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Red Tide leaves bad taste in visitors' mouths, 12/3

By LETTESR TO THE EDITOR
Published December 3, 2006

Tourism outlook not all sunny Nov. 30

The article states repeat visitors are coming back less frequently. Nowhere is there a mention about Red Tide. That seems to be a possibility.

Do people in St. Pete imagine that tourists really love to hear their children coughing and seeing dead, smelly fish at the beach? No wonder they don't come back. People prefer to vacation in a place that has clean air and water and a healthy environment.

The St. Pete Times should prod the Chamber of Commerce to stop ignoring Red Tide. The newspaper should investigate accounts of pollution dumping by the phosphate industry in the gulf like those discussed at www.redtidealert.com.

Federal Reserve: Lowerrates

Cutting interest rate sure to make economy hum

Though some may wish for the Federal Reserve to wait another quarter before changing interest rates, we believe that the Federal Reserve should cut the federal funds rate by a quarter point at its December meeting to prevent a slide into economic recession.

Why? First, the rapidly falling housing market and sudden decline in business expenditures are early harbingers of a possible economic downturn if proactive measures are not taken. Second, inflation appears to be in check. Recently released figures, such as both the consumer and producer price indexes, support this. Core inflation fell by 0.9 percent in October, the biggest one-month fall in 13 years.

Lower rates will help ease problems in the housing market and industrial production by leading to increased spending as consumers purchase more cars, homes and other items. With lower rates, many foreign companies with money in America will sell their dollars and move their money to other countries in pursuit of higher yields. This will make the goods and services America exports more attractive abroad. Increased purchases by foreigners means increased U.S. production, thus economic growth.

Rate cuts mean the United States economy will continue to "bull" its way forward - and who doesn't want that?

Bay's home boom suddenly bellyup Nov. 19

Real estate trend isn't a bad thing for everyone

In response to your Sunday cover story regarding the local real estate market, I'd like to suggest a more balanced approach that would include facts and stats from the local board of Realtors. By sensationalizing the downward trend that we experienced this year, you may be perpetuating the cycle. My experience is that investors have a renewed interest in the market, because it is not totally seller-biased, as it was over recent years. Also, sellers are trading properties in order to take advantage of very real opportunities that exist to buy homes that were previously unaffordable.

To gain insight into current trends in Florida's real estate industry, the University of Florida's Center for Real Estate Studies recently conducted a new statewide quarterly survey of industry executives, market research economists, real estate scholars and other experts.

Even if a sharp downturn in the housing market occurs, as some analysts predict, Florida will be less affected by it than other states because of the insulating effect of its high population growth rate, said Dr. Wayne Archer, director of UF's Center for Real Estate Studies. Despite some people's worst fears, housing is unlikely to suffer the same fate as tech stocks at the beginning of the decade, he said. "Unlike tech stocks, housing has a use, which means it can't just evaporate," he said.

Why do we keep comparing 2006 residential sales to arguably the greatest residential sales year in history? Would we compare a promising golfer to Tiger Woods?

A more balanced approach to reporting will help our local economy. Doom-and-gloom reporting may become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Certainly many property owners have found this year to be economically disappointing. Realtors have been challenged to get the results their sellers desire. However, as the market reaches equilibrium, those who sense the changing trend will have a great opportunity to invest in the market again. It used to be in real estate that the three most important aspects of a property were location, location, location. Today it very well may be location, timing and price.

On 'slacker' reference, Talk of the bay Nov. 18

For many, job prospects aren't getting any better

Once again the writers, in my opinion, show their total lack of understanding and knowledge of the job market here in Florida or, simply stated, they don't care to report all the facts. Until you walk in someone else's shoes, don't try to explain it all away with a slur.

Now many average people are not in those great employment statistics they talk about. Secondly, who are they to call me a slacker when they couldn't live nor raise a family on the wages being paid for these so-called jobs. Have they read about the 35-million average Americans struggling to put food on the table - who are employed?

Switched auto coverage, losthome policy Nov. 14

Insurer's tactics are clear violation of Florida law

Thank you for telling the public that getting your homeowners policy dropped after you cancel your car insurance is a violation of Florida statutes. We also had the same experience as Frank Pallini. In January 2006, we received our car renewal policy from Liberty Mutual priced at $14,994. You read that correctly, so we changed to another car insurance company. One evening in September, while cooking supper, I received a call from a representative of Liberty telling me our homeowners would not be renewed next March. He said that they were cutting down on policies in our area. We are in a nonevacuation/no-flood area of Pinellas and have never filed a claim on our homeowners policy.

If this is a violation of Florida law, why can they get away with this? If I break the law, I can expect to have a police officer arrest me. So the message to the public is that insurance companies are above the law! Why are the people who are supposed to protect the public not doing something? Why is the Times not going after this? This is just wrong!

The taxpayers must foot the bill

The reason all politicians are ducking the Great Big Insurance Crisis is simple: They know, as does anybody with a smattering of fiscal sense, that it's going to take money to resolve this mess. They also know that the money can come from only one source: voters, whether they are policyholders or taxpayers. Anybody who thinks that insurance companies or governments are going to pay is seriously bereft of basic economic tenets. Insurance companies don't pay for diddly; policyholders pay for everything. Government doesn't pay for anything; taxpayers pay for everything.

Do politicians have the guts to tell voters they are going to have to pay higher taxes to fund various hurricane catastrophe fund or reinsurance solutions? Hardly. They would rather blame the insurance industry - all 50,000 of us so employed in Florida. We're the bad guys, and politicians, regulators, and even you guys in the media have done a pretty good job of convincing the public of that.

Can any government entity straighten all this out? Remember, government is completely responsible for Citizens, a prime example of what happens when government decides it can do what business can't do. Know what the Lt. Gov. Toni Jennings-led insurance reform committee came up with? Nothing. Nada. Zilch. There was no Jeb-to-Charlie handoff. It was a play-action fake and incomplete pass.

Who do we blame for all this? Jeb? Charlie? Toni? Bill (Nelson)? The insurance companies? Bureaucrats? Let's face facts here. We have to put the blame squarely on the shoulders of Florida's citizenry, nearly the most under-taxed bunch in the country. Floridians want everything that everybody else will pay for, and now they can't get it. No insurance policyholder in any other state will pay for Florida's problems, and no elected official or regulator will okay such a solution.

There are solutions, though. But somebody's got to have the courage to tell Floridians that it's now a cash bar, that if they want to bask in the balmy, palmy Sunshine State, then they'll have to pay for it.

Mess could lead to mass exodus

You are so right. The representatives we have elected, past, present and future, have been bought by the insurance industry and we the citizens pay the price.

My wife and I invested in commercial property here in Pinellas County several years ago as our retirement program. We no longer can afford wind insurance and our tenants can no longer afford their business coverage. It's questionable whether our multimillion-dollar retirement plan is worth half its appraised value on which I am obliged to pay $26,000 more in taxes this year over 2005.

As Florida's economy burns, our "representatives" toss the hot potatoes and accept more advice and graft from the insurance industry. I predict that within three more months, once the few remaining faithful realize that the people we hired to represent us sold us out, the exodus from Florida will look like a hurricane evacuation.

Please continue to write on this issue and keep the heat on our supposed representatives.

Keep pressure on our legislators

There cannot be too many articles to point out this outrageous crisis. It can cause business after business to fail and homeowner after homeowner to go into foreclosure. Thanks for keeping it on the front pages of the different sections. Maybe some of the politicians you talked about will do something, because so far their performance is abysmal.

State needs to take care of itself

Your article about the present insurance debacle is right on target. However, this crisis was born several years earlier when then Insurance Commissioner Bill Nelson sold out to the insurance industry while the boys in Tallahassee looked for other issues "not" to resolve. Why Katherine Harris didn't capitalize in the election remains a mystery. This entire nightmare had a slow burning fuse that waited until 2004-05 to explode.

The big point missed is this: Without population and tourist growth, Florida will become a ghost town. With 77-million baby boomers ready for retirement, Florida, with the ridiculously high insurance and tax rates, will make any other Sunbelt state look better by far.

As I heard at a "City Hall Insurance Meeting" recently held by Times staff writer Tom Zucco, Citizens Property chairman Bruce Douglas had a solution that made perfect sense. Insurance costs are driven in Florida by reinsurance companies who do not want to use their assets in a risky market like Florida. A national catastrophic reinsurance fund will never pass in Washington. A regional fund will never get the acceptance by other less hurricane prone states. Florida needs to take care of itself.

Part of the mysterious tax revenue no one seems to want to admit to should be used to fund this reinsurance pool. With any luck like we had this year, this fund would be up and running. It would be self-sufficient within three years and could actually return dividends to the state. This is far better than assessing Citizens' policyholders or going through these sham political action committees that come up the same sophomoric answer every time: Raise rates!

Wake up, Tallahassee!

[Last modified December 2, 2006, 20:33:59]