It's just about 9:00 on Monday night and I'm sitting in the live-truck in the parking lot of a South St. Louis County auto dealer. We've been talking with dealers about the economic stimulus plan. Many of the dealers were hoping the stimulus package would allow consumers to deduct interest payments from their taxes. No luck. However, it does allow you to deduct the sales tax. Is it a big deal? Is it going to get people into the dealers' showrooms? By itself, no, say some of the dealers we spoke with.

But you've heard the saying "Every little bit helps." These days that's certainly true. If someone can save a few hundred bucks on a car they can spend it somewhere else. They can grease the wheels on the economy, if just a little bit. You watch the latest economic numbers on the nightly news and things have gone from eye-brow raising to jaw dropping.

I remember a few years ago I was talking to a cousin at a family reunion. I was talking about gas stations with the 9/10ths of a cent on their gas prices. I said it was time to do away with it. Just round up the price to the next penny. Instead of saying gas is selling for $1.79.9 just sell it for $1.80. I understand the psychology of it all. You know, $1.99 sounds cheaper than $2 dollars. I can see the point when gas was selling for 19 cents a gallon. But consider this--if your gas tank holds 20 gallons and you're filling up at $1.80 then you're paying $36. If you're paying $1.79.9 and filling up you're paying $35.98. A difference of two cents. I told my cousin I thought it was time to do away with this insane idea of posting a price with 9/10ths of a cent on it. Just round it up and I'll pay the two cents. She looked at me and said, "Every little bit helps."

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Hey....I was just checking out the Associated Press wires and found the following which breaks down the money each state will get for highways, bridge etc. An interesting list---you might want to check it out and see what Missouri and Illinois will be receiving.

State totals in the economic stimulus package for infrastructure improvements, including money for highways and bridges, public transit and water projects (figures are in dollars):
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State Infrastructure
Ala. 603,871,807
Alaska 240,495,117
Ariz. 648,928,995
Ark. 405,531,459
Calif. 3,917,656,769
Colo. 538,669,174
Conn. 487,480,166
Del. 158,666,838
D.C. 267,617,455
Fla. 1,794,913,566
Ga. 1,141,255,941
Hawaii 199,866,172
Idaho 219,528,313
Ill. 1,579,965,373
Ind. 836,483,568
Iowa 447,563,924
Kansas 413,837,382
Ky. 521,153,404
La. 538,575,876
Maine 174,285,111
Md. 704,863,248
Mass. 890,333,825
Mich. 1,150,282,308
Minn. 668,242,481
Miss. 415,257,720
Mo. 830,647,063
Mont. 246,599,815
Neb. 278,897,762
Nev. 270,010,945
N.H. 181,678,856
N.J. 1,335,784,100
N.M. 299,589,086
N.Y. 2,774,508,711
N.C. 909,397,136
N.D. 200,318,301
Ohio 1,335,600,553
Okla. 535,407,908
Ore. 453,788,475
Pa. 1,525,011,979
R.I. 192,902,023
S.C. 544,291,398
S.D. 213,511,174
Tenn. 701,516,776
Texas 2,803,249,599
Utah 292,231,904
Vt. 150,666,577
Va. 890,584,959
Wash. 739,283,923
W. Va. 290,479,108
Wisc. 716,457,120
Wyo. 186,111,170
U.S. Territories 238,045,760
Total 38,101,898,173
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Source: House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

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