Rick Scott: "laser-like" as in, you can't teach me anything I don't know ... by gimleteye

In high prose the Sunshine (of the Empty Mind) News writes, "Scott Stays Laser-Focused on Economic Development". By high, I mean the kind of high from pot fields augmenting income in Florida grow houses: the economic activity turning our state into the leader for cultivation of marijuana.

Sunshine, stoned buzz for Florida's right wing blogosphere, gloats over the decapitation of the Florida Department of Community Affairs without knowing a thing about the agency mission, or even that managing Florida's addiction to sprawl had once been a bipartisan goal implemented by state GOP leaders.

Sober analysis and incorporation of past policies in new government initiatives is not part of the Rick Scott Way. His way: smoke the splif and burn the place "with laser-like focus". History does not matter to the wrecking crew: everything must go, sold or stolen. Underlying Scott's enthusiasm for knocking down barriers to growth is his conviction that to breathe life back into collapsed real estate markets simply requires government getting out of the way; making it easier for developers to clear permits and zoning to plow homebuyers into fallow platted subdivisions.

Here is how Sunshine (of the Empty Mind) describes the Scott carelessness: "In a move designed to streamline Florida’s economic development efforts, Scott signed SB 2156 Tuesday, creating the Department of Economic Opportunity, and doing away with other state agencies. The new law gets rid of the Department of Community Affairs, an agency much-derided by businesses in recent years for imposing cumbersome regulations that impede growth."

Impede growth? Whoever believes that regulations governing growth caused the crash of real estate markets and the failure of the financial system tied to mortgages or "impedes" recovery, has been smoking something stronger than pot. Just read one of the investigative reports-- free from cant and bias-- that trace the collapse of jobs and the economy to policies embraced by previous Republican and Democratic administrations, like NY Times Gretchen Morgenson's "Reckless Endangerment". But you see, Scott won't be confused by facts.

This is how Scott most resembles Jeb Bush: they brought their knowledge to the Governor's Mansion as preconceived policies nested together like Russian dolls: states rights, "free" markets, right-to-life, NRA, and campaign contributions. Removing growth controls from state authority is like busting open the locks to the granary and letting the thieves in. That is Florida's future.