Capitalism and Politics

Are Office Parties the Secret to Keep Employees Happy These Days

Posted on February 6, 2009 | The Editor

When the economy is rough, raises stop, trips get canceled, bonuses are clamped and those types of things generally make the average worker sad. So what’s a company do to? From what we hear, many in St. Louis are turning to cheap office “parties”. Step 1: Think of reason for party. Step 2: Buy some food. Step 4: Happy employees Step 5: Profit! We aren’t sure how well this works, but for the record, its better than not having free lunch. [Read More]

office parties

Pictures of One Crazy Day at Denny’s

Posted on February 5, 2009 | The Editor

The creatively named STLToday blog “Pictures” has some great shots of the craziness at a local Denny’s with that “Free Grand Slam” deal they threw out at the Super Bowl.

The minute they announced that, I just felt that every Denny’s employee let out a collective “Shit!” Seems to me they should have waited later in the game so as to not ruin their Super Bowl.

Here’s the full post.

denny's free grand slam superbowl

Laclede Gas is Doing Just Fine Thanks

Posted on January 30, 2009 | The Editor

If you live in reach of Laclede Gas and you pay their rates you’re going to love this. I mean you’re really going to love this! From BizJournals.com article “Laclede Q1 profit up 50%” [emphasis mine]: Laclede Gas, the company’s core unit, saw its earnings rise 2.5 percent to $16.2 million in the recent quarter. The company attributed the increase to higher income from natural gas sales due to colder weather and higher surcharge revenue, offset by higher operating expenses and investment losses. [Read More]

charges laclede money

AmerenUE Has Good Timing With their Rate Hikes

Posted on January 28, 2009 | The Editor

Its snowing, its cold and whether or not you have gas or electric heat we are all using lots of energy these days so AmerenUE says “Yup, time to get the rate hike approved!” and it was all tied up and then that last Missouri regulator said “Um yeah sure…we aren’t going to come in today it’s snowy! Approved!” The average AmerenUE residential customer will pay about $5.88 more a month for electricity, under a rate increase Missouri regulators approved Tuesday. [Read More]

amerenue electric hikes rates

The Pageant’s Website Really Sucks

Posted on January 27, 2009 | The Editor

Let me start off with this. I’ve met Joe Edwards a few times now. He’s awesome. He’s done a lot of good for St. Louis and the Loop specifically. He sells one of the best hamburgers in the world at Blueberry Hill. …and his website for the Pageant sucks. I’m not sure when they redesigned this, but I hope it wasn’t long ago because knowing something like this existed in the world for longer than a few days makes me scared and nervous like Sigourney Weaver with the Alien running around her ship. [Read More]

joe edwards pageant ugly website

Wanna Buy the Naming Rights for Your Kid’s High School Gym?

Posted on January 26, 2009 | The Editor

Thats the question that a lot of local schools are asking and others are asking if its kosher to sell the naming rights of a school building like we do stadiums and hospital buildings. From The Post Dispatch’s recent article on the subject: …school districts still worry that they need to lay out guidelines so they’re not caught unprepared for potentially inappropriate naming requests. Those concerns have, in part, prompted at least seven area school districts to pass or revise policies in the past year that define the limits and specifics of naming rights. [Read More]

money names school

The Hits Keep Coming: Charter Fined By FCC

Posted on January 21, 2009 | The Editor

So our buddies at everyone’s favorite St. Louis based cable company, Charter, didn’t play nice when the FCC tried to look in to some complaints against them and now they are being fined and getting their finger wagged at them by them by outgoing FCC chief Kevin Martin. From bizzjournals.com: The FCC is examining a practice of transferring analog channels to a more expensive digital tier, which prompted 600 complaints, according to a letter Monday to congressional leaders from outgoing FCC Chairman Kevin Martin. [Read More]

cable charter fcc fines

Charter Close to Filing for Bankruptcy!

Posted on January 20, 2009 | The Editor

2009 is going to be the best! I, like most of St. Louis, hate Charter with a passion. Well, let me re-phrase. I don’t hate them, its just that they treat their customers like shit, and I know they’ve done a little bit to help that recently, but the damage has been done and its too little too late. I would love to like them, but it just doesn’t look like its going to happen…especially since they are this close to filing for bankruptcy! [Read More]

Is ClearChannel Clearing House Tomorrow Along With the Bush Family?

Posted on January 20, 2009 | The Editor

According to StlMedia.net (who refuses to have proper blogging software and thus has no permalinks to correctly link to) and the New York Post, ClearChannel, the radio company that in St. Louis operates z107.7, 93.7 The Bull, Majic 104.9, KLOU 103.3 and 100.3 The Beat, is planning a large “reduction in force” which is the new cool executive way to say “lay offs.” Doesn’t it sound much better? From the New York Post: [Read More]