Some things are predictable and never change. If you don’t water your flowers, they will die; if you don’t feed your cat, it will move to the next-door neighboor’s house; and if you overtax your residents, they will move out.

According to Yahoo News:

There are many things public officials probably shouldn’t do during a severe recession, but no one seems to have told the leaders in Florida about them. One thing, for instance, would be giving a dozen top aides hefty raises while urging a rise in property taxes, as the mayor of Miami-Dade County recently did. Or jacking up already exorbitant hurricane-insurance premiums, as Florida’s government-run property insurer just did. Or sending an army of highly paid lobbyists to push for a steep hike in electricity rates, as South Florida’s public utility is doing.
And you wonder why the Sunshine State is experiencing its first net emigration of people since World War II.

Florida as a whole has lost 58,000 residents between 2008 and 2009. Read the whole thing here.

Thanks to Jennifer Zambone for the pointer.