Republican St. Louis County Executive candidate Bill Corrigan released a ten point economic reviatliazation plan today. In a release, Corrigan listed a number of startling statics about the economic vitality of the county and the region:

• St. Louis County has lost over 43,000 jobs in the past seven years.
• Missouri is one of the worst states in creating new companies. From 2007 to 2009, Missouri ranked 46th in new companies created, according to the Kauffman Foundation’s Index of Entrepreneurial Activity.
• Over the last three years, the Kauffman Foundation’s Index of Entrepreneurial Activity ranked Missouri 45th out of 50 states.
• Missouri recently ranked 37th out of 38 states that had businesses which received venture capital funding.
• In 1998, Missouri received 19% of venture capital invested in the Midwestern states. In 2003, when the current administration in St. Louis County took office, that figure was 11%. Since 2003, there has been a steady decline in Missouri’s share of Midwest venture capital. In 2009, the percentage fell to a paltry 3%.
• Currently, only 33 businesses are located in the West, North and South County incubators, yet they have the capacity for 98 businesses.

You can read the full plan here.

Meanwhile, Mr. Dooley believes strongly in burdening our local business with the costs of Obamacare, and he seems to be placing all his chips for economic development on a pie in the sky project to make Lambert International Airport a hub for Chinese goods entering this country. It is an admirable idea, and worthwhile if it can be pulled off, but this is the third memorandum of understanding (which is not fully binding by the way) so far dealing with this project. Former Governor Matt Blunt signed two prior MOU’s for this project while he was governor.

The voters of St. Louis County are looking for concrete plans to get the local economy moving again, not pie in the sky, ego boosting projects to help a struggling campaign.

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