If you're anything like me, you read a wide variety of information sources daily. I love to read the websites that focus upon our region, including the newspapers at the core and periphery of the metropolitan St. Louis area. So, when I include some bit on the broadcast that references something like A-B or flooding, I am pretty well-read before I comment. Today, I find myself about to comment before I read all the facts. But, from the first glance, it appears that because of the way the federal government distributes money to the individual states, the state of Missouri is being forced to reduce the MISSOURI DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS which means the closure of the ST. LOUIS REGIONAL CLAIMS CENTER. This will not necessarily mean the more than 60 jobs disappear - just that all of those workers will be forced to relocate to Jefferson City or Kansas City or Springfield. Those cities retain the "right" to have a claims center according to the DOLIR: so says the article by Matt Allen in the Friday, June 20th, 2008 edition of the St. Louis Business Journal online edition.
What does this mean to the average St. Louisan who wants to make a claim? Well it means an over-the-phone discussion with the person with whom you have become familiar when talking to the STLRCC, if one is to believe the statement given in the article "Customers should not be affected as calls will be transferred to the three other claims offices and the St. Louis office received no in-person claims or customer walk-ins, according to the DOLIR."
Interesting. This means that all those times when I or a family member walked into an office to file an unemployment claim that we were, in fact, not going to a DOLIR REGIONAL CLAIMS CENTER.
Okay, I admit that I'm not the scholar who figures out ALL. I am the scholarly who figures out quite a lot, but like all others I sometimes cannot "get" what the truth is without uncovering a ton of confusion...or...TONS of confusion. This - am I mistaken? - could mean TONS of confusion to the average St. Louisan. So, now, I guess it's up to me to uncover the reasons why I'm confused over this closure and the fact that I haven't visited a DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS office. On the one hand, we can be CERTAIN that the REGIONAL CLAIMS CENTER in ST. LOUIS will be closing, even though we have allegedly never gone inside unless we work there. But on the other hand, we're curious --- to whom do we visit and get our claims rejected so frequently?
I guess I'll have to disgress slightly to point out that Governor Blunt is a Republican and St. Louis is a largely Democrat-run city/region. It would be widely speculated that this fact could be part of the reason for the decision to close this regional office.
Let me return to the initial thought stream here. The national government has allegedly curtailed state-funding to a point that the state of Missouri is FORCED to close this regional center...because the state of Missouri cannot afford to keep it open.
I was reading a post on talk-show host (mid-MO, former St. Louisan) Derek P. Gilbert's website - www.derekpgilbert.com - in which he quoted a Belleville (Ontario) newspaper article that pointed out information on the GREAT DEPRESSION of 2008. In that and other online articles there are references to how the U.S. Government (and one would assume the state-level and municipal-level governments) will have a great deal of financial difficulty in 2008 and 2009, and many agencies will cease to exist because the money will run out.
Like is customary these days, while considering what I have already written, I used search engines to find the name of the unemployment offices that we frequent in the St. Louis area. Ah-ha. The MISSOURI CAREER CENTERS office locations...yes...between the south county and downtown locations, I have been there about 10 times over the past 5 years.
Here is the ANSWER to the question of who runs the places where I have attempted to file for unemployment unsuccessfully several times over the past 15 years. The Missouri Career Centers are run NOT by the DOLIR...but by the DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. I see how it is. Probably if I called the DOLIR number, I may have been given customer service that would have possibly pointed me to how I could actually win an unemployment claim!!!! Okay...just MAYBE...not for sure.
Well, doing that online research also gave me time to pause and reflect upon at least one troubling question:
Does the closing of a state-run Dept. of Labor and Industrial Relations REGIONAL CLAIMS CENTER in St. Louis point toward the "new" great depression?
(Did you read above reference to the government money woes in relationship to the Depression of 2008?!?!?)
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By the way - the Dow Jones Industrial average dropped more than 200 points at the close of Friday trading despite the alleged good news that the Chinese government raised the price of petrol/gasoline by 18% on Thursday and Friday which should have an effect upon the consumption of gasoline in that Asian country...allegedly that will mean Chinese residents who drive will drive less (just like those of us in the U.S. who have already done so because the price of gasoline has increased more than 125% since 2005).
We all know that oil is helping to spur the economic slowdown/crawl, along with the recent problems involving "mortgage lenders" (lending institutions include banks). We should all face it --- numerous banks are vulnerable because they ALREADY OPERATE AT LESS THAN 100% employment capacity...when was the last time you went into a bank at midday on a Tuesday and found all the teller lines open for customer service? And just how many more things (signs like understaffed businesses) do we ignore on a daily basis that point to the increased vulnerability of the economy in the United States of America?
Don't let me get started on health care.
I may be a fun, optimistic, crazy disc jockey on the radio...but I have this cynical and more realistic side when I write. Let's just say how much it pains me to write these days.
Ouch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Quite possibly one of the more positive things I've taken to heart lately is the mere fact that the All-New KZQZ (hot talk) COOL OLDIES 1430 AM is getting a lot of phone calls [toll-free 1-888-394-1430 or east side (618) 394-1430], attention at the OLDIES BY THE RIVER concert series, and some more e-mails (you can email me fairly easily using the obvious gmail addy of 1430dj if you so choose). It's clear that we've had an impact already. THIS SOOOOOO COOL!
Thanks to my regular phone callers, including but not limited to: Randy in Lemay, Phyllis in South County, John in Hazelwood, John in Sunset Hills, Ray in Pevely, Mrs. Smith in Washington Park, as well as my listeners in Jersey County who only call occasionally, but have let me know that they are there. I received a call from someone in Benld a couple of times lately, and although Benld IL cannot hear our nighttime signal, the listener enjoys the broadcast during the daytime hours...and that's fantastic to me. At KZQZ, we're happy that each listener is there, no matter which town you call home!
I'm told that our management is finalizing a deal for a special new station vehicle that will be making appearances in the region before the end of summer. It's truly cool...I hope we can make the announcement soon!
Come on out to the OLDIES BY THE RIVER concert series before the end of June! Admission is $8 for adults...bring your lawn chairs, blankets, coolers (no glass, please)...and enjoy the remaining shows:
June 21/Tonight: Cruzen - www.cruzenband.com
June 28: Steve Davis and the Memories of Elvis - www.memoriesofelvis.com
THANKS to Rich Hughes and the St. Louis County Parks Department, as well as the Friends of Jefferson Barracks (hey - if you didn't bring the cooler and food - and even if you do - visit their concession booth and enjoy some hot dogs, bratwurst and popcorn, etc. Prices are very reasonable) , Affton Chamber of Commerce, Lemay Chamber of Commerce, RFT, and the numerous other sponsors for this concert series. We're having a BLAST being the presenting radio station...and we look forward to doing this again many times in the future!
See you on the radio!
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