Florida (WTFF) – Florida is the least affordable state to live in, according to a new study by Joblist.com.
The study puts Florida dead last in the United States when comparing true wage rank and cost of living rank.
New York is the second least affordable place to live, coming in 6 points higher than the Sunshine State when comparing the national cost of living.
Even though the United States is one of the richest nations in the world, its citizens suffer some of the highest poverty rates among other developed nations as income inequality widens.
The richest 5% of U.S. citizens own two-thirds of the wealth, according to a 2017 study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Wealth inequality is a feature of Capitalism, or in some more Conservative frameworks of thought, Corporatism, defined by Sheila Kennedy as the “organization of society by major interest groups, specifically corporations.” These corporations are enabled by politicians who accept bribes in the form of campaign contributions. This system allows companies to abuse workers in order to make huge profits for the elite few by undermining the “Invisible Hand” that Adam Smith wrote about as a metaphor for the unseen forces that move the free market economy. Today the “free market” is not free at all, but is manipulated like a puppet and taxed into ruin.
Small businesses get crushed by giant corporations who can afford to invest in more efficient technology, like better equipment and automation. The capital/money these corporations produce and reinvest comes from the commodities and services they sell, and from the surplus labor value of the employees they hire. “Boss make a dollar, I make a dime.” Since everyone is born into a world where they must have money to survive, competition arises and employers can choose from a wide pool of potential employees. Also, many large corporations exploit overseas workers by paying them a fraction of what U.S. citizens make. Therefore, it’s a “buyer’s market” for giant businesses, and that’s why wages are not rising, even though corporate profits continue to rise as both technology and exploitation make production more efficient.
The middle class is being destroyed as everyone gets propelled into two separate groups: the very rich and the very poor.
Economist Richard Wolff explains how this class structure works in a short but informative video.
There’s a wealth of information available that exposes how Capitalism exploits the working class, but as Oscar Wilde said, “The public have an insatiable curiosity to know everything, except what is worth knowing.”
Mainstream media will continue publishing propaganda to keep the working-class distracted, deceived, angry at the wrong people and hopeless. All we can do is keep speaking the truth, and hope that all the people of the world, including the apolitical, Republicans and Democrats, Libertarians and Socialists, Anarchists and Communists, will rise up against our oppressors and join together in love and solidarity.
There is no American dream anymore. This country is owned by corporations and to hell with the worker. Wages don’t move because for some reason people think that if you give a break to rich corporations they will pay there workers more. I call bs . They pocket heir savings , reduce workforce , and increase the workload on current employees. Unfortunately trickle down doesn’t work no matter how many times you sell that snake oil to the American public. The more money middle class make the more they spend . Increases profits and value of shares somehow that is hard for 99% of Americans to understand.
1surfing
United States is becoming a third world nation because of corruption in the goverment, free market is bs in this country without any control or regulations or benefits to people like public health care or public universities which you pay higher taxes and you get nothing back. The American dream is only to 20 % of americans today, the rest is barely surviving.
The lobby is destroying our future.
We are doomed.
Work at coca cola beverages Florida cost them 5 cents to make a 20 oz coke they sale that same coke for about $1.60 you see were the money go.
I work for coca cola beverages Florida we get a 1 percent raise each year that not even the cost of living.
The main takeaway from this article and video is, stop the influx of cheap labor! If you haven’t watched the video yet, watch it. The narrator explains that the main reason wages stopped growing in the US is because we have too many participants in the labor pool! Why should an employer pay more to retain experienced employees when they can train someone younger and pay them less! I know there are other contributing factors to stagnant wages but this is certainly a big one. The government shouldn’t take from the rich and give to the poor. They should see to it that each company maintains their existing labor force and rewards them for their contribution to the companies profits. The poor should therefore aspire to join the middle/working class. If one cannot work it should be proven beyond a doubt and as a society we all contribute to their welfare. If an able-bodied person chooses not to join the middle/working class or contribute then they should be left behind.
Thank you.
Right to Work states always have lower wages. I went fishing in Miami/Keys with a couple of friends who work in construction unions from Illinois. They inquired as to wages there and would have to take 70% pay cuts and then pay significantly more for housing. Illinois does have the highest property taxes in the nation but in the end it is still rather inexpensive to live in.
Great article!! Maybe it will keep a few northerners from moving here.
I travel all over domestic and YES it is the worst! Luckily my company is based out of Denver and live in Florida … have loved here all my life !! Got a real eye opener seeing and hearing people with same like jobs as in Florida getting paid 10 plus dollars more an hour !! PROOF! and the real estate at this locations was much better then what you get here!!
Until there is equal effort, there will always be income inequality. Oh, and P.S. I’ve lived all over the country and this story is just false in so many ways.
The biggest issue here is Florida state is a retiree state and this people have the right to vote, who do you think they will support to be the next governor!? They won’t care about the server, how do you think they got what they have!?
I went bankrupt in 2008 on food stamps three kids and a wife that stay at home.My wife got a job her job paid college wife has master’s degree now. I started new business doing insurance from zero customers on 2010 I have over a thousand customers now our household income is over $200,000. this article is full of crap if you work hard capitalism works get off your butt get out and sell something. Stop buying iPhones that cost $1,100 drive a used car for a while. Don’t eat out every other day. Success doesn’t come without sacrifices.
White people control 90% which equals 90 trillion dollars of the racial WEALTH gap while black folks control 2.6% of the national wealth something is wrong with this picture.
“Wealth inequality is a feature of Capitalism”? Wealth inequality is a feature of every system because of the differences in human nature.
Written by a liberal, foul-mouthed, so-called journalist!! Would never trust this source!
Florida is a service industry state. We cater to snow birds,tourist, and retirees. Most of the work here is to serve the people bringing their money to this state. It should be no surprise that most unskilled labor is low wages and limited benefits. The continuous good wages are in the trades and most college degrees. Welcome to the Sunshine State we got sun and strain.
Fucking New yorkers
I kive in central florida..
Housing is ridiculously cheap.
However.
Jobs are scarce and come with poor pay.
To be honest .. the area has. Nothing to offer but sunshine
I’m an RN. My last RN job (2018) paid me LESS than my first RN job in 1990.
Florida legislators don’t care about constituents, they only care about lining their own pockets with corporate donations.
Florida just gave 500 million back to the largest corporations, and we, the people, continue to suffer without healthcare.
One sumption….GREED!!!!!
That’s a lie. Better do your homework better. I live in Illinois and there are far more data online and proof that they are the highest tax state to live in. The sales tax alone is 10.25. Not to mention gas taxes (two). The bottom line is that I don’t pay State income in Florida is a enough to sell me. The bottom line is I lived in both states and I personally know Florida is more affordable. Which tells me this article is fake or someone bought this “research”, fake research or news!
Florida politicians sold out the people of Florida before I was born and every since no matter which party. The biggest ripoff state to work in of all I ever worked in. Oh yea I was born there but definitely don’t want to have to live there again.
I agree that Florida is a tuff place to stay afloat despite having some of the highest paying jobs. The cost of living in Fort Myers has skyrocketed in the last ten years and the rental market is outrageously expensive. My family and I are moving out of the state in 6 weeks because we like to actually retire on time.
Abolish Class system and make everyone Rich!!!!
I work for a $65 + billion dollar company and after 12 years of service I make less than $50k. Annual raises across the board are 1% and there is no cost of living raise.
I’m a 6G Certified Master Welder/ Fabricator. I reside in Naples, Florida… I’m bringing in a bit less than $645/ week. I spend everything I earn on simply surviving here. Up North, I’d walk onto a union job at close to $34/ hour… rent a nice house for $700/ month, have a few roommates, and live high on the hog & save for retirement. But, I can’t handle the cold any longer. Sooooo, slave wages it is.
I’m a teacher in one of the worst counties in Florida and we are one of the lowest paid counties as well. Most teachers are married but are still struggling like single people like me. Florida could care less about anybody but their own… People who have money or who have retired from other states and moved here . It’s difficult to live here but not having the means to move is a struggle too.
What’s the best
I live in pensaocla, the city makes millions a year off the beach plus a city and county gas tax. Rent for apt averages 1000 a month. This city is making millions yet is considered one of the poorest counties in the state. People are being killed at least three per week and the laws are used as part of the revenue stream. The homeless population is out of control and the city target them consistently for jail because they don’t want to ruin the revenue stream of tourism. If you visit Pensacola it is against the law to carry less than ten dollars if your downtown so the homeless can’t beg for money to eat. Yes this place is super crooked
Bullshit… I love in Rhode Island we are one of the worst. Doesn’t matter much how much you get paid when they tax rape you around every corner. The pay is lower in some areas of jobs in Florida but overall it’s not bad, they take out less taxes, you don’t pay as much for property taxes or hell car tax. I pay $4200 for .16 of an acre where as in Florida you pay like $1000 for 1-2 acres. If you rent yes it’s way more expensive & sucks because they actually charge the same as here in RI & the wages of income are different
The truth is the states are broke as fuck we are no different then the supposed payed slaves of egypt these fucking scumbags pay us bullshit money just enough to pay bills idk why people flock here this country is worthless
this state is a piece of shit full of greedy mother fuckers hell i already BOYCOTTED the lottery its the worse of all states im tired of donating to education and kids dont even get free lunch this state needs to burn to the ground or sink
Where does the other states like Texas and Tennessee and Kentucky come in?
Another way they enrich themselves quickly with the taxpayers money to keep complaining about insufficient budget is how they deal with sick patients, sickness, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies.
They will prefer to pay over $100.000 to an hospital to empty your tax money from Medicare and Medicare just for a few days in the hospital here instead of giving $1000 to the patient directly to go find cheaper treatments somewhere else because that money goes back to their pockets as investors having big shares in those private hospitals.
They refuse to vote against the big pharmaceutical companies here that are selling one pill one thousand times more than another country like Canada or Mexico or others countries because they are big investors in those pharmaceutical companies and are only using the ooor sickness to enrich themselves with their tax money in order to keep the country broke and in debt forever and keep forcing the poor to slavery harder like animals forever while all the wealth of the country is in their pockets.
This is a crazy and insane system of exploitation called Capitalism.
ThereRich will get richer and poorer poorer always.
No sentimental feelings, no love, no compassion, no justice, no equity, nothing good as virtue.
Too mich corruption to denounce here.
A book would not be sufficient to say it all.
It’s a criminal system of greed. Only the rich and those in power and position can accumulate the wealth of this country alone for themselves. All the officials n New York are big investors in those big corporations they favor to exploit the system as well as most of them are the ones who invested in their campaign to get them elected to power. The whole system is a crime to exploit the poor and s’efface-enrich themselves. A taxi driver they targeting daily in the city has to rent a car for $140 . He has to put $59 to $60 in gas. After working his ass for 12 hard hours risking his life driving customers everywhere throughout the city , he can barely makes $250 to $300 in a good day. After paying $140 for the car rental plus $60 for gas that makes $200. He can walk home with between $50 to $100 for himself to feed his family and pay train or car insurance if he has a car or train fare from his money. Now, if he gets a traffic ticket , he must pay at least $300 to higher for that ticket resulting him slaving for nothing for that week but to be exploited and filled the greed of his oppressors and greedy criminal exploiters. They are corrupt and heartless for money and are killing the little ones. There’s so much more to say. If you get a ticket and doesn’t have money to pay on time, you will receive a letter from them treaten to cancel your licence, freeze your bank account even you don’t have one and you will have to pay with a big penalty this time. A $50 ticket will come to be $75 for paying late. The abuses and exploitation and a oppression and extortion and abuse of power and position to fill their selfishness and enrich themselves only is beyond reason repair and understanding. It’s more than a crime. Despite there’s so… Read more »
Traffic camera in almost every res light in New York .
No place to park.
Tickets by billions daily throughout the city.
It’s just impossible oppression and exploitation and abuse of power to fill their insatiable greed and selfishness and selling favor to the rich corporations to exploit in turn the poor hard slaving citizens and immigrants
Forget to add that a lot of peoples in New York are thinking about moving to another state.
The only reason they stay here is because there is work here but it’s just slavery for nothing because they can never keep a penny for themselves.
The whole New York State is filled with homeless already everywhere.
Peoples who don’t understand the system blame them like it’s their faults when those poor innocents most of them have been exploited and pressed down into the system drinking their blood into hard slavery for nothing but to be exploited by the rich and the officials of New York States
Wrong !
New York is worse .
The wage in Florida might be a little lower but at least the cost of living is also low and reasonable.
Car insurance is cheap and the citizens are not sold out to private car insurance companies to exploit them and making them pay $5000 to $6000 a year for liability insurance for a car only.
The tax is lower compared to here where we are being charged $1200 a year.
They’re not being targeted with summons and tickets to pay daily like in New York nor having to pay high insurance after getting 5 tickets and 10 points added to their licences.
New York, the middle class is making $13 to $15 an hour as minimum wage but the rent is high.
One bedroom appartement is $200 to $2500 a month.
The government is killing the immigrants and citizens in New York with parking tickets $125, , traffic ticket from $250 to $3000 .
Life has become impossible to live in New York to the corruption and exploitation of the officials in power in New York.
There’s no way peoples can pay rent to rest their heads with what they’re earning if not by sharing a room with several peoples or roommates.
The whole system in New York is rigged and oppressive exploiting the poor to favor the rich corporations.
New York is worse than Florida thousands times more.
Florida May come after maybe
I moved here 22 years ago, refugee from Uncle Arthur Rong us…..sold my house in Maryland, moved to Orange Park and got some 15 years of pain relief….managed to stick it out in spice of all sorts of crooks, and essentially living off SS now, my largest complaint is that INsurance is not worth a damn in this state, yet they charge up the ass for it…..50 years homeowner, never had a claim, Irma changed that and they refuse to pay…..figgers..it’s Floriduh……
I attest to this article. I lived in Miami for decades and the cost of living kept rising out of control since the mid 2000s. After the 2009 economic downturn, coupled with the huge migration of people to South Florida (never understood why), it became impossible for a middle class family to live comfortably in Miami unless your combined income is at least $200k. Otherwise, you will be surviving and not thriving. Plus, most people commute as much as 1.5 hours back and forth from work. It is hell. Do it for a few years and you wanna run as far away as possible from South Florida.
I am disabled on social security been here over 30 yrs, I have widowed for 2 yrs, now having to leave because I can’t make my bills here, everything is high, prescriptions, utilities I don’t even live month to month leaving to Oklahoma in a few months. Getting out
We are all chattel property, this is all by design. FL is for the elite pedophile’s freemason masters only. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lRZHTmfj9Y&fbclid=IwAR2SlP_qL6ZGzkhSBMwfQza1jV6i3tf1LjLmAywviF26598Io9pWYZ5-trs
I grew up in Palm Beach County and left for any reasons, not the least of which is the cost of living and the inability to make money. There are NO high paying jobs there. You can’t go to work for a company and get a salary that you can live nicely there on. The labor pool there won’t support high paying tech jobs which is why they aren’t there. People go to Florida because they dont give a damn about anythi g or because they have a lot of money to begin with.
Much of this article sounds pike a rant against capitalism. There is an imbalance of power but not because of capitalism. It is likely because of something like political manipulation and cronyism. Additionally, kids aren’t being taught what it means to save and invest which would help narrow the divide between the haves and the have-nots.
I make very good money here in Florida when there is work available. Because I’m a tradesman it’s like it always has been, feast or famine. That’s when knowing how to budget your money comes in quite handy. The cost of living is high here & the average wages are low. So, yes, i agree with the article, but i also agree with some of the comments. It’s your choice to live here, if you don’t like it then Georgia isn’t real far away. If you’re not happy with the money you do make then find something else that pays better. If that’s not an option then get a 2nd job. That is why we are the greatest country on the planet. If you don’t like where you are or what you’re doing you have the freedom to change either one or both.
I have lived in Florida for over 30 years & even though I have a good job in local government, I am still living pay check to pay check. My salary isn’t bad, ut it’s not enough to cover my monthly bills. I’m single & living on one paycheck gets harder & harder every year. The cost of living is too high here & the salar8are too low. Many friends have been forced to move out of state or work multiple jobs. It’s just very sad
Yep, keep voting blue, to raise welfare and taxes, and take more from your hard earned incomes. Then complain that you can’t afford to live. That’ll do ya.
I believe it. I worked for a hotel for 16 years. The last month I worked there I just started making $12 an hour. After 16 freaking years. Thank god I’m married or else I would have been homeless.