawsuits against these reapers be a clue.
In all of Florida, there is a strange disconnect with people and their county commissions; while in earlier years, one would expect that a country commissioner would work to protect the residents (and therefore constituents), here we find them suddenly acting with imperial imperviousness, bold in their downshits and, locally anyhow, mighty shy of tv camera. Instead of storming the commission meetings, a large number are sheltered in their mega-churches, carrying on like they-shoot horses don't they, convinced that the Bushes are going to take care of them in the Christian long run.
In Florida, after tourism, your prevailing industries are big sports and casinos, the lion's share of the profit goes to out-of-state pockets, or if you prefer, corporate pockets. Any saavy business guru will tell you that Florida is the worst state to attempt to start a small business. It is a corporate state.
Insurance claims in large numbers from the last four hurricanes are ignored by the lofty Jeb, while persistent rumors of Cubans in the Miami being paid promptly and superflously as way of political payback continue.
And the spin is? It is you saying Jeb is doing a heck of a brownie job, while he meantimes does a list of photo-ops: empty blond newscasters paint him Tom Edison in Stormville.
The real story of the hurricanes is the taxes, the lack of taxes, the Klondike gold in property turnover,
and the unprecidented insurance bonanzas, which are simillar to Halliburton in Iraq.
Jeb, by the way, is the real NEOCON in the family, while his putty brother mimes tough for the oil companies, but without a clue. Jeb, I will grant you, has a clue.
