No Room At The Workplace

Over the weekend, two New York Times (credit to SI’s Richard Deitsch for highlighting these links on his Media Matters column this week) articles about unemployment in Europe and here in the United States, reaffirms my belief that the middle class is extinct, or on the verge of it…and it is time to create a…

Searching for a Direction

Dallas J. Moore is one of the most thoughtful and wisest individuals you will meet.  As CCO and CEO of Social Republik, Dallas has a strong and deep interest in helping his clients be successful when they convey their message through marketing. Today, he posted a tweet recommending anyone who is on the unemployment sidelines to…

An Imperfect Christmas

The Christmas message this morning at St. John’s Lutheran was simple and understandable:  “there is no such thing as a ‘perfect’ Christmas.” Holiday movies such as “The Ref“, “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation“, and “Miracle on 34th Street” tries to convey this statement, but in real life, if it isn’t a “perfect” Christmas, it’s a failure. The…

Have you received the “letter” yet?

This morning, the “Get It Done” girl, Suzanne Hull, sunk her teeth into Iowa Works, or the agency to be formerly known as Iowa Workforce Development.  Recently, IWD has sent out letters to unemployed workers advising them to attend re-employment customized classes.  Failure to do so will result in losing your unemployment benefits. Ouch. Suzanne…

Do not pass go, do not collect unemployment extension

Late last night, the U.S. Senate “failed” to pass a bill extending unemployment benefits to people who are out-of-work.  They approved it 57-41, but as the Iowa Independent put it, “in the strange logic of Congress, that is enough to prevent the motion from moving forward for now.  The cloture vote has failed, likely meaning…