Disastrous times call for drastic action.

But not in South Florida. Here, we are treated to the usual finger-pointing, grandstanding and passive-aggressive do-nothingness that so reflects our dysfunctional governments at all levels.

Miami-Dade County still has several unions that haven't renegotiated their contracts since the budget kicked in last fall. What's $4 million more in the red every pay period? It's only the taxpayers' money. Let them eat tres leches!

And don't get me started on Jackson Health System's ills. A quarter of a billion dollars in the red? Where do you go? Why, to Washington, to plead for a $50 million fix.

Layoffs, oh, maybe in 45 days. Mañana or bust!

And if the money comes, like the stimulus dollars that helped bail out Florida this year and will again next for education and other needs, our Republican legislators in Tallahassee will decry Obama's ``socialism'' and point to the trillions of dollars in the federal debt. As their GOP mouths move to damn the big-spending Dems, they keep their hands open, begging for more.

HYPOCRISY ON DISPLAY

Last week's healthcare summit in Washington showcases the hypocrisy on all sides.

The Republicans say our healthcare system is the best in the world -- yet every indicator around shows we have worse health outcomes than other industrialized countries and we pay more than those other countries do. The complainers offer no real solution that would stop the emergency-room bleeding in unpaid bills from uninsured patients except for the old healthcare savings accounts. As if people who can barely pay for a place to sleep and food on the table have savings.

The Dems, for their part, pretend that their healthcare legislation can save billions of dollars, but the truth is they would give away billions of dollars to certain states to get key senators' support. How's that for savings?

And forget about touching the lawyers' income on medical malpractice lawsuits, which the president said months ago would be a good idea to explore. Even if those awards aren't the biggest part of the problem, they are part of the problem, but you don't hear Obama chatting that up anymore. The Dems want to protect their loyal trial lawyers who help finance their campaigns.

Closer to home, the cops, the firefighters all work hard, I know. But their pay and benefits today are breaking taxpayers in this recession.

LIVING `LA VIDA LOCA'

Private-sector workers have taken hefty pay cuts, furloughs, lost their employer's contribution to their retirement plans, but public-sector unions continue to live la vida loca with longevity increases and extra pay for sneezing. OK, the ha-choo pay is an exaggeration, but, really, when half of the city of Miami's workers earn about $100,000, that's no exaggeration. It's criminal.

And still, the unions haven't budged. Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado now has a new city manager (working for free for now) who promises to whip things into shape. I'm taking bets. The odds aren't good.

With unemployment at record highs, foreclosures continuing to grow (which further erodes the area's property-tax revenues for local governments and public schools) and sluggish sales tax collections, we're facing hundreds of millions of dollars in shortfalls. If you add up the holes in the budgets of the cities, county governments and the school systems of Miami-Dade and Broward it's a billion-plus drops of red ink, easily.

But, hey, what's the hurry? It's only your money, and grandstanding is cheap.