STIMULUS WATCH: Less stimulus for minority firms

[Synicus Maximus]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON – Hispanic and black businesses are receiving a disproportionately small number of federal stimulus contracts, creating a rising chorus of demands for the Obama administration to be more inclusive and more closely track who receives government-financed work.

Latinos and blacks have faced obstacles to winning government contracts long before the stimulus. They own 6.8 and 5.2 percent of all businesses, respectively, according to census figures. Yet Latino-owned business have received only 1.7 percent of $46 billion in federal stimulus contracts recorded in U.S. government data, and black-owned businesses have received just 1.1 percent.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100307/ap_on_bi_ge/us_stimulus_minorities

[Robb]

1. LaHood's notion of unbundling large contracts seems to make a lot of sense

...although the GOP will say it means we're "not rewarding success" or some such nonsense.