Florida is not the place to be

The Associated Press: Fewer People Move to Fla. Everything is beginning to unravel. And it isn't just that people are staying away - or moving other places - it is that they are leaving as well.

Beth Mann, 27, lived in West Palm Beach until a year and a half ago, when her husband, Michael, was offered a teaching job in Georgia. He took it — at a higher salary than he was paid in Florida — and they moved to Buford, Ga.

Their house is three times bigger. Their property taxes are 75 percent less. Their homeowner's insurance bill has been cut nearly in half.

People routinely pay more in taxes and insurance down here than they pay for their mortgage.

This doesn't even mention that if the state gets hit with a major hurricane (or 2) this year, the states "insurance fund" will be a dry well.

For myself, I am getting ready to head farther south. Panama, or perhaps the Dominican Republic, or the Windward Islands.