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I'm from Florida -- and have deep roots going back more than 100 years.

Florida is significantly less developed than it has any right to be, on a range of measures.

Yes, that's right. It's well into the bottom half of U.S. states by GDP per capita, which still puts it at around 4-5x the GDP per capita in most Eastern European countries (which was my point).

The United States is ridiculously wealthy, even in places Americans love to denigrate. That's worth remembering whenever you feel like comparing Florida unfavorably to this or that other place.

GDP isn't really a great measure of how well a population is doing if inequality is high and wages are stagnant for low paid workers.

Florida has one of the highest levels of inequality in the US and the US in general had more inequality than most European countries.

Are the working poor in the south really that much better off than most of Europe where healthcare and social housing are more readily available? GDP alone is a bad measure of success for individuals living somewhere if the benefits are not shared.

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