Judging from some of the news coming out of Washington, civil discourse seems to be in extremely short supply. Perhaps Americans would be more civil if they used an ancient Japanese poetry form to discuss the major issues of the day.

As…

The New York Times, in an editorial this morning, is calling for the Justice Department to investigate alleged anticompetitive practices by Monsanto. The Times editorialists note the importance of technology in modern agriculture and then add:

Following a decade of unchecked…

I’m a business history buff but I didn’t know that CIT, the commercial lender that was bailed out by lenders over the weekend, had its origins in St. Louis. A reader named Tom emailed me with that tidbit, and CIT’s website confirms…

Monsanto’s newest director, David Chicoine, has found himself at the center of a political flap in his home state of South Dakota. Chicoine, the president of South Dakota State University, joined the agribusiness company’s board in April.

The university’s student-run newspaper, the Collegian,…

If you work in the information technology field, the St. Louis area has five of the 100 best employers, according to ComputerWorld. Here’s the list, along with some of the things the magazine likes about each company:

• 5. Monsanto, praised for its…

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is due for a shakeup soon. The Associated Press reports that General Motors will get kicked out of the venerable index if it files for bankruptcy, as it’s expected to do within the next few days.

Furthermore, St.…

For months, we’ve been posting information here about how much St. Louis companies pay their chief executives. Now, with the spring disclosure season nearly over, we thought it was time to tally up the numbers. Today’s column mentions some findings,…

We all know that Anheuser-Busch doesn’t qualify for Fortune 500 status any more, but it isn’t as if all the big headquarters have vanished. St. Louis officially has seven companies on the new list, and can claim eight if you…

Monsanto belongs on a list of the world’s 10 most influential companies, Business Week says in the current issue. The rest of the list: Apple, Google, Huawei, JPMorgan Chase, News Corp., Saudi Aramco, Toyota, Unilever and Wal-Mart.

The magazine’s short profile of…

Monsanto’s proxy statement, filed last week, credits Chief Executive Hugh Grant with  $15.6 million of total compensation in the latest fiscal year, up from $11.0 million in fiscal 2007. Grant’s salary rose 10 percent, to $1.29 million, and his annual…