Editor’s note: This commentary is by Bob Stannard, a former lobbyist, who is still an author and musician. This piece first appeared in the Bennington Banner.
[I]t finally happened. The winter of 2015 got the best of us and we went south. We spent one week in Delray Beach and one week in Key West, Florida. FYI, there really are places where it’s over 70 degrees and never snows.
One town couldn’t have been more different from the other. Sitting on the veranda of the stately Colony Hotel watching the parade of Mercedes, Ferraris, Bentleys, Maseratis, Porsches, Rolls Royces, with an occasional Lamborghini tossed in, drove home how the 1% are doing. They’re doing just fine.
Not unlike areas in Vermont, Delray Beach has a huge inventory of very expensive homes, many of which are used only a few weeks. Along with a house one must have a boat. Some must have yachts that also go unused.
When you learn of a $24 million home that the owner never once stayed in, and Hollywood blew up for a movie scene, it’s hard to imagine that increasing taxes would have much more than a negligible impact on these folks. It would, of course, go a long ways towards addressing our many financial issues.
It was interesting to talk with the locals, many of whom are doing well; nearly all expressed concerns about growth, rising rents and locals getting squeezed out. With the exception of it being hot, I felt like I was back in my hometown hearing the same comments.
Sitting on the veranda of the stately Colony Hotel watching the parade of Mercedes, Ferraris, Bentleys, Maseratis, Porsches, Rolls Royces, with an occasional Lamborghini tossed in, drove home how the 1% are doing. They’re doing just fine.
One would think that a place that oozes money wouldn’t have the identical concerns that we have, but they do. The streets are lined with high-end clothing stores, most privately owned, and dozens of excellent restaurants (32 East was our favorite).
The Colony Hotel was built in 1926, has been in the same family since 1939, and defines the meaning of excellence. The culture, ambience and décor are only superseded by its cleanliness. There is no place I’d rather stay.
The contrast between Delray Beach and Key West is not quite night and day, but close. What Key West lacks in glitz and glamor it makes up hardcore local characters. There was a guy on a barstool at the Hog’s Breath Saloon that I’d swear had been there since the ’60s. At the Schooner Wharf Bar the guy playing guitar, Mike McCloud, was once in the house band at the Pickle Barrel in Killington. He was ragged and worn from years of playing music and served as the perfect icon for this town.
Sure, there’s tons of money here, but without the pretense. More scooters and fewer Lamborghinis. There’s plenty of inexpensive things to do, like hanging out in a huge greenhouse with 2,000 butterflies, but it’s easy to burn through money. Most of the workforce that I spoke with have two — and sometimes three — jobs. With the wealth on display here you’d think people could earn a livable wage with just one job. That does not appear to be the case.
What both towns have in common is the cost of living exceeds the workers’ ability to live. The more the haves have the less the have-nots have. If there was ever a place in the country where it would seem possible workers could earn a livable wage south Florida should be it.
There’s plenty of bucks to go around. There’s no income tax here (there is, however a tax on everything else, which impacts working people a lot more than the 1%). If two or more jobs are needed to provide for a family in one of the richest places in the country, it’s clear that something is very wrong in America today.
We have an economic problem in our country and those in the best position to help change it are the least likely to want to help. Maybe some snow would help.
