From the Bench: April 2011
Yesterday’s St. Petersburg Times featured a timely editorial by former Florida Governor and United States Senator, The Honorable Bob Graham (read for yourself: http://tinyurl.com/grahameditorial). The thought provoking piece calls our attention to several issues facing the Sunshine State, particularly the need for a return to a set of core values. The esteemed statesman identifies those values: a commitment to preserve the state’s natural resources, vision to assure that future opportunities and needs are anticipated and met, and fundamental fairness for all of Florida’s citizens.
Any time Bob Graham opines, I’m all eyes and ears. His call for a new vision and a long-term view struck a chord given the focus of the Florida Chamber Foundation. While Senator Graham’s message speaks to the issues discussed in the halls of the Legislature at this very moment and the Chamber Foundation concerns itself with time frames beyond a current political cycle, it is clear that our agreement begins with an apprehension for what happens to our state longer term.
It is from this common ground that the Florida Chamber Foundation offers a comprehensive framework and a holistic view of an economy that seeks to protect the analysis from conclusions drawn from isolated or otherwise misconstrued relationships. The framework, of course, comes from the Six Pillars, which force those concerned with Florida’s strategic vision to think in terms of multiple and interconnected elements which collectively contribute to the prosperity potential of our citizens. Doing so avoids concluding that tax cuts were ineffective in creating “quality jobs”—not to mention, it avoids the misapplying job creation alone as the singular measure of economic success.
But let’s go there anyway. In the aforementioned editorial, the author draws the conclusion, “After 12 years of tax cuts, there is no evidence in these numbers that the cuts have achieved their purpose of accelerating quality jobs.” As suggested above, it is unfair to expect tax cuts, along with any other singular lever pulled by government, to be sufficient to generate in isolation an environment for job creation. Yet, there’s reason to believe the host of decisions made in the 1990s may have served Florida better than a cursory read of the media headlines might suggest.
A different view to the one Senator Graham offers of Florida’s economic progress during the first decade of the 21st Century is realized by an examination of how the other “Top 10 Most Populous States” faired in net job creation. For the period 2000-2010, Florida trails only Texas in net job creation with a total of 136,317 (or 1.9% growth) compared to the Lone Star State’s 920,942 (or 9.8% growth)—even in the face of the Great Recession. The remaining eight states, including North Carolina (praised as an exemplar of job creation), all lost jobs.
Before we toss out lower taxes as a failed strategy, let’s follow Senator Graham’s admonishment for a long-term vision and recognize the interplay between multiple elements in our economy. It will indeed take a world-class talent force to compete successfully in the global economy. Economic development must be driven by innovation and enabled by a competitive business climate. We must pursue policies that ensure infrastructure (e.g., transportation, water, energy) meets the needs of future generations. Governance systems must work to drive efficiency in service to constituents as a contributor with many factors leading to the improvement of the quality of life for all Floridians.
Indeed, Democrats and Republicans are finding the Six Pillars framework useful in broadening the discussions of long-term cause and effect thanks to the dedicated individuals who’ve committed themselves to the heavy lifting of data-driven analysis (www.TheFloridaScorecard.com) through participation in the state-wide Six Pillars Caucus System and its local implementation via the Six Pillars Communities. For more information on how you can join the process, point your browser to http://www.flchamber.com/foundation/get-involved.
