advertisement

SSN on Facebook SSN on Twitter SSN on YouTube RSS Feed

57 Comments
Nancy Smith

Gillum's Sandersesque Agenda: Where Will the Money Come from?

September 28, 2018 - 6:00am
Andrew Gillum
Andrew Gillum

Democrats are giddy over Andrew Gillum's September lead, I get that. But the rest of us are hoping they might take a break from blowing raspberries at Gillum's Republican opponent long enough to answer some of the questions we have about this hard-left gubernatorial candidate.

Gillum is campaigning as a member of the Sanders–Ocasio-Cortez wing of the party: He wants to abolish ICE, raise the minimum wage to $15, pass single-payer health care, and increase taxes across the board.

That's quite a sea change for Florida. "With its laissez-faire economic policies and its general respect for personal liberty, Florida has long been considered one of the freest states in the union," says the National Review.

I couldn't agree more.

I Beg to DifferAre Floridians truly ready to put a socialist in the governor's mansion?

Let's leave the candidate's record as mayor of Tallahassee for another day. Look at the bigger issue for a moment, his plan for Florida. 

I see an agenda taken straight from the Bernie Sanders playbook. Which might be well and good for less free, less successful states than ours.

Gillum is a dedicated opponent of gun rights. He wants a ban on “assault weapons” and a crackdown on private gun sales. How restrictive is he planning to be?

We know he's no friend of due process, because he's endorsed proposals to restrict the Second Amendment rights of people who haven't been convicted of crimes. He recommended municipalities pass gun restrictions that flout state law. I may be wrong here, but I'm pretty sure Floridians want a governor who treats the Second Amendment as if it were part of the Constitution.

On health care, Gillum wants increased government involvement at the federal and state levels. He supports Sanders’ “Medicare for all” plan and says he would expand Medicaid in Florida. He has floated other ideas to increase state spending on health care.

I wish the media would serve their readers, serve their viewers and listeners and confront the elephant in the room: How does he plan to pay for all this? Specifically, how?

The other day the Tampa Bay Times' Adam Smith made fun of DeSantis for suggesting Gillum "would do the virtually impossible and enact a state income tax." Smith called it a "clumsy falsehood." OK, so it probably is. But all the Times is doing is glossing over an issue hugely important to his readers:

How is the guy going to pay for all this? It strains credibility.

Wouldn't Florida have to adopt a New York–style tax regime?  Be bold, billionaire George Soros tells the candidates he supports, of which Gillum is one. But Soros never explains where the money for his favored progressive programs is going to come from.

What suffers? 

The rest of Gillum’s agenda -- the $15 minimum wage, the steep corporate-tax hike -- what would that do to the state’s thriving economy? 

These are the things Florida voters will want to know in the cold light of October. The Democrats and the media can play slap-and-tickle with DeSantis all the way to November for all I care. But if Gillum isn't business as usual -- and clearly, he isn't -- it's time right now to reveal the details of how Florida would fare if his agenda were realized. Some people are already voting.

Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at 228-282-2423. Twitter: @NancyLBSmith

Comments

Gillum needs a job,....he's power hungry, he really doesn't have much of an education, he got in a degree in political science at FAMU aka the guy is a community organizer like Obama. Medicaid expansion like he's talking about is several billion dollars. Our schools could be jammed with illegals dumbing it down for the teachers so you have to send you kid to private school unless you want ebonics and dumbed down curriculum taught, while they cater to the non english speaking crowd. Bascially he wants to turn Florida into California.

We vacation in Florida panhandle every year. Raise prices (and they will go up with Gillum) and we will change to Gulf Shores!

Well, I like the idea of higher wages for the working poor, but the average wages in Orlando are around $11-13 per hour for most of the service jobs here, now where are the companies going to find the extra money to pay the higher wages? Disney and Universal can handle that, but I would expect a lot of companies that dont need to be here to take their business and factories elsewhere. Whenever money is needed, the working poor and middle class ALWAYS foot the bill, not the welfare class or the upper class. The other way to cut costs is to hire immigrants at much lower rates, which is why so many native born are out of work, penniless and even homeless. Since Gillum is "open borders, ICE-free", we can expect millions of more immigrants working at very low wages for years to come.

Gillum busted lying to us https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=di3WRRHRWlE

I support the President DeSantis supports the President I support DeSantis Make America Great Again

Leftists of all stripes...Socialists, Communists, Progressives...continue doing everything they can to destroy our country. They have fallen hook, line, and sinker for Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals and will lie, cheat. steal and kill to reach their goal of one world government dictating to all. At least three generations of our citizens have been deluged with leftist propaganda in our institutions of learning, making it doubtful we will ever be able to recreate the nation I was born into, the one my three brothers and I were willing to lay down our lives for in World War II and as our father willingly did in World War I.

It is doable only with the following measures: 1) Implementation of the Concept of Zero Cost Economics, which focuses on freezing, reducing and/or eliminating "recurring costs" of all kinds; 2) Creating Super-banks, in contrast to the conventional banking system, which provide interest-free mortgages and loans, and pay up to 10% interest on long-term deposits, but make profits by increasing the velocity of return on investment, which could end up being over 300% and more annually--a win-win situation for everybody with an almost "no-flationary" (no-inflation) economy; 3) Create productivity- and quality-inducing "Super-Clinics": all conventional clinics and hospitals maybe and possibly are technologically advance, but economically obsolete; 4) There are much better ways to reduce inequality of income than increasing minimum wage to $15/hour. To learn more visit www.zerocosteconomy.com

The "Clinton Foundation", and George Soros will pay Andrew'a bills.

They have already made a big down payment

Farewell everyone I've been called back home. My Boss and his Son determined that with Hillary coming to give Andrew the kiss of political death my past knowledge of Florida will no longer be needed here. However my Boss may send me back if such a clear and present danger like Gillum should ever threaten our Great State of Florida again.

Well I really hope ur not needed ,but Soros is on a mission to bring down our country We need to have him jailed or kicked out of the country Gillum is everything that the USA is not , people need to wake up the great fascination of socialism by Democratic Party ludicrous they say only reason it’s failed is because the right people have done it you believe the you are crazy yes you are look a it latest victim Venezuela it’s a ponzi scam

Social Security is a ponzi scheme. You can not pinpoint socialism by only pointing to failures. Socialism is a broad category of government. There have been terrible socialist governments but there have also been successful socialist governments. There are many, many, many different socialist leaders throughout history and they each bring a uniqueness to the table. I dont support socialism, but you need to understand what you are against before you can be against it.

This is a very good article. Must be. Look at the blowhard Dem shills who came on here to call the author names and question her intelligence. The article asks the right questions. Taking federal money isn't free. Paying for one Big Government program in-state means losing another or many others that made us the fiscal powerhouse we are in America today. So I too want to know: WHAT DO WE GIVE UP TO GET A GILLUM WORLD?

You are so correct! Gillum is very scary for our state. We must get the word out that he MUST NOT win!

This writer is an intellectually dishonest and totally partisan nincompoop. Gillum's issue with ICE is "repeal and replace" - NOT "abolish" - and that would be a NATIONAL ISSUE and NOT A FLORIDA STATE ISSUE. On the minimum wage issue, Gillum COULD raise it to $15 in the state - BUT, obviously, ONLY WITH THE LEGISLATURE'S APPROVAL - and said legislature is 2/3 Republican! (Note: It's been determined by the FHA that a Florida worker needs to make $22.11 per hour in order to afford the average $1,475 per month rent for a 2-bedroom apartment!) Gillum DOES SUPPORT "single-payer healthcare" in the Medicare style, but that, too, is a NATIONAL ISSUE and NOT A FLORIDA STATE ISSUE! And, as far as TAX INCREASES go, Gillum HAS proposed ... but, again, it would take the Republican legislature's approval, to RAISE THE BUSINESS TAX from 5.5% to 7.75% ... BUSINESS TAX ONLY ... NOT sales, school, property, nor ANY other tax ordinarily encountered by the general consumer or worker! So - this writer is bu**sh**ting and fear-mongering in a purely partisan and wingnut way!

tldr; Vote for a lunatic and let checks and balances save us. No thanks.

You voted for Trump He’s a lunatic!

Good points. So what your saying is he is like all other Democrats. Promise everything to get votes and unable to deliver anything.

You are absolutely correct. Fear mongering is the republican way. She is right about one thing. Gillum is not the status quo and that’s why we need him!

What kind of logic is that? What do we need him for? I think the State of Florida is doing just fine the way it is.

Soooooo...... vote for somebody who will oppose the republican congress and assure that nothing gets done. Sort of an odd way to support a particular politician. Especially Gillum, a amateur in the big league.

So Gillum is running on not one plan that can be enacted, voicing only National hot button issues to stir up chaos, bringing in Killery for backup and you complain about the author?

Gee Ted, no comment on Gollums war on law abiding gun owners? You would like to avoid it no doubt but we aren't. You see, Ron D . Has no such problem like Scott of being perceived as a turncoat. Even you must admit those folks show up on Election Day. See you there!

She is staying what his plans are and what he is going to be pushing for. That has nothing to do with what obstacles he has. She was very clear about what HIS agenda is. The question is do we want someone in the governor's seat pushing for this radical socialist agenda. My answer is NO.

Will Florida voters elect a socialist mayor whose city has the highest crime rate in the state? Probably not....

Yes the crime rate is high in Tallahassee, BUT, look at the amount of decrease in total since Gillum took office. Stats don't lie!

Well said!

John: Do you even understand or know the difference between socialism, communism and capitalism. How do you feel about Social Security and Medicare-Medicaid, the Post Office, our fire and police depts. and public education ?

The partisan musings and sabre rattling on here are too funny. Gillum is only proposing to increase the corporate income tax. It is not going to have significant financial impacts on the state's economy. Outside of personal tax revenue, 94% of the state economy is generated through tourism dollars, which are largely unaffected by a corporate tax increase. Gillum has big ideas and that is good, but none of his priorities could happen without approval from the legislature. However, it would be nice to have some checks and balances in state government again, instead of everything being railroaded through for business and private interests. If there is going to be a choice between doing things for people or special interests and corporate welfare, I for one, am always going to choose people every time. Jobs and industry will always come as long as public confidence and demand are high. This does not happen by sticking it to the working man and woman...

Well said. Raising the corporate tax is not going to hurt our economy. DeSantis is no more than an extension of Scott and I have certainly had enough of him. I will never understand how or why republicans are more for corporations than they are people. Makes no sense what so ever. With the two major tax breaks that big corporations just received the tax increase that Gillum wants is not going to hurt them. This is NOT the Republican Party that it once was. It is all about what they can get out of it themselves and lining their pockets. A governor should NOT be able to increase his/her income by 86 million dollars in one year! Where did all that money come from? Once a crook always a crook!

Pages

Comments are now closed.

nancy smith
advertisement
advertisement
Live streaming of WBOB Talk Radio, a Sunshine State News Radio Partner.

advertisement