The best I can say about 2010 is that it is a four digit number with two zeros, the two divides neatly into ten to make five and that two added to ten makes twelve, divided by three makes four. Numeroligists and necromancers have a better chance at predicting the next year as pundits. On the other hand, Eyeonmiami hasn't done such a bad job in the past.
Here is my post from a few years ago. It is entertaining reading: "2007, housing crash here we come." "What we are going to pay for in 2007 is the speculation in property markets that city and county commissioners aided and abetted with zoning changes and permits, as developers raked in vast fortunes and sprinkled some of that loot like pixie dust on their political campaigns... Miami Today keenly reports, “Industry leaders see signs of recovery for housing market.” Bull." Bingo.
I ended the editorial, wishing for the election of a strong mayor: "... the first thing we can do in 2007 is to support and vote for an executive mayor and hope that clear lines of responsibility will eventually return the public interest to some semblance of common sense." It is a common theme in my year end missives: hope does spring eternal.
On December 31, 2007: "Rock mining, the Everglades and public corruption", I wrote: "... in the final days of the 2007: the Palm Beach Post and writers including (former Herald) writer Tom Dubocq peel the layers back on a story that puts the Growth Machine under a microscope: Palm Beach Aggregates and owner Enrique Tomeu, wrapped up in a pretty picture of public corruption that sent Palm Beach county commissioner Masilotti into exile."
Since that time, two more ex-Palm Beach County Commissioners have been sent by the US Department of Justice to federal prison for their roles in the staggering corrupt deal. But the influence of rock miners elsewhere, in Miami-Dade County's Lake Belt for example, still holds the public interest hostage. Not even one of the strongest rulings on the failure of government agencies to protect the environment (Judge William Hoeveler in 2008, against the US Army Corps of Engineers) has moved the ball.
I wrote, then, "What is needed is a comprehensive, forensic examination by a state or national newspaper of land deals with the state of Florida in the past decade, cross-referenced by ownership and campaign contributions." There it is again: eternally springing hope.
In 2008: in "A year from now": "For certain, the housing sector will not pull us from this deep recession. Yet the forces of the housing sector-- who account for much of the Herald's advertising base-- still dominate our legislatures. They are still proposing and passing measures that "protect" democracy from people. (Read our series on the Wades and volunteerism, below.)
An economy that doesn't make anything, can't work: but pumping up housing through subsidies and fiscal incentives is just another form of snatch and grab. We are a nation of small businesspeople and small entrepreneurs again. The sooner our politics orient around that reality based in the needs of a new energy economy, the better. Let's put solar panels up on every house and rooftop, windpower wherever it can work, and solve the debt and insurance issues up front. Fast."
A year later, and Florida Power and Light is amassing its forces for final state approval of $20 billion in new nuclear reactors in South Dade, to be paid for by ratepayers. "Pray that common sense will prevail before it is imposed through greater hardships than this tough year." At least I didn't call 2008, the toughest year.
2009 was the toughest year; if not in America, certainly for Florida. I offer no predictions for 2010. My prediction gas tank is empty.
Except to say that our nation has been floating on a raft of wealth that is shrinking year by year. It can't end well. I know from experience. Once when I was ten years old on a boat dock I rushed to the side with everyone else to watch a man who had harpooned himself in a spear fishing accident. We all ended up swimming to shore.
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