Category: Florida

Starbucks billionaire advocates for higher tax rates and moves to Florida

by philg

Washington State moved to add to its portfolio of state income taxes yesterday by imposing a 9.9% tax on income over $1 million/year (“House passes millionaires tax 52-46 after day-long debate”). Also, yesterday, the Starbucks billionaire Howard Schultz announced his move to Miami:

In 2022, Washington State imposed a 9.9% tax on the only income that a guy like Schultz is likely to have (capital gains). They also have a 35% death tax (estate tax). Moving to Florida will save Schultz and his wife more than $1 billion because the Florida income and estate tax rates are 0%.

Schultz says that he yearns to pay higher taxes:

(Taxing “all capital gains as [ordinary] income” would be truly epic given that capital “gains” aren’t calculated with respect to inflation, i.e., a person who sells a property or stock at a loss in real dollars may still owe capital gains tax due to the rise in nominal dollars.)

Also from 2019:

“I myself should be paying higher taxes — and all wealthy Americans should have to pay their fair share. I think we can all agree on that,” Schultz said at the university.

Maybe this is the explanation for why Howard Schultz won’t be joining Donald Trump in Palm Beach. From 2020:

“In my view, our choice this November is not just for one candidate over another,” Schultz wrote in a letter to supporters. “We are choosing to vote for the future of our republic.” Schultz went on to say, “What is at risk is democracy itself: Checks and balances. Rigorous debate. A free press. An acceptance of facts, not ‘alternate facts.’ Belief in science. Trust in the rule of law. A strong judicial system. Unity in preserving all of our rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Taking aim at President Trump’s repeated attacks on voting by mail – which many Americans feel is a safer option due to health concerns over in-person voting at polling stations amid the coronavirus pandemic – Schultz stressed that it’s “essential that Americans turn out to vote, that every American is able to vote safely, whether by mail or in person, and that every vote is counted. It would be a grave miscalculation to think this election is secured for a Biden victory.”

He believes in Science, but voluntarily moves to a state that rejects Science and a city that rejected masks in favor of partying on?

Speaking of Science, what has the proud owner of a condo in a beachfront Four Seasons building (i.e., sea-level coastal exposure to Climate Change-caused hurricanes) said about Climate Change? In 2019, he said that he was “gravely concerned about our planet, climate change and things that we have to do” (though he wasn’t on board with Full AOC)

What does ChatGPT have to say about a guy who is moving within an easy drive of Alligator Alcatraz?

Schultz has also backed a legalization/citizenship approach on immigration. In his 2019 Purdue speech, summarized by GeekWire and OnTheIssues, he called for “common-sense immigration reform,” including “a path to citizenship for Dreamers” and broader legalization measures. Florida’s recent immigration policy has moved in the opposite direction: SB 1718 bars local funding for IDs for people without proof of lawful presence, invalidates certain out-of-state licenses issued to unauthorized immigrants, requires some hospitals to collect immigration-status information, and strengthens penalties tied to employing unauthorized workers.

What about the move to a state with the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection guarantee is taken seriously?

Schultz’s race- and DEI-oriented corporate activism is also hard to square with current Florida policy. His “Race Together” initiative and his broader view that companies should engage on racial issues fit poorly with Florida’s anti-DEI direction. Florida’s Board of Governors regulation now bars state universities from spending state or federal funds to “promote, support, or maintain” programs that advocate DEI or engage in “political or social activism,” and the regulation defines DEI in part by reference to classifications based on race, gender identity, and sexual orientation. Florida law also restricts certain race- and sex-related instruction in education settings

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Brightline to Orlando review

by philg

Loyal readers may recall The Brightline experience (low-speed high-speed rail in Florida).

I recently took Brightline to Orlando. The West Palm Beach station is smaller than the one in Miami, but has better views.

The premium lounge is well-stocked with booze and food:

(Note cranes in background as West Palm Beach continues to be inflated with $billions.)

We hit 125 mph on the final stretch toward Orlando, the only completely new track on the route.

It’s not quite as comfortable as the Chinese high-speed rail, but there is much less jostling than on Amtrak Acela.

My meeting was for dinner at BACÁN, within the Lake Nona Wave Hotel.

The hotel is within a large business district that I had never heard of and that is the home of the Evil Empire (from a small airplane pilot’s point of view):

Would I take Brightline or Orlando again? It doesn’t make much sense for a family and takes longer than driving from Jupiter (partly because one has to drive south for 25 minutes to the station before heading north), but for a single traveler who will fly out of Orlando and then later return to a different airport it is awesome. It will make more sense if they can ever get a station built in Stuart, Florida, which is to our north.

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New Floridian goes back to Maskachusetts (also: catching up with NPR)

by philg

A friend moved to Florida in the middle of 2025. He went back in February 2026 to deal with issues around selling his old house in the Boston suburbs. Some of his messages to a group chat:

After Florida this is indeed f***ing torture

I spent the entire morning doing useless shit that is neither fun nor contributes to my future well being. Shoveling snow, salting.

Even though I pay hundreds of dollars a month to an entitled lazy idiot gardener who doesn’t do anything unless you tell him repeatedly.

The house was empty yet my heat bill was $1500.

In Florida that will be the electric bill for a 20k sq ft house with another 15k sq ft of usable outdoor living space

I forgot a snow brush

Now I will have to scrape snow off my car after a [gym workout], all sweaty and freezing

Took me an hour to get to my house from the airport on Friday [about 20 highway miles]

But it is good because I can spend this time listening to NPR

He included a photo:

A little later in the chat group, from a participant who lives in a South Shore suburb of Boston:

How can anyone commute to work? It’s an hour and 20 minutes going to Cambridge now [27-mile trip, mostly highway]. I guess people don’t work from home anymore?

[me] They stopped taking the T. So even though fewer are working the traffic is as bad or worse. ChatGPT: [the MBTA has] about ~64% of pre-pandemic ridership

Speaking of NPR, we had a dealer loaner while our Honda Odyssey was being serviced (some more battery trauma, this time with a 4-month-old Duracell AGM; I paid $308 for a Honda OEM part instead of trying to get another short-lived Duracell under warranty). I didn’t want to go to the trouble of getting Apple CarPlay organized so instead of my usual Audible book I listened to Treasure Coast NPR. When I tuned in they were talking about the real victims of the Gazans’ October 7, 2023 attack into Israel: American Muslims. Islamophobia in the U.S. reached crisis proportions after October 7 and then became an emergency crisis emergency when Donald Trump was elected by the haters. This piece was followed by a story about Black-white interracial marriage 60-150 years ago in the U.S. In a country that has been transformed by Latinx and Asian immigration, thus enabling the entire economy to do without Black workers (see Replacement of Black workers by migrants in Cambridge, Massachusetts), NPR remains stuck on the idea that Black-white relations are the defining issue of our time.

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Sandpiper Bay: a dog-friendly all-inclusive resort in Port St. Lucie, Florida

by philg

As New York City moves toward a ban on pet dogs (consistent with the Hadiths; see Nerdeen Kiswani’s February 12 tweet that stirred up Rep. Randy Fine), a former Club Med in Florida has gone in the opposite direction: a Fido-welcome all-inclusive resort. Here’s a report on a weekend spent at Sandpiper Bay. We brought the kids and Mindy the Crippler, our golden retriever.

There are tons of great restaurants in Stuart and Port St. Lucie. Why would anyone want to eat three (or five) meals per day at the hotel? We met a lot more people than we would have if we stayed in a regular hotel and everyone dispersed at mealtime. Of course, not everyone agrees that this is a great system…

The setting is right next to a marina on the St. Lucie River:

One can sit on the shore in the shade and read a book with birds and jumping fish for company:

This isn’t a “drop off the kids after breakfast” place like Club Med. There are some kid-oriented activities, but not enough that kids or teens can form a tribe and entertain each other. Where the resort shines is in tennis. The grounds are shared with RPS, a boarding school for future professionals, similar to Bradenton’s IMG, though much smaller (Mindy the Crippler introduced us to some of the boarding students; they do academics 4 hours per day and sports training 4 hours per day and they seem to love it. Some students do all of their sports training at RPS while living at RPS, but then do virtual school for their academics, e.g., the (free) Florida Virtual School). There are group tennis lessons every day except Sunday and you can also arrange private lessons with RPS staff.

If the kids are getting on your nerves, the good news is that unlimited alcohol is included. Don’t expect high-end vino, though, and, in fact, the Kirkland wines are superior to what we were offered at Sandpiper Bay. Perhaps that was just as well because I consumed just one drink per day as a result. There’s a relaxing riverside adults-only pool that also has a hot tub that is actually hot.

Not too many people had brought dogs, but all the ones we met were friendly. They included two Corgis, several Doodles, a Spaniel, and a Standard Poodle. There were no hassles regarding paperwork (i.e., undocumented canines are not illegal) or weight limits. Dogs were welcome almost everyone in the resort, but not within the pool fences nor inside the various buildings, including restaurants and bars. Consistent with most of the rest of Florida, it was possible to eat or drink at outdoor tables, including at the main buffet restaurant, with a dog. Mindy the Crippler used her dog bed despite the sizing mismatch:

The resort is equipped with an arcade (pay per game) and free ping pong, pool, and table shuffleboard. The shuffleboard table was a magnificent 22′ regulation length example, but almost unplayable because the hotel managers hadn’t figured out that they needed to buy wax for it (I told them to call up Shuffleboard Federation and order the correct speed for their table; they also had no silicone spray that I saw nor did they have a wiper to use between games; all very sad considering the time and trouble that some wood nerds had gone to when building the 22′ playing surface).

What about the fact that the resort isn’t directly on an ocean beach? It’s a 20-minute drive to Jensen Beach, one of the nicest in Florida.

A lot of the staff members had warm and welcoming personalities. As with nearly every other hotel in the U.S., though, they’re somewhat understaffed. Expect to wait in line and don’t expect daily room cleaning.

How are the rooms? The family rooms are huge, much better than the family room we had at Club Med Michès Playa Esmeralda (Dominican Republic). The Club Med “family room” was just a regular-sized room chopped up with more doors to the point that there wasn’t anywhere for the entire family to hang out except in the queen-sized bed of the “parents’ space”. At Sandpiper Bay, the parents’ room has two huge sofas and plenty of space for the entire family, including the pup who got her own bed ($75/day extra for the animal). The kids’ room is small, but sufficient:

What kind of people did we meet?

  • A retired but super fit pickleball enthusiast from Albany, traveling with his wife.
  • A mechanical engineer from Tampa and biomedical engineer wife who came to the U.S. from Cuba at age 16 and eventually earned a PhD in biomedical nerdism (she could be featured on my four random immigrants page, though I don’t think a Democrat politician would want to highlight her due to the fact that she was unequivocally anti-socialism and generally pro-Trump (at least preferring him to the Democrat alternatives)). They were celebrating their 20th anniversary and had left their children behind with grandparents.
  • An architect from Delray Beach whose firm was about to finish a Palm Beach barrier island starter home ($100 million construction cost; I was afraid to ask what the land had cost or what his firm’s fees might have been; remember the WSJ says $200 million is the new luxury home buy-in).
  • a mom from Plano, Texas on a three-night break with two kids and a grandma (father left behind to take care of a cat; a great metaphor for modern marriage)

A pre- or post-trip suggestion: the Port St. Lucie Botanical Gardens (admission is free; donations encouraged). They’ve got about 100 orchids and several hundred cacti and succulents.

Conclusion: The price is fair. The location is great. The dogs are friendly. The food is about what you’d expect from a Hilton or Marriott. You’re not trapped as you might be at a foreign all-inclusive. If you forgot something, drive 10 minutes to Walmart or Publix. If the kids are bored, take them to the Regal movie theater or go another few minutes to Hobby Lobby, downtown Stuart, or the Play Money unlimited pinball and video arcades (one in Stuart and one in Fort Pierce).

Packing list:

  • your own ping pong paddles
  • your own Pickleball gear
  • your own tennis racquets and balls
  • your own shuffleboard wiper, silicone spray, and speed wax

Nearest airports: Stuart (if flying yourself), PBI, Vero Beach. It’s 1:45 from FLL with a lot of interesting things to see and do on the way. It’s 1:53 from MCO with absolutely nothing to see or do in between (you could take an indirect route from MCO, though, and stop at the Kennedy Space Center in one direction (allow a full day) and Valiant Air Command in the other (all a couple of hours).

Prices right now

I checked for March 7-14, 2026. The site gives the same price for two adults or two adults+two kids. Riverside life begins at $324/night plus ruinous taxes:

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Climate change alarmist pays $200 million for a sea level house; time for new envy level?

by philg

May 2017, Harvard Crimson:

Mark Zuckerberg’s Commencement address at Harvard

How about stopping climate change before we destroy the planet and getting millions of people involved manufacturing and installing solar panels? … We get that our greatest challenges need global responses too — no country can fight climate change alone or prevent pandemics.

(The last part is my favorite. In 2017 he predicted that the lavishly funded UN and WHO would, three years later, be able to prevent a SARS-CoV-2 pandemic via muscular action, Scientific interventions such as saliva-soaked face rags, etc.)

February 2026, WSJ:

Billionaire Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, are the latest California billionaires to buy a home in South Florida. … THE PRICE: While it isn’t clear exactly what Zuckerberg and Chan are paying for the nearly 2-acre property, local real-estate agents said it would likely trade for $150 million to $200 million. Last year, an undeveloped Indian Creek lot of roughly the same size sold for about $105 million.

A peasant to whom $200 million is real money might look at the contrast between the 2017 statement about climate panic (“destroy the planet”) and the 2026 sea level waterfront house purchase and shout out “Hypocrisy!”. But maybe instead it is time for a new level of envy. What if Mark Zuckerberg believes what he’s been saying about climate change and bought the house anyway? That’s the real estate equivalent of driving a $600,000 Ferrari Purosangue to an elementary school with two kids and a bag of drive-thru breakfasts in the back. The owner knows that the kids are doing $200,000 of damage to the interior and simply doesn’t care. Zuck expects the above house to be washed away in 5-10 years, in other words, and is indifferent to the consequent loss of $200 million.

Envy 101: being bitter about the people who can afford to buy beachfront mansions and pass them down to their kids and grandkids

Envy 303: being bitter about the people who can afford to buy beachfront mansions and treat them as disposable

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Our neighbor prepares for the college football championship game

by philg

Happy MLK, Jr. Day for those who celebrate, i.e., upper-income white people who work for the government or the biggest most virtuous companies and who therefore get a day off. Black Americans working retail and service jobs will be toiling as usual and at least some Black Americans who work in the college football industry will also be at work.

Our Florida neighbor’s license plate is “UM N1” so we probably don’t have to guess for whom the household will be rooting this evening (I won’t be watching because I need to prepare for our class at MIT):

Speaking of vanity plates, here’s a “stands with Israel” style that you probably couldn’t get in the Queers for Palestine states.

Meanwhile, our county is the world’s largest buyer of Israel’s debt:

Would Dr. MLK, Jr. be out protesting with the Queers for Palestine if he were alive today? Or would he be a Donald Trump supporter because of the negative effects of low-skill immigration on native-born Black Americans? (it is rare to see a Black American trying to stop ICE from detaining and deporting the undocumented)

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Greta Thunberg tennis court (solar panel sunshade)

by philg

Happy National Cut Your Energy Costs Day to those who celebrate.

An idea for how to be simultaneously more virtuous and comfortable: a Greta Thunberg-branded tennis court shade. ChatGPT says that some fabric shades have already been made and they should be about 45′ high to avoid interference with lobs (50-65′ at the pro level). ChatGPT says that it would be stupid expensive to engineer this in rigid solar panels, especially if there is a need for the structure to survive a hurricane, but on the other hand we’re told that the only way to save Planet Earth from going Full Venus is to do stupid expensive stuff. Florida’s Broward County (home to FLL) has covered two basketball courts with solar:

They say that what was, very likely, an eye-watering outlay of tax dollars is “a visible reminder of how sustainable infrastructure investments can benefit both people and the planet while saving on energy costs.” (If there truly were net savings on energy costs wouldn’t we see these all over Florida, Arizona, Nevada, etc., and not just in this one park?)

If there is a big influx of tax base thanks to Zohran Mamdani, I’d love to see more of this in Palm Beach County. ChatGPT says that it could conceivably work for pickleball (required height only 18-22′).

Separately, some folks are working on tennis coach robots, e.g., ACEMATE and Tenniix:

ChatGPT’s explanation of why a tennis Greta Thunberg-brand shade can’t be affordably engineering to Miami-Dade hurricane standards:

Why it’s hard (and what makes it “expensive hard”)

1) Wind uplift loads get huge, and PV is a rigid “wing”

ASCE 7 treats canopies/roofs with net uplift pressure coefficients (negative pressures trying to peel the roof off). Canopies got more explicit treatment in ASCE 7-16 and later. Structure Magazine+1

For a big, flat-ish PV canopy:

  • Uplift (psf) scales roughly with V2V^2V2.
  • Going from 120 mph to 170 mph isn’t “+40%”—it’s closer to (170/120)² ≈ 2.0× the pressure.

Fabric shades can “spill” wind; PV cannot. The PV roof transfers that uplift straight into:

  • purlins/joists
  • primary girders
  • columns
  • foundations (uplift + overturning)

2) Height required for tennis multiplies overturning

Tennis-friendly clearance is typically ~40–50+ ft so you don’t ruin lobs/serve sightlines. That height makes the wind problem worse because:

  • the structure “lever arm” increases → bigger overturning moments
  • columns behave like tall masts, not “carport posts”

A PV canopy that might be straightforward at 12–16 ft (parking) becomes much heavier at 45–55 ft.

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What else I learned at Art Basel

by philg

A follow-up to Art Basel Miami Beach 2025 and Art Miami Miami 2025…

Here are a few miscellaneous things that I learned at an Art Basel party in Miami Beach. We’re informed that Florida real estate is collapsing (they roll 24-year-old condos into the median home price statistic and those are indeed heavily discounted now to reflect the cost of the new big 25- or 30-year inspection/rehab requirement). We were informed in 2018 by the Wall Street Journal, quoting Harvard experts, that sea level real estate in Miami was doomed… “Rising Sea Levels Reshape Miami’s Housing Market”:

“As prices decline, that’s a signal to developers and investors that maybe you shouldn’t be investing a lot of money in an area that will be flooded in 20 years,” [Ryan Lewis, an assistant professor at the University of Colorado’s Leeds School of Business] said.

How bad has the Climate Change-driven value collapse been for my friend’s sea level house? Here’s the Zillow chart (“+476% in last 10 years”; admittedly, there was a big rebuild circa 2020 and the chart isn’t adjusted for transitory Bidenflation):

A multi-billionaire attended the party and I learned that a multi-billionaire needs security goons circling in a couple of boats in case anyone decided to assault the party from the water.

From a serial entrepreneur, I learned that AI might not be the boon to venture capital that it seems. “In five years we’ll see a $1 trillion company that has just a single founder and employee,” he said. He is doing a couple of startups right now and hasn’t bothered to raise funds for either. “AI is my programming team,” he said. “Why do I need outside money if I can get to MVP [minimum viable product] and revenue without hiring anyone?”

From an artist behind some massive sculptures, including at Burning Man, I learned that Guangdong is where everyone is going for fabrication. “You send them a 3D model?” I asked. “You can send them a napkin drawing,” he responded, “and they’ll send you back a 30′-high sculpture.” Let’s stop for a moment and pay our respects to Rob Reiner:

From a retired Californian, I learned about the cost of building a decent quality 12,000 square foot house on the Pacific coast of Mexico: “It’s really cheap there,” he responded. Pushed for specifics, he added “It was quoted at $700 per square foot, but I think it will turn out to be $900 when it is all done.” (this didn’t include the land) A neighbor here in Florida just spent $500/ft on a gut-renovation. He said that new “custom” construction in Palm Beach County costs $1500/ft.

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The Florida insurance bubble seems to be deflating

by philg

Our HOA has cut fees for 2026. Digging into the budget, it looks like one savings is insurance, which has fallen from $55,000 to $40,000 per year. This covers a substantial clubhouse with gym, a pool, and a playground. Holiday lighting has fallen from $6,000 to $4,000 so maybe the “Big Lighting” cartel has been broken up? Xfinity will get more money, $94,000 instead of $89,300. That covers television only for about $725 per house; residents pay for Internet separately.

Despite the apparent improvement in insurance rates, the big multi-state companies, e.g., State Farm and progressive Progressive, still don’t want to write coverage for our neighborhood (about 2.5 miles inland and, therefore, moderately exposed to hurricanes).

How are things back in Massachusetts? In response to the meme “90% of modern real estate is trying to avoid blacks while not admitting you are trying to avoid blacks”, a friend responded “I have never tried to avoid blacks”. He lives south of Boston in a town that Google AI says is less than 0.5% Black. It is about the same distance from Boston as Brockton: “Brockton became the first majority-Black city in New England in 2020, a major demographic milestone.” (Google AI)

Some parts of our exchange:

  • (him) Brockton is a sh*thole
  • (me) So you didn’t avoid Blacks, you just avoided looking at any houses in places where Blacks live. You paid about 3X per square foot to live in [nearly-all-white town], which is 0.5% Black and is inconvenient, rather than in Brockton, which is 50% Black and blessed with many walkable neighborhoods.
  • It is 0.05% African American, not 0.5%. I am just saying I have never once had the thought enter my mind.
  • (me) That makes it even worse. Your racism is so deeply embedded that you aren’t even aware of your racism. You need to camp out at the local public library and read every book on anti-racism.
  • (another friend chimes in) Your decisions prove structural racism because they are proxying racist behavior. It is like claiming that your equestrian community welcomes all races.
  • (the guy who says he hasn’t tried to avoid Blacks) I have never seen a single black person in my town. Not even working as a landscaper. I guess I have as UPS driver.
  • (me) I thought you didn’t see color?

(One thing that I do like about our corner of Florida is that it is common to see Black and white people working together and, sometimes, living in close proximity and with both groups paying market rents (in MA Black people inhabit a parallel society and if they live in a white area it is usually as wards of the taxpayer).)

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Christmas spirit in Palm Beach County

by philg

The prospects for a white Christmas and our neighbor’s front yard this morning receiving emergency professional lighting enhancement:

Screenshot

Our mayor’s house:

A few houses in our neighborhood:

Earlier this month, picking up a tree from Home Depot (Alton/Palm Beach Gardens) in the Rolls-Royce:

Sadly, the pre-Christmas shopping rush in Palm Beach Gardens has been marred by a recent arrival from Georgia, Antonio Moore. He murdered Rita Loncharich, aged 65, at the Barnes & Noble. He later admitted that he stabbed the victim in the back without any motive and despite not knowing her. Fox:

Despite the tragedy, let me wish a Merry Christmas to all readers, even those who don’t celebrate.

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