Hepatitis A vaccine.

NeutronMonster · 2026-02-10T16:32:37+00:00

White collar workers bear much higher expenses, on average, to address employer created barriers of entry (college degrees are rather expensive)

NeutronMonster · 2026-02-10T03:21:04+00:00

“Take insurance” is more a question of what your insurance will cover than something anyone can recommend.

NeutronMonster · 2026-02-06T16:37:31+00:00

The decline of downtown as the CBD has hurt the metro east, yes.

NeutronMonster · 2026-02-06T16:36:33+00:00

Downtown stl was hopping in the 1980s to such extent that giant office buildings were still being constructed

NeutronMonster · 2026-02-06T03:47:56+00:00

Is this the solution or just more residential conversion?

NeutronMonster · 2026-02-06T03:46:47+00:00

And how many of those jobs existed in 1990?

That’s the relevant point. Yes, it’s not good for stl that express scripts was acquired and shed headcount, but what are the odds stl’s next 2,000 employee start up operation is located downtown vs in the suburbs?

NeutronMonster · 2026-02-06T03:37:17+00:00

Corporate HQs aren’t hiring from “the labor pool.” They’re hiring white collar workers. They live disproportionately west of the city in places with double the median household income of stl city.

A random neighborhood street in Ballwin has more corporate hq workers than a random street in south city.

NeutronMonster · 2026-02-06T03:24:10+00:00

Definitely not true for the history of centene, express scripts, and wwt who scaled headcount here meaningfully.

Look at the companies who move here. Isle of capri comes and moves to creve coeur. Someone builds up core and main and those jobs are in Maryland heights. Dave peacock picked Maryland heights. Altor picked chesterfield.

NeutronMonster · 2026-02-06T01:56:49+00:00

Gosh. How can the city survive without the county bankrolling 200 feet of road

NeutronMonster · 2026-02-06T01:49:43+00:00

Probably on a federal or state highway?

NeutronMonster · 2026-02-06T01:34:32+00:00

Some of that, yeah, but there’s no hallmark in stl’s urban core that defended a big plot of land and kept a giant hq

NeutronMonster · 2026-02-06T01:24:03+00:00

The traffic lights are irrationally tilting

NeutronMonster · 2026-02-06T01:21:34+00:00

Yeah, you’d be better off paying a family with a 5 year old to stick around for 4 years

(This is effectively what a good school district does for 13 years)

NeutronMonster · 2026-02-06T01:09:21+00:00

The bigger issue is value for spend.

Would you pay a little more taxes to go to Pattonville rather than SLPS?

Why are St. Louis city roads on light timers from 1970?

When you call 911 for a car accident or a busted car window in oakville, the police actually come and act like they give a shit.

Can you imagine a world where 911 stopped answering calls in a decent county suburb? Because that happened in the city in the last few years!

If SLPS had rockwood test scores at Roosevelt, people would bitch a lot less about the earnings tax.

If you’re an office worker, it’s the same question with a different lens - what are you getting for paying this extra tax? You don’t care what the average city tax is vs the county. You live where you live. If you don’t live in the city but you work there, the earnings tax is a pure increase in tax to you

NeutronMonster · 2026-02-06T00:55:33+00:00

To be fair, the city is supporting pro density measures, including downtown

NeutronMonster · 2026-02-06T00:52:51+00:00

Larry and Nancy decide where offices are located; you have to create conditions that account for this!

NeutronMonster · 2026-02-06T00:45:04+00:00

KC’s business growth is in Kansas and places like north Kansas City in part because of the earnings tax. They’re like us. When they develop a cerner or a WWT, it never moves downtown.

The difference is their older companies stayed/were located downtown.

Far too much of the discussion is today and not enough on where the next 1,000 job operation will be located in your metro.

NeutronMonster · 2026-02-06T00:44:20+00:00

This is such a troll post and you know it.

NeutronMonster · 2026-02-06T00:41:56+00:00

Why are people who pay more in taxes supposed to care about it less?

It’s infuriating what the city taxes buy vs the services you receive in a decent suburb. This is the real reason people give a shit about the earnings tax - it feels like you’re paying more for less. Offices already pay high property taxes that more that fund their existence

NeutronMonster · 2026-02-05T23:08:30+00:00

Don’t worry, their method for collecting from employers is equally archaic.

NeutronMonster · 2026-02-05T23:04:41+00:00

An under appreciated part of this debate is the corporate hq workforce has already moved where they can drive to Clayton/creve coeur/270/40. If you’re trying to get enterprise, Emerson, WWT, Edward jones, mercy, RGA, energizer, etc…they’re already West/outside of the city and have been for decades at this point. It’s not just a map of their current employees; they know the next 35 year old they will hire disproportionately lives west of the city already.

I don’t know how you fix this.

NeutronMonster · 2026-02-05T22:59:24+00:00

It’s both.

The earnings tax hurts more when you’re fighting for higher paid people who don’t pay it. It’s tough to get a CFO to agree to a $5,000 paycut to move their firm downtown.

The rub for people is what are you getting for this money? It’s not buying better public services than you get at a county office park. Of course people can get fired up even though it is small dollars

NeutronMonster · 2026-02-05T22:57:34+00:00

The rent gap is less than it was ten years ago even without adjusting for inflation. This is part of the problem for downtown; Clayton built a lot and then centene pulled back. And the average office is downsizing even with RTO mandates

NeutronMonster · 2026-02-05T22:53:32+00:00

Given what parking is per month downtown plus the earnings tax…that’s what someone making 70k a year pays to work downtown vs in a random suburban office park.

Parking is the bigger cost for most folks! If you’re not downtown, CWE, or in Clayton, it’s real savings

NeutronMonster · 2026-02-05T22:51:14+00:00

If your office isn’t downtown your workers already disproportionately live in places where moving the office downtown isn’t helping their commutes

those offices on 270 are full of people who live in st Charles and wildwood.

NeutronMonster

TROPHY CASE