This preoccupation with the immediate direction of the economy — whether or not employment has dropped by a couple of tenths of a percent — is typical of the short-term mindset of political candidates, particularly Democrats because it is to their advantage to exaggerate any downturn.

At the same time, they (and to a lesser extent Republican candidates) are largely ignoring the potentially catastrophic impact on the economy of a massive reduction in the availability of imported oil. This could occur quickly in the event of increased conflict in the Mideast that disrupted the supply of oil from there, and will occur within the next decade or so as worldwide oil supplies hit a peak and then decline, at the same time as worldwide demand continues to skyrocket. As a matter of sustaining its standard of living (and elevating the standard of living of its poor) the U.S. had better get REALLY serious about both conserving energy and developing new domestic sources. And those new sources need to include alternatives to oil such as nuclear, natural gas, wind and solar, because the remaining untapped reserves of oil would supply perhaps only about a year’s worth of U.S. consumption. It should be obvious to anyone other than the most ideological right-wingers that that will be a stopgap solution at best.

Hey Mayor Slay! Maybe you should have tried a little harder to keep Centene downtown. It sends a message to big employers that the City of St. Louis doesn’t have their sh*@ together. Please don’t let the revitalization stall. Also, has anyone been to city hall lately. Is it just me or is that not the epitome of what’s wrong with the city. Talk about throwing people at problems. Its one of the most inefficient entities I have ever seen. I have been in a few different departments and everyone is accessing DOS software built in the eighties. Get some new software, integrate, and consolidate! Saved labor dollars could be used to help keep businesses downtown, more cops, or whatever.