Governor DeSantis’s policies targeting the LGBTQ community, restricting academic freedom, and banning diversity programs have negatively impacted Florida’s economy. Several organizations have canceled conventions and events in Orlando due to concerns over DeSantis’s “anti-woke” agenda, resulting in an estimated $20 million loss in revenue for the state. Despite this, DeSantis’s spokesperson dismissed the economic impact as a “media-driven stunt.” However, boycotts in the past have caused enough economic pain to lead to policy changes, so organizations avoiding Florida are doing the right thing by not spending money there while these policies remain in place.
DeSantis is poison for Florida. He’s so busy trying to prove how much he hates gays & non-whites that he doesn’t take any time to govern. But I guess that’s the standard GOP playbook these days.
One cool thing for me (as a current FL resident) is that my cost of living has gone up so much that it’s motivated me to move to WA. I’ve been kinda lingering around Central FL for several years, not really sure where to go because everywhere else would be more expensive by comparison. Now I’ve finally found that motivation! Thanks Meatball! My homeowners insurance has gone from $900 a year to $4200, and I needed to buy a new roof to get that insurance to the tune of $10k. The old roof was only 12 years old. Insurance companies won’t cover a damn thing if your roof is > 10 years old in FL now.
If I’m going to spend all this money on living expenses I may as well do that somewhere better.
If I’m going to spend all this money on living expenses I may as well do that somewhere better.
i did something similar between austin, texas and chicago, illinois. now my new place is 2x the size; w lots of amenities; costs less than texas; but most importantly, my new home isn’t descending into a conservative fascist hell hole while everyone just sits around and watches it happen while simultaneously ignoring the clear reasons why and how to help it. lol
Yeah, I’ve heard insurance is getting hard to come by in FL. Something that maybe a governor should go about trying to address, but he can’t. No time, gotta get back out there and talk tough about slitting throats and repeating “woke” as many times per minute as possible.
The Governor even screams “woke” at the insurance companies, for raising rates, or leaving altogether. But insurance companies are about as far from woke as you get. They don’t give a shit about the latent injustice in the system. They just look at their numbers, and tweak them until they maximize their revenue vs. risk. And all the bean counters have decided that Florida is too risky.
Is there anywhere specific in WA that you’re looking?
I’m a native and happy to provide any information that might help in deciding where to land in the state.
There’s a huge variance in economic, social, and political views. Finding the right one for your needs will go a long way in assuring you’re happy.
Oh, weather too. The East half of the state is a highlands desert with forests in areas. Lots of high and low temperatures depending on the season. West side is VERY temperate but summers can be tough due to the way the Puget Sound and Olympics can cause heat domes where air doesn’t circulate well. That’s less common though.
I’m a native and happy to provide any information that might help in deciding where to land in the state.
That’s awesome! Thanks for the offer!
I think I’ve mostly ruled out the east half of the state. Olympia was what I had in mind after doing about 3 minutes worth of research. My approach to moving across the country is rather clueless.
I think the primary consideration for me is going to be cost of living, so that’s likely going to rule out Seattle and the surrounding area (based on my assumptions). Maybe not though… 🤷♂️For context, the median household income where I currently live is ~ $60k. When I looked up Seattle, it’s just shy of double that.
Politically - I find the Democratic party to be a bit too conservative for my personal preferences.
I think I’ll likely be able to retain my current job (which I like) when I move, but if for some reason that goes south, I also don’t want to necessarily be a small fish in the huge pond. I work in IT, and I suspect that I’d be in the older half of the “people working in IT” population.
The Tory party in the UK are at this point now. They’ve got little to show in terms of improving the country after 13 years of power so they’ve gone full bore into the culture war stuff.
Most of the right wingers worldwide have been working together to gain and keep power while making things easier for their billionaire bosses, it’s not surprising that the Tory’s, the Republicans, the conservative parties of Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Ruzzia, Hungary, Turkey, etc. All have the same messaging, the same social, economic, and political goals, all utilize the same propaganda masters, Rupert Murdoch’s Newscorp among too many others, and all have the same or very similar fan boys across social media.
Global conservative Christians are the “New World Order” that the Conservatives try to scapegoat the Jews and the liberals as, they want to achieve power and control so that they don’t have to fix problems like bigotry, climate change, and everything else they now consider “woke” problems. (With “woke” just being the latest doublespeak racist dog whistle)
I paid $350 to avoid stopping through Florida on my upcoming trip.
Floridians losing money won’t matter to them, but Republican donors losing money will.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/08/07/desantis-loses-donors-woke-war/70461487007/
Oh they for sure care, just yesterday I was listening to a podcast and one of the ads was for Orlando. The theme of the ad? “Orlando is still great for gay people” They cited all kinds of statistics in an attempt to prove gay people should still visit and that it was a safe and fun place for them. They understand how critical those DINK tourists are, especially when you already have a lot of infrastructure and investment in attracting and serving them.
DeSantis doesn’t care, but I promise you that lots of conservatives on the ground will start caring when their business traffic starts to choke off. Conservatives retire to Florida, but I’d imagine liberals make up at least half of the tourists between spring break, nightlife/LGBTQ hotspots, and how “woke” Disney has become.
Florida’s current economic landscape is only possible due to tourism money, and once that reality becomes clear people are suddenly going to become far less concerned with non economic issues. Even the promise of tax cuts won’t work when entire industries see their revenues drop by meaningful %'s.
I’m from Kansas, I know what it looks like and feels like to live in a conservative economic death spiral. The reality is you have to let it start getting worse before people take it seriously and put a stop to it. Even the conservatives here voted out Brownback after he started gutting every maintenance, service, and school budget in a failed attempt to balance his tax cuts. All those people who treat politics as a game get real serious once it hurts them directly, but until then I’m not sure there’s an effective way to reach them.
And it’s not just the tourism industry that’s suffering, but construction and anything that requires freight shipping as well are already feeling the effects. There’s been videos for the past several months of completely empty job sites with half finished houses and condos because DeSantis has made it a crime to drive undocumented workers, who make up almost the entirety of the construction workforce. A vast number of freight truck drivers also said that they won’t deliver to Florida for similar reasons, though I don’t remember exactly what law caused them to refuse to go into the state.
So regarding going broke, this was a result of… checks clipboard going woke, right?
So here’s the thing. Yes, dude is terrible for Florida. But voters love the guy, so really it’s everyone getting what they deserve?
I don’t understand how people who profess to love powerful, intelligent alpha men have fallen for a 5’ 6” heel wearing manlette that speaks like Kermit and a grown man that wears makeup and speaks like he had a stroke. Make it make sense.
Intelligent is where it goes wrong. They only claim to like intelligence, because that sounds good to claim. They’re actually extremely anti-intellectual in basically every way you can be. Real jocks vs nerds stuff, for people who never outgrew a HS mentality.
At the end of the day Florida is guaranteed 2 seats in the senate and due to their size it will be a long while before momentum moves to the point where their house numbers are low.
Republicans want this. They want people of opposing political beliefs to leave their state en mass. Lets not forget that up until recent conservative craziness florida was known as being the most infamous swingstate.
I dont blame people for leaving from an area where their kids will be more poorly educated, where local infrastructure is decentralized highway centric HOA built community hell, and where they may be actively persecuted. It’s what the republicans want though.
