No Problems in Scott’s fifth state of the State Address

No Problems in Scott’s fifth state of the State Address

By Roger Caldwell

“Few thought we could add 728,000 jobs, have the highest funding for education, and invest in our environment just four years later. But we did it together—and we have more work to do” says Governor Scott in his state of the state address. Everyone in Florida has an opinion about our governor, but Florida has improved on his watch.

Unemployment has been cut in half from 11.1 percent to 5.6 percent, and it is the second largest decline of any state in the country. The governor al-so says he has added 728,000 new jobs to the economy, and Florida is now the third most populous state in the country. There are 15 seaports in the state, and 150,000 new jobs with the improvement of trade.

Governor Scott is a businessman and he has never waited for the business to come to the state. He has gone out and promoted the state and found countries ready to do business and sign contracts. He has taken nine trade trips around the world, and he has brought billions of business and trade to the state.

This year, Scott is requesting from the legislature a record $19.75 billion in K-12 education funding, and fourth graders are number two in the world in reading. He understands that Florida must provide its students with a world class education, and he is making a commitment to make this happen.

Without a doubt, Governor Scott has hit many of his goals in the four years he has been in office. He has cut taxes, spending more money for public schools, and focused job training for many of the residents. But, there are still many problems that the governor refuses to discuss as more middle and lower class Floridians struggle with lower wages and minimum wage jobs.

As the governor refuses to expand healthcare in the state, and expand Florida’s Medicaid program under the Affordable Care Act, he is hurting mil-lions of Floridians. Florida also faces major challenges in both water quality and quantity, and the Department of Environment Protection refuses to do their job.

There are major numbers of deaths of prisoners in the Florida prison system and Governor Scott remains quiet, and refuses to allocate the funds necessary to do a thorough investigation. As the governor saves money with privatizing every system in the prison, the companies improve their bottom lines by giving inferior service.

In every department in the state, the governor has cut the workforce, and now fewer workers are expected to do more work, even though there are more people in the state.  There is a major proliferation with guns in the state, and there is a possibility that our legislators may approve laws to allow guns on universities and schools.

Big business is controlling the major decisions in the state, and corruption is running rampant. There are a multitude of problems in the state, and our governor is shutting out many different segments such as Blacks, the poor, Latinos, the sick, prisoners, farm workers, and children. As Governor Scott looks the other way, he is not doing the best job he can do, and not confronting many of the problems in the state.