Money world

From David Nicklaus’ Mound City Money blog, covering the St. Louis business community. STLtoday.com/moundcitymoney

As The New York Times reported Thursday morning, many of the nation’s biggest cities are not getting their fair share of highway spending from the federal stimulus bill. Overall, according to a study that IHS Global Insight did for the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the top 85 metro areas account for 63 percent of the nation’s population and 73 percent of gross domestic product, but so far they’re only getting 48 percent of the transportation funds.

Despite Mayor Francis Slay’s complaints, however, St. Louis doesn’t appear to be one of the places getting the short end of the stick. The Times graphic shows that the St. Louis area produces 0.90 percent of the nation’s GDP and is getting 0.91 percent of the highway money. The IHS Global Insight study breaks down spending by state, and it shows that metro St. Louis got 58 percent of Missouri’s allocation. The metro area produces 45 percent of Missouri’s gross state product. (07/09)

The scrolling sign at McArthur’s Bakery in St. Louis County usually advertises something sweet, but one recent message was downright bitter.

According to Fox News, the sign read: "Russ Carnahan voted to … close us and other … small business."

The reference is to Rep payday loans. Carnahan’s vote in favor of the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill, which bakery vice president David McArthur clearly doesn’t like.

McArthur told FOXNews.com that every aspect of his business relies on the forms of energy targeted by the American Clean Energy and Security Act, and that his congressman, Carnahan, was supporting "a direct tax increase on small business" by voting for it. (07/08)

Illinois isn’t the hardest-hit state in this recession — Michigan has lost far more jobs, and housing problems are worse in states like California and Arizona. The Land of Lincoln does, however, lead the league with 12 bank closings so far this year. That’s more than 20 percent of the nation’s 52 failures. (07/07)

St. Louis lacks resilience in the way it has responded to mounting mortgage foreclosures, a new academic study says.

The study, published by the MacArthur Foundation, says that while local nonprofit groups have ramped up their efforts, "The weakness is that the resources have been lacking to scale up counseling to the needed level and area governments have contributed little to prevention." (07/06)

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