Economic Policy

Jay-Z's "Open Letter" to Cuba Haters: "Obama Said 'Chill, You Gon Get Me Impeached'"

It seems Jay-Z has been up to more than smoking cigars and celebrating his marriage in Cuba. He's been busy penning and recording a serious dis track to all those haters who aren't happy to see the first couple of hip-hop chillin' so close to Castro. His recent vacation to the island set some polit ... More >>

Marco Rubio Doesn't Care If You Lose Your Job Because of the Sequester, But Rick Scott Does

Congress has until midnight tomorrow to avoid the threat of a sequester, and Florida's two most prominent Republicans seem to have different attitudes on the situation. Sen. Marco Rubio, oddly, doesn't think sequestration is ideal, but doesn't seem to mind it too much. He told Fox News this morning ... More >>

That Fiscal Cliff Deal Is Going To Cost Florida Billions; Here's How Much More You'll Pay

Chances are, when you heard that the GOP-controlled House had finally relented on a deal that kept the nation from plunging Wile E. Coyote-style off a fiscal cliff, you popped a little mental champagne. But even though the compromise prevents huge tax increases and keeps unemployment benefits in pla ... More >>

Obama Can Win Debates if He Keeps It Cool While Romney Keeps Lying

Federal Tax Loopholes: Big Corporations Profit From This Mafia-Like Protection Scheme

South Beach-Based Author Michael Grunwald Is Changing D.C.'s Mind About the Stimulus

In our nation's capital, real consensus happens as often as a noncreepy Rick Scott grin. Yet for the past couple of years, everyone in Washington, D.C., has agreed on this: President Obama's mammoth 2009 stimulus was kind of laughable. Green-energy initiatives? Saving America from financial ruin? Ha ... More >>

Obama Supports Marco Rubio's "Stop Taxing Olympians" Stand

Marco Rubio introduced the The Olympic Tax Elimination Act, which aims to end the taxing the winnings and medal value of Olympians, with a bit of old fashioned, conservative anti-tax zeal. "Our tax code is a complicated and burdensome mess that too often punishes success, and the tax impos ... More >>

Marco Rubio Wants To Stop Taxing Olympic Medal Winners

Marco Rubio has been studying the American tax code, and at last he's discovered the scourge that's been dragging down the U.S. economy. No, it's not Obama's higher taxes on the top-one percent, and it's not Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy.It's Uncle Sam's tax on Olympic medalists, who, yeah, appa ... More >>

Farmers' market fiasco: Miami-Dade Health Department squanders $15 million

Miami-Dade Health Squanders $15 Million From Feds Meant to Bring Farmers' Markets to Town

The First Lady has made healthy eating her priority, but her husband's stimulus package hasn't helped as much as hoped​Remember President Obama's stimulus package? The $787 billion bill was supposed to goose this country's ailing economy like a line of premium yeyo. Here in Miami, it was also book ... More >>

Feds Put Clamps On Miami Bank With Most Insider Deals In Florida

​Two years ago, U.S. Century Bank earned the distinction as the bank with more insider deals than any other banking institution in Florida. Several U.S. Century board members and executives accounted for $110 million in insider loans at a bank with deposits of $1.5 billion in 2009.One of those ins ... More >>

Rick Scott's Major Failure: Legislature Won't Eliminate Corporate Income Tax

​Florida is undergoing a radical conservative transformation under Gov. Rick Scott, but one of his top proposals seems to be a bridge too far and too soon even for the Republican supermajorities in the state House and Senate.Even at a time when billion-dollar deficits have become the norm for Flor ... More >>

Bob Graham Thinks Florida Has Lost Its Way

​To talk about respected, legendary Florida politicians is to talk about Bob Graham. The former Governor and Senator was one of the few politicians to manage sustained cross-party popularity and still looms large over the state as an occasional source of wisdom. Yesterday, the retired moderate Dem ... More >>

Tea Party Claims Victory in Alvarez Recall ...Uh, Wait, What?

Fox News declares a Tea Party Revolt​"Tea Party Revolt: Miami Mayor Recalled," proclaims Fox News' Fox Nation website, while other Tea Party segments of the world wide web take glee in the ousting of Carlos Alvarez. True some of the politics involved share similarities: raising property taxes was ... More >>

J. Nics's Stimulus Package EP

​To close out the year, Crossfade is picking out its favorite albums by 305 artists. Read the full list of Miami's Best Albums of 2010 here.J. NicsStimulus Package (Self-Released)J. Nics has risen tremendously since releasing his first collection of tracks in December 2009. His very first release ... More >>

Alan Grayson Auditions for MSNBC on the House Floor

​Our fellow Floridians in the Orlando area resoundingly kicked Rep. Alan Grayson out of office this election in a 19 point defeat. Apparently they do not care that the rest of America enjoys being entertained by his off-the-wall speeches on the House floor. He's already told Dick Cheney to literal ... More >>

Alex Sink Supports Permanent Extension of Bush Tax Cuts, Putting Her At Odds With Obama

via MSNBC​Yesterday we noted Alex Sink's tricky new TV ad that put distance between her campaign and President Obama. Today on MSNBC, she explicitly sided with Republicans against Obama on the issue of permanently extending all of the "Bush Tax Cuts." She claims they help small businesses, but the ... More >>

MP3: J. NiC$ - "Show You The Way"

Photo courtesy of Unkle Luc​J. Nic$ (pronounced jay-nix) has steadily been climbing the ranks of transitioning between being a emerging artist to becoming known as an established one. With a strong foundation, he's poised to build a heavy presence in the hip-hop game in the near future. And with ... More >>

Marco Rubio Calls for More Tax Cuts, But Could That Hurt The Economy More?

​It seems so simple that Republicans have taken it as fact: tax cuts will lead to greater economic strength. Lower taxes mean people have more money to spend, businesses have more payroll to add jobs, and hence our economy should get a jolt, right? It's no surprise that Marco Rubio has now come ou ... More >>

Rick Scott Hates the Stimulus, But Company He Invested in Got $60m in Stim Funds

Billionaire GOP Governor candidate Rick Scott says he has conservative values, but the kind of companies he invests in don't seem to. One company Scott invested in was shown to help send money from illegal immigrants back to Mexico even though he backs Arizona's immigration laws. Another h ... More >>

Crist Looking to Bolster Conservative Credentials: Maybe Should Concentrate on Being a Good Governor Instead

In an interview with Time, Charlie Crist and his senate campaign manager Eric Eikenberg say that in the face of Marco Rubio's right-wing threat, the Governor new tactic will be to bolster his conservative credentials while casting doubts on Rubio's. [Crist and Eikenberg] described a counterattack fo ... More >>

Marco Rubio May Not Have Hugged Obama, but He Would Have Taken His Stimulus Money

The most effective and frequent bit in Marco Rubio's senate campaign ads: that picture of Republican rival Charlie Crist embracing Barack Obama at a rally for the president's stimulus plan. Of course, every Republican Governor ended up accepting money from the stimulus plan, including your mor ... More >>

Crist Denies Endorsing Stimulus Bill; Owns Up to Accepting Reality

Capture of an anti-Crist ad paid for by the Club for Growth​Charlie Crist went on CNN yesterday and said that he didn't endorse the stimulus package. Huh? What? Riptide was there when he appeared with President Obama touting the stimulus in Ft. Myers. Even though the White House is claim ... More >>

President Obama fails to go after those responsible for the financial meltdown

Manny Diaz Endorses Kendrick Meek for Senate

Rep. Kendrick Meek added another impressive entry to his list of endorsement of US Senate today as City of Miami Mayor, and president of the US Conference of Mayor, Manny Diaz announced his endorsement. The press release came with equal amounts of back patting on the part of both men. ... More >>

Does Bill Nelson Want to Raise Taxes on Your Alcohol?

I was reading I Can Has Cheezburger in my RSS Reader when I saw this ad below all the LOLcats. Apparently, Sen. Bill Nelson wants to raise the taxes on my wine by 233 percent! The ad leads to the Freedom Work's website, where it explains "a massive new tax hike" to pay for health care, which also in ... More >>

Rubio's First Attack Ad: Look, Here's A Picture of Crist with Obama

Yesterday, Marco Rubio unveiled the first attack ad on his Republican primary opponent, Charlie Crist. The imagery is a slow, trippy reveal of a picture of Crist with President Obama, while an ominous narrator straight out of a dark fairy-tale movie paints the stimulus package that Crist supported i ... More >>

News Roundup

LocalVice President Biden tried to butter up reps from the biggest union in all the land, AFL-CIO, so they'd support the stimulus bill during a meeting in Miami Beach yesterday. [AP]He also announced $8.4 billion from the stimulus package will benefit transportation, and called the Miami Intermodal ... More >>

UM Addresses The Impact of Econ Crisis

Nothing is immune to the economic crisis, not even the palm tree'd oasis in Coral Gables known as the University of Miami. After many alumnus expressed their concern, president Donna Shalala sent out a letter to all alum today addressing the impact on UM. Here's the highlights: UM has made a lot of ... More >>

Manny Diaz is Deeply Disappointed by Bobby Jindal, Too

via Urban BrownWould Chuck Strouse have better luck selling these in Miami parking lots? Poor Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal can not catch a break. Everyone from freebase-Twitter addict Rick Sanchez to semi-Conservative Columnist David Brooks is criticizing his speech on Tuesday night, in which he ... More >>

Dade Tries Out Jail/Hospital Combo for Mentally Ill

In an attempt to fix a broken system, Judge Steve Leifman announced plans this morning for a first-of-its-kind "pilot facility" to house mentally ill individuals with criminal charges in Miami-Dade. Leifman -- an articulate, bespectacled advisor to the Supreme Court on mental health issues -- expl ... More >>

Crist's Admirable Stim Support Makes 2012 Prez Run Unlikely

The economic stimulus is likely to be one of the defining actions of President Obama's first term. If it's perceived to be successful by November 2012, we're more than likely looking at four more years. But if, even as Obama himself admitted last week in Fort Myers, it's not, we might just have ours ... More >>

News Roundup

Charlie Crist remembered he's a Republican and is introducing tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts! [Herald]U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is ordering the deportation of 30,000 Cubans. [NBC6]Daequan Cook is the best three-point shooter in the history of the entire world, and for that he was awarde ... More >>

News Roundup

City and county commissions are castng their final vote on the Marlins ballpark today. [CBS4]Charlie Crist is pleased as punch about the new version of the Stimulus Bill. [JustNews]Apparently, before a certain celebrity incident, people didn't know that domestic abuse in younger relationships is a s ... More >>

Live From The Barack Obama Stimulus Tour

Riptide is live today from Ft. Myers, Florida for Barack Obama's first visit to Florida as President of the United States of America. He'll be continuing the themes from his stop in Elkhart, Indiana and his first press conference last night, talking up the need for a stimulus package. The event ... More >>

The Excited Kid At the Obama Rally. There is a Video of Him.

The stimulus package Barack Obama is pushing will be a defining part of his presidency, and these events that he's held the past couple of days should be treated as sort of historic. Yet, at the end of the day all we care about is that Obama said some funny thing about Charlie Crist and a hose and ... More >>

Democrats Already Targeting Diaz-Balarts for 2010

Republican Congressmen Mario and Lincoln Diaz-Balart seem dead set against voting for Washington Democrat's proposed $825 billion stimulus plan, even as the popular Republican Governor Charlie Crist is lobbying for the plan. In the first sign that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committe may b ... More >>

News Roundup

Oh, look, an update from our old friends the sex offenders under the bridge. It's nice to hear from them every once in a while. [NBC6]It is going to get really, really cold this weekend. [CBS4]Fidel Castro wants Obama to give back Guantánamo Bay. [NBC6]Some dumb kid accidentally shot his friend in ... More >>

Miami Beach Musician Scores the Most-Played Video On... CNBC?

Normally, posts about locally based musicians gaining national prominence with music videos being played on cable channels go up over on our music blog, CrossFade. But usually, those videos are being played on BET or MTV, not CNBC. Such is the case with Miami Beach resident Bill Zucker, whose "The ... More >>

Budget-Slashing Session Takes Aim at Education

Florida's capitol has been completely controlled by Republicans for the past ten years, and with that regime has come tax cut after tax cut after tax cut. Jeb Bush cut taxes by $12.2 billion during his terms, with half of those savings going toward the wealthiest 4.5 percent. Charlie Crist earlier t ... More >>

State Looking to Make Cuts in Medicaid

So the brain trust up in Tallahassee has found itself with a $2 billion hole in the budget (yeah, yeah, financial crisis; more like yeah, yeah overzealous tax cuts), and one of the areas they're looking to make cuts in is Medicaid, which provides healthcare to the state's poorest citizens, according ... More >>

Castroneves Charged with Tax Evasion

The Bailout, Never Forget

Miami: Screwed Again

The legislature helped taxpayers, but not in the Magic City

Tax Troubles

Submarine Politics

Alex Penelas learned his lesson in 1999; this year's transit-tax campaign is all below the surface

If El Exilio Doesn't Get You, Uncle Sam Will

Cuban salsero Issac Delgado played Miami without incident. Then the government accused him of breaking the law.

Whichever Way the Wind Blows

That's the Way the Check Bounces

Thanks to executive order 12922, some Haitian students face the prospect of being kicked out of local colleges for failure to pay tuition

Whoppers!