Sioux Falls is recession proof? My Ass!

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When are our local and state lawmakers gonna wakeup? Even our half-ass media is reporting this stuff;

The majority of people who walk into the office of the Minnehaha County Health and Human Services need help paying rent because many have recently lost their jobs.

And good thing for our public school system or some kids would not have a warm place to go during the day;

Addressing chronic homelessness should be a priority when tackling the overall homeless problem, Sioux Falls City Council member Vernon Brown said. Establishing services to help the chronically homeless would free up other agencies to help those families with children who need temporary assistance, he said.

I’ll commend you Vernon for your work on this, but don’t you think it is time to build a fire under the Mayor’s and other councilor’s asses to get this moving a little faster? What’s the holdup? The homeless are not just going to disappear if you keep farting around. You should bring this up every single council and info meeting, you should also tell anyone in the media who will listen. I have found the only way to get things done is to keep the pressure on this isn’t about snowgates or indoor pools, this is serious shit.

Funny thing, city hall is mysteriously quiet about this report. No worries, the Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce chimed in, and if anyone would know about giving good advice about business and the economy, it would be them (as long as you are buying a membership and support higher taxes on food).

Dave Fleck, Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce board chairman and president of Sioux Falls Construction, noted that Sioux Falls’ unemployment is still well below the national average.

But just keep going out to eat, and everything will be just fine in Sioux Falls.

But if everyone keeps going out to eat, everything will be just fine

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From the Sioux Falls Argus Leader;

Sioux Falls unemployment: 4.7 percent

 According to statistics released today by the state Department of Labor, the rate jumped a full percentage point since December, when unemployment was at 3.7 percent. The statewide rate is 4.4 percent, and Rapid City is at 5.1 percent.

 Statistics from before 1990 were not immediately available.

The national unemployment figure for February is 8.1 percent.

Hopefully after seeing these numbers City Hall will wakeup and realize the time is now to make cuts to the 2009 budget, not waiting around for ‘more checks’ as the finance director has indicated. Jumping a full percentage point in one month is not a sign that things are getting better. If we continue to ignore the bad news this is going to end up biting us in the ass.  The tax increase should be revoked also without going to a public vote and all CIP projects that are decorative need to be put on hold and reviewed again in the fall.

Rounds hates unemployment benefits

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It seems Rounds wants our unemployment benefits to run out on purpose so it will force people to work 3 part-time jobs until they can find something else.

Concerned it would cost businesses in the long run, Gov. Mike Rounds said Monday he plans to reject about $5 million in unemployment insurance aid that’s part of the federal economic stimulus package Congress recently passed.

The stupidity behind this is that if people lose there job in South Dakota, and they are a professional and they run out of unemployment benefits, they will move out of state to get work. So are we worried about ‘hurting business’ or ‘hurting our state tax rolls’ Once again no common sense or logic coming out of the Governor’s office. Business first – citizens second.