What is the benefit of tableless design if you need clearing blocks everywhere?

I understand that the goal of moving towards <div> tags from <table> makes sense since it is more semantic. However, I don't understand the benefit gained if you still need a clearing block to make column-based layouts work. For example:

<!-- Note: location-info & personal-info both float left. -->
<div class="contact"> 
    <div class="personal-info">
        <p>
           Shawn, etc, etc
        </p>
    </div>
    <div class="location-info">
        <p><address>etc</address></p>
    </div>
    <br style="clear:both" /> <!-- clearing block -->
 </div>

The extraneous <br> tag is used strictly to describe style, and is required to make the layout work. Doesn't this ruin all benefits gained from removing tables?

Solution

What if I told you you didn't need a clearing block?

.clear-block:after {
    content: ".";
    display: block;
    height: 0;
    clear: both;
    visibility: hidden;
}

.clear-block {
    display: inline-block;
}

<div id="wrapper" class="clear-block">
    <div style="float:right">
        Your content here
    </div>
    <div style="float:left">
        More content here
    </div>
</div>

JSFiddle