Wednesday, March 03, 2010

The real state of the economy: Jackson Health System's bottom line ... by gimleteye

The unanticipated $224 million shortfall in the Jackson Health System budget has triggered a reaction by county government: we'll take you over. Jackson spends $85 million a month on salaries and could run out of money by this spring. The sponsor of the proposal is queen of unreality; YMCA no-show employee and county commissioner Natacha Seijas. I don't have much kind to say about the fiscal responsibility of the Public Health Trust. In The Herald the trustees expressed "shock" at the county proposal. Shock? On the other hand, replacing them with seven political appointees whose own appointments depend on the unreal world of county commissioners?

The real world problem did emerge in today's front page story. A trustee, Angel Medina Jr. (area president of Region Bank in South Florida) described the problem as "a lack of funding for a growing community need exacerbated by the current economic environment in our community." Let's try to shine that up a little bit: we are in the midst of a Depression only alleviated by the time-release capsules of trillions of dollars in federal taxpayer bailouts. The Depression, triggered by the fraudulent underpinnings of the housing boom-- that wrapped up lowly county commissioners, their campaign contributors, the banks like the one Medina ran for Regions, the Engineering Cartel and Growth Machine supply chain feeding into Wall Street financial derivatives-- means that tax receipts from real estate transactions are massively reduced at the same time that the shadow unemployment rate in one of the nation's poorest counties is pushing over 20 percent.

The sick hospital that cares for Miami's disadvantaged is an accurate reflection of a sick economy. The Miami Herald needs to write that story. The elected officials who know the extent of the sickness-- ie., enormous deficits that will, at some point, have to be funded by increased taxes-- have been wishing, praying and hoping that demand for all those platted subdivisions and condos will be filled with eager and happy buyers leaning on home equity lines of credit to finance the pool furniture. Ain't gonna happen. No Hail Mary passes. The frickinn chickens have come home to roost.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Carlos Alvarez and the dimwits at Miami-Dade County diverted $3 Billion in taxpayer money to bailing out an out-of-town privately owned business. (Marlins)

Now Alvarez and his idiots want to run a hospital? They are surprised revenues are low and expenses are high? Why should be trust them? They took billions of taxpayer money to build a baseball stadium for one private owner and they neglected the healthcare of millions of needy residents.

Anonymous said...

How about the 13% raises they just awarded the PBA yesterday on a 11-2vote?

Anonymous said...

Souto and Rolle are on the Public Health Trust...nuff said.

Anonymous said...

I thought Javier Souto was a fiscally responsible Republican.

Anonymous said...

I beg to differ from those who think that Alvarez and his cadre are a bunch of "idiots"... get real, please! The Marlins stadium was no more than a business deal, and it's likely the mayor when he leaves office will do it with FULL POCKETS. As far as the Jackson proposed deal goes, there's billions to be made for those seven who will supposedly be in control -- naturally, from kickbacks froim the "new" providers of products and services. Alvarez and Jose Cancela are very close -- Cancela threw his help and money at mayoral election time, was his master of ceremonies at the inauguration, and ultimately became his "special representative in front of the Beacon Council -- and the latter is a former chair of the Public Health Trust. Who is the most likely person to be advising Alvarez? As well, Cancela is close to Seijas, whom he calls "mi gorda." Just put two and two together.

Anonymous said...

i cannot agree more with the last comment

Anonymous said...

Isn't Cancela's wife on the Public Health Trust?

Anonymous said...

Cancela's former wife is a member of the PHT. That's of no consequence because they are hardly on speaking terms. However, there is something very interesting here: Cancela is a lobbyist -- contract and all -- for Jackson Memorial Hospital.

Anonymous said...

Pigs at the trough...

Vultures circling the road kill...

Lawyers raping a bankruptcy asset...

Carlos Alvarez and the Marlins...

Anonymous said...

The monstrosity is rising fast... from the rooftop, it's a direct view across the highway to... Jackson.

Anonymous said...

How much is Jeanette Nunez responsible for on this JHT issue? She was the lobbyist recruiter and spoke on behalf of the JHT to government. How could she not see the decline of JHT unless she was hard at work on her campaign on JHT time building her war chest? She quit or got fired from JHT. There is more here we think.

Rumor is that The Miami Herald is working on an investigation on this, but you all know how the Herald works. Any insight?

"Republican Jeanette Nunez of Miami, herself a lobbyist, has collected most of her $46,000 in campaign contributions from fellow lobbyists and health-care industry businesses while she is employed by taxpayer funded Jackson Memorial Hospital. Even worse, Nunez’s job at the hospital is hiring lobbyists to represent the facility – the very same lobbyists who are bankrolling her campaign.

The sad part about Sansom’s departure is that it isn’t likely to change much. Adkins (of the $300,000 in contracts for her husband’s business) is a freshman. She was just elected in 2008. And Nunez (hiring the lobbyists who then give to her campaign) isn’t even elected yet. She’s running in her first Legislative campaign."

http://www.examiner.com/x-7931-Miami-Democrat-Examiner~y2009m4d17-Republican-Speaker-Sansom-indicted-other-Republicans-set-career-path