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Column: Florida needs an economic exorcism

By Robert Trigaux, Times Business Editor
In print: Sunday, June 15, 2008

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Sure, the old-school signs of Florida's economic woes are well documented by now. Troubled housing markets, foreclosures, tighter credit, oil prices, layoffs. You know, the traditional stuff.

Now comes a deeper layer of financial stress. Increasing levels of unpaid taxes. More middle-class dependence on food stamps. State budget cuts. Still higher electricity rates. Gas at $4 a gallon. Soaring food prices. A french horn player of the Florida Orchestra (see above) brewing his own fuel to save money.

I am reminded of the memorable exchange in the 1984 movie Ghostbusters, when characters played by Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and others try to convince the skeptical mayor of New York that his city is in far greater danger than he thinks.

Dr. Peter Venkman: This city is headed for a disaster of biblical proportions.

Mayor: What do you mean, "biblical"?

Dr. Ray Stantz: What he means is Old Testament, Mr. Mayor, real wrath-of-God-type stuff.

Dr. Peter Venkman: Exactly.

Dr. Ray Stantz: Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling!

Dr. Egon Spengler: Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes …

Winston Zeddemore: The dead rising from the grave!

Dr. Peter Venkman: Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together … mass hysteria!

Okay. Maybe we're not quite at human sacrifice. Then again, that's a loosely defined term these days. The point is: Here we are almost halfway through the year 2008 when big-brain economists early this year prophesied we should see some signs of improvement from interest rate cuts and even preliminary benefits from tax rebate checks. Well … where's the upside?

If you read the St. Petersburg Times' front page on Saturday, you saw two sobering stories. A lot more Tampa Bay property owners than ever before failed to pay their real estate taxes this year. And there was a 21 percent statewide jump in families receiving food stamps in the past year — one of the highest increases in the nation.

In May, one out of every 271 Tampa Bay area households —that's 4,773 homes — was in some stage of mortgage default, up 29 percent from a year ago. In the nation, the May number is one in every 483 households.

"It doesn't get any worse than this," economist Mark Zandi said this month in response to negative housing data.

Well, sure it does. The country may not yet be in a recession, but Florida is. The drumbeat of rising expenses is treacherous to those facing flat wages and job instability. One survey last week found that only 8 percent of Tampa Bay companies plan to hire over the summer but 46 percent plan to cut jobs.

In recent weeks, Progress Energy Florida unveiled rate hikes that by 2009 will raise the typical residential electric bill by $23 a month. Tampa Electric last week said it will raise its electricity price by about $14 a month.

Fewer Americans now than at any point in the past 50 years think they're moving forward in life, a recent Pew Research Center concluded. And nearly a third say they're moving backward.

Let's get the economy back on track. Before the dire warnings of the Dr. Peter Venkmans actually begin to sound credible.

Robert Trigaux can be reached at trigaux@sptimes.com.