It’s not news that Americans love buying cheap Chinese-made goods, but the disparity between how much we import from China and how much we export to the country has resulted in about 2.8 million American jobs being displaced to China between 2001 and 2010. Florida has been particularly hard hit,…
The latest edition of the Forbes 400 is out, and 21 of the most filthy rich scions in America call humble little South Florida their primary home. Micky Arison, Miami Heat owner and Carnival Cruises CEO has the biggest moneybags in Miami with a net worth of $4.2 billion. That…
As America hurtles toward a second scoop of recession and you struggle to make ends meet, you should know this: Some of this nation’s wealthiest citizens are squabbling over a minute stretch of asphalt. On a recent weekday, Riptide traversed where few plebeians without landscaping licenses have gone before: Indian…
Though the unemployment rate at both the national and state levels remains stagnant or sagging, the job market in Miami-Dade continues to make gains. From August 2010 to last month, 13,900 jobs were added in Miami-Dade. However, our seasonally adjusted unemployment rate still sits at 12.2, down slightly from from 13.0 in…
Yesterday, Wells Fargo laid off 258 employees at a call center in Doral. But fear not, former Wells Fargo workers! Today, Wells Fargo released a report saying South Florida will help lead the state in job growth over the next year. Just apparently not the call-center jobs at Wells Fargo…
Get ready for the idea of giant sail-looking buildings staring at you from Biscayne Bay, and perhaps more important, prepare for the idea of a casino in downtown Miami. Genting has revealed its plans for the giant resort complex it wants to plop onto the current site of the Miami…
Is there Twitter trouble in basketball paradise? Dwyane Wade and LeBron James took to Twitter to insult each other. Actually it was in good fun, because, as we’re beginning to notice, these guys are so totally bored during the NBA lockout…
If you have electricity in your house, you have paid FPL $268 million ostensibly to build two new reactors at Turkey Point. You’ll probably pay nearly $200 million more in 2012. Problem is, those reactors may never be built. Last week we warned that the utility’s Turkey Point plant could be under water in…
After unloading the Coral Gables spread he shared with his ex a few years ago, Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez has finally found new digs in Miami-Dade. A-Rod just shelled out a reported $24 million for a Miami Beach mansion that he plans to share with current girlfriend Cameron Diaz…
So far in 2011, 18,098 jobs have been cut in Florida. That makes the Sunshine State fifth for job cuts in America. Way to go, “Job Governor” Rick Scott!The data comes from a job-cut announcement report by outplacement consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas…
Despite the fact that the unemployment rate in Miami remains savagely high, there’s some emerging signs that certain segments of our economy are bouncing back. The tourism industry has been doing surprisingly well over the summer, leading some to wonder if tourist season now extends year round. Room booking rates…
Like most people in Miami, you have a checking account that is still feeling stressed. This means whether you’re buying a few too many drinks at an overpriced bar before your next paycheck or just trying to put food on the table, you’re probably overdrafting once in a while. At…
Rick “The Jobs Governor” Scott has pointed to Florida’s slowly dwindling unemployment rate since he took office in January. In fact, from January through June the state added 64,300 jobs. July is a different story. More than a third of those total jobs gained have now been lost.The good news…
The average amount paid for a condo in Miami-Dade rose in July for the first time since the real estate boom of 2008. Though, the total number of condos sold dipped slightly since June…
Not even Burt Reynolds and his legendary mustache are immune to Florida’s foreclosure fiasco. According to a lawsuit filed by Merrill Lynch Credit Corp., Reynolds hasn’t made a mortgage payment on his multimillion-dollar mansion in Hobe Sound since August 2010. Not even the Bandit himself can keep himself out of foreclosure. …
Poor Mike Miller. He sat out a good chunk of last season with a thumb injury, only to return to not win the NBA Finals. Now it turns out he was taken for a financial ride by Ponzi schemer Anthony John Johnson. Guy just can’t catch a break. Of course,…
Guess we woke up this morning in the mood to piss off some rich people. The Indian Creek Country Club is Miami-Dade County’s most exclusive, and controversial, private society. Even the millionaires and billionaires of Indian Creek Village, the island just west of Surfside where the club is located, are…
Rick Scott spent his entire morning today serving doughnuts at a shop in Tampa in an effort to paint himself as a creator-of-jobs governor and score some publicity points. Of course, directly after, he got on a talk radio show to talk all about it.Scott was chatting on WFTL 850…
After receiving 105 bids, a latex mask modeled on Florida’s favorite not-quite-murderer sold on eBay for $999,900 last night. Don’t worry — shipping was free.”Prophunter,” the Los Angeles vendor who listed the mask, wrote in the item description that “Halloween is only a few months away. Forget Freddy, Jason, Meyers,…
The Raleigh Hotel already has an air of unfussy chic that’s unique in South Beach, but in this town everyone needs an occasional nip and tuck to stay looking good. Signaling yet another financial move to indicate tourism is back in business after a recession-blamed bump, the hotel has secured…
Not everyone in Miami is on the up & up. Sure, your neighbor could have bought that brand-new Mercedes-Benz with the Christmas bonus. Or it could have been that narco slush fund in the Cayman Islands. The truth is that the Magic City is awash in foreign funds — much…
Despite a rocky beginning with those weird Jerry Seinfeld commercials, locally based agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky has continued to handle advertising for tech giant Microsoft. You might remember last year’s ads peddling Microsoft’s Windows 7 line of phones by highlighting Americans’ addiction to their smartphones. Particularly, you might remember one in…
