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Florida's a Dying Ponzi Scheme, But I Love It

Tax base erodes as tourists, snowbirds dwindle

By Drew Nelles, Newser Staff

Posted Sep 6, 2009 3:47 PM CDT

(Newser) – Florida resident Diane Roberts isn’t surprised—or even upset—that her state is collapsing. The Sunshine State's population is dwindling for the first time since World War II as tourists and snowbirds pull out, eroding the tax base that funded just about everything. "Our whole economy is more or less a big Ponzi scheme," Roberts writes on NPR. "When nobody can afford a condo in Boca ... the Ponzi scheme collapses."

“The rest of America sold corn, cotton, iron or coal. Florida sold itself.” But its “old inhabitants will be just fine,” she writes; bees, alligators, and plants are already reclaiming what was once drained and sold. “After all, Florida was the last part of the North American continent to emerge from the sea, and, when the waters rise again, Florida will be the first to return.”

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Florida Gov. Charlie Crist speaks. "Even the governor wants to leave%u2014for Washington, D.C.," Roberts writes. "He's running for the U.S. Senate after one term." (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Partially built homes sit along a street overtaken by weeds in Homestead, Fla. Countless homes were built by developers and sit vacant in ghostly subdivisions, with not a buyer in sight. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

Terry Zittle of Cocoa Beach, Fla., reads his paper near the Cocoa Beach Pier after feeding the birds, Monday, Aug. 31, 2009. (AP Photo/Florida Today, Michael R. Brown)

A for sale sign lays on the ground in front of a foreclosed home in Homestead, Fla. In certain ZIP codes, around 25 percent of the homes are in one stage of foreclosure or another. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

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I'm not too upset people are bailing out of Florida. I never believed in the state religion that growth was good. Florida will be poorer, but quieter. - Diane Roberts

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Florida's a Dying Ponzi Scheme, But I Love It