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It’s still more than a day away until the Super Bowl and I’ve already seen the Volkswagen commercial that shows a pudgy dog running on a treadmill in order to lose weight.

I’ve already seen Matthew Broderick call in sick so he can ride roller coasters, chase little kids at a museum and frolic on the beach in a Ferris Bueller-like day of revelry - and driving a Honda CRV to get from place to place.

And I’ve already seen the tattoo-rific David Beckham in his undies for H&M’s new ad campaign.

So is there any reason left to tune in to the big game on Sunday night?

Oh right, I guess there is the football. But with more companies than ever uploading their Super Bowl commercials in advance on YouTube and other websites this year, there will be fewer surprises on Sunday night. So will people take a pass on the commercials and actually use that time for a bathroom break?

Seethu Seetharaman, a marketing professor at Washington University, doesn’t think so. He thinks the early releases will just whet people’s appetite and help build excitement leading up to the game. After all, some companies are only putting out teasers or trailers of their ads.

“There is the danger of newness being lost,” he acknowledged.

But one of the most memorable and buzzed-about commercials last year - the kid dressed up as Darth Vader in a Volkswagen ad - was released online in advance of the big game, he noted.

That gets closer to Seetharaman’s main point. He questions the wisdom of companies wasting - err, spending - $3.5 million on a 30-second spot at all when they could get free exposure through a viral, online campaign.

Craig Kaminer, president of the St. Louis-based marketing agency Twist, also emphasized the free part of releasing commercials early on YouTube.

“You can get millions of additional people to see it and it doesn’t cost you anything,” he said. “At the end of the day, advertisers are interested in one thing and that’s getting to the most number of people to spread their message.”

And while some people may have seen some of the commercials before Sunday night, up until then it will have mostly been an individual experience. But during the game, it will be a communal activity with your family and friends, he said.

That is something I can understand. For the first time in many years, I found myself glued to the television at a friend’s Super Bowl party last year. Actually, I alternated between the TV and my iPhone.

I gave myself whiplash as I devoured snarky tweets from my friends - and yes, from the random group of witty people I don’t know who I follow on Twitter - as they dished out their real-time commentary on the ads.

That’s something you can’t recapture the next day.

So I’ll be tuning in on Sunday - with my smartphone at my side.

SIN IS IN

This year is shaping up to be a pretty good year for sin.

At least, that’s what the research firm IBISWorld concludes in a recent report tracking industries that it has assigned to each of the seven deadly sins.

With more disposable income at our fingertips - and with the help of new technologies - IBISWorld said Americans will find more ways to indulge themselves in 2012. Apparently, this will be a bountiful year for envy, lust and sloth. Yippee! But growth will be a bit slower for those who peddle in pride and greed. Boo!

The firm does takes liberties with its labels. For example, I’m sure there are plenty of gun manufacturers out there who would object to being placed into the “wrath” category. But nonetheless, it makes for some colorful reading.

So here’s a quick snapshot:

• Envy: Jewelry store sales are projected to grow 4.5 percent this year.

• Lust: Online dating sales are expected to increase 3.5 percent.

• Sloth: The “do-it-for-me” market of maids, nannies, personal chefs, gardeners and butlers is expected to grow 3.4 percent.

• Gluttony: Fast-food restaurants are expected to grow 2.6 percent.

• Wrath: Gun and ammunition manufacturers are projected to be up 2.3 percent.

• Pride: Tanning salon sales are expected to increase 2 percent.

• Greed: Commercial banking is expected to be up 1.9 percent.

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It’s a move that Ameren Missouri’s founders couldn’t have possibly imagined more than a century ago: Utility officials on Friday proposed spending $145 million over three years to reduce electricity use.

The filing comes three months after Ameren made deep and widely criticized cuts to its existing efficiency programs, saying they penalized shareholders by not compensating the company for lost energy sales.

The program proposed on Friday would more than double what Ameren Missouri was spending on energy efficiency before the cuts, and promises to save its customers 800 million kilowatt-hours a year, an amount of equal to the energy use of 60,000 homes.

Of course, energy efficiency programs aren’t free — and Ameren wants ratepayers to finance them. From 2013 through the end of 2015, Ameren would collect the cost of implementing the plan through a surcharge on customer bills that would equal a rate increase of a little more than 3 percent, said Warren Wood, the utility’s vice president of legislative and regulatory affairs.

But all of Ameren’s 1.2 million customers will benefit from a reduction in energy use, Wood said.

“This filing aligns the business interests of the utilities and their customers,” he said.

The Public Service Commission has 120 days to review Ameren’s proposal. If approved, it would take effect in January 2013.

The plan is the first filed by St. Louis-based Ameren under the Missouri Energy Efficiency Investment Act. The law, signed by Gov. Jay Nixon in 2009, was designed to encourage reductions in energy use by allowing utilities to earn the same profit on energy efficiency investments that they do on investments in power plants, poles and wires. The PSC, utilities and other groups have spent the past two years debating rules to implement the law.

Ameren spent $70 million on efficiency from 2009 to 2011, helping customers save more than 550 million kilowatt-hours. But the those efforts led to $26.4 million in losses, according to Wood. That amount will grow to $60 million by 2014 — the reason why Ameren killed many of the rebates and other incentives at the end of September to the chagrin of energy efficiency advocates.

Wood explained the problem like this: Every time a customer pays their electric bill, some of the money is used to pay for variable costs like coal and other fuel used to run power plants. Another piece goes to cover fixed costs like poles, wires and substations — infrastructure that’s needed regardless of how many electrons flow through the grid.

When electricity demand declines, so does revenue, including that portion that goes to cover fixed costs. Friday’s proposal would compensate Ameren for that lost revenue while still producing tangible benefits for consumers, he said.

Efficiency and consumer advocates hadn’t read through all of the hundreds of pages that Ameren filed as of Friday afternoon.

While they would welcome an increase in efficiency spending in Ameren’s plan, they said they need to analyze the details before endorsing or opposing the plan.

“Are they seeking to be overcompensated (for efficiency investments)? Are they overreaching?” asked Lewis Mills Jr., Missouri’s Public Counsel. “That’s my biggest concern.”

Rebecca Stanfield of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Chicago office said it’s time for Ameren, regulators, and consumer and environmental groups to make energy efficiency work in Missouri.

“We’ve had three years of positioning and brinksmanship on this issue,” she said. “All of the parties need to recognize that there’s tremendous value in what can be created with these programs. Lets look at the big picture of what we could achieve if they are successful.”

No one disputes that energy efficiency must be a significant part of the state’s energy policy. That includes Ameren, which has identified efficiency as the cheapest way to meet energy demand in the future.

Missouri has long been dependent on relatively cheap coal to meet its electricity needs. But prices for the fuel and cost of hauling it from mines in Wyoming have been increasing. And new environmental regulations aimed at cutting back on air and water pollution from coal-fired power plants are certain to lead to further increases.

The state also continues to lag behind most others when it comes to policies to reduce energy use. The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy ranks Missouri 44th in the nation for energy efficiency.

In Illinois, meanwhile, utilities are increasing spending on energy efficiency programs. That includes Ameren’s sister utility, which sells electricity to customers across much of central and southern Illinois.

Ameren Illinois will spend $78 million this year on discounts and rebates for energy saving lighting and appliances to its 1.2 million electric customers and 800,000 gas customers.

One key difference is that Illinois has an energy efficiency standard. The law requires Ameren and the state’s other investor-owned utility, ComEd, to cut energy use by 25 percent from 2007 levels by 2025.

Without a mandate, Missouri utilities must be willing to aggressively push efficiency programs on their own. How to get them do that has been a contentious issue.

Mills, the main advocate for consumers on utility issues, realizes some Ameren customers may chafe at the idea of seeing bills go up, at least initially, to pay for energy efficiency programs.

But energy efficiency can benefit all consumers — even those who don’t take advantage of rebates and other incentives — by lowering statewide energy use, Mills said. That can help utilities defer or avoid building new power plants or running more expensive plants when electricity demand spikes.

“While it looks like rates are going to be going up,” he said, “they’re going to be going up more if we don’t do this.”

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Asian stock markets were mixed early Thursday, following flat trading on Wall Street as renewed worries over Europe’s banking system and a strong yen weighed on investor sentiment.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell 0.5 percent to 8,514.03, while South Korea’s Kospi index gained 0.2 percent to 1,870.96. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.3 percent to 18,787.21. Australia’s S&P ASX 200 fell 1.2 percent at 4,139.70.

Benchmarks in Singapore and Taiwan were higher while those in Malaysia and New Zealand were lower.

In Tokyo, the yen’s rise against the euro elicited fears of more pain ahead for Japanese exporters. The euro sank to 98.71 yen on Monday in European trading, which Japan’s Kyodo News said was an 11-year low. The euro remained under selling pressure as it hovered around 99.72 yen Thursday.

On Wednesday, European markets declined after another increase in Italy’s borrowing costs renewed worries about the continent’s efforts to restore confidence in its debt-hobbled governments. Additionally, UniCredit _ Italy’s biggest bank _ said it would offer stock at a 69 percent discount to raise cash guaranteed unsecured personal loan. The size of the discount escalated worries about the state of Europe’s banking sector.

Stocks barely budged in the U.S. The Dow Jones industrial average edged up 0.2 percent to close at 12,418.42. The Dow opened the year Tuesday with a 180-point gain that brought it to its highest level since July.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index inched up less than 0.1 percent to close at 1,277.30. The Nasdaq fell marginally to 2,648.36.

Benchmark oil for February delivery fell 35 cents to $102.87 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 26 cents to end at $103.22 per barrel on the Nymex on Wednesday.

In currencies, the euro fell to $1.2930 from $1.2938 late Wednesday in New York. The dollar slipped to 76.72 yen from 76.75 yen.

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HEAD NORTH: More than just northside visitors, merchants, residents and this colyumnist are impressed with development of the Old North St. Louis community.

St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay and Sean Thomas, head of the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group, are in D.C. today to receive the 2011 National Award for Smart Growth Achievement, which was given to the community by an office of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Old North was given the Award for Overall Excellence in Smart Growth, which is the highest honor that is given out by the EPA’s Office of Sustainable Communities. The award “recognizes an outstanding comprehensive approach to growth,” the EPA said. The selection committee also noted that the award “is for the best overall approach to implementing smart growth on a variety of fronts …”

Among factors that contributed to the community’s selection was the 28 percent population gain the area has seen in the past decade. Winning projects must have an impact on the community, and not merely be a design for development, the Old North restoration group said in a post on its website.

The restoration group is the not-for-profit that laid the foundation for the development, which used strategies that promote walking, rehabilitate vacant buildings and establish green spaces, the EPA said.

A specific effort cited by the EPA was the revitalization of two main blocks of the neighborhood — 14th Street north from Warren Street to St. Louis Avenue (nearly to the door of the Karandzieffs’ venerable Crown Candy Kitchen) — into something called Crown Square. The $35 million project involved the redevelopment of 27 buildings along 14th Street and surrounding side streets. It resulted in 80 new households in an area that had been largely abandoned, and the opening of a growing number of new locally owned businesses.

There are also new sidewalks, benches, trees and lights and newly cultivated community gardens sprinkled through the neighborhood. The area includes a North City Farmers’ Market and a community-owned Old North Grocery Co-op.

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Congressional bargainers have agreed to increase the size of mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration in a compromise being hailed by the housing industry but criticized by conservatives.

Under the deal by House and Senate negotiators, the FHA would be able to insure mortgages worth up to $729,750 in the most expensive regions of the U.S. for the next two years. The ceiling had been raised to that level during the financial crisis, but by law it dipped down to $625,500 on Oct. 1.

However, in a bow to conservatives, the bargainers would not increase the current $625,500 limit on mortgages that can be backed in expensive communities by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-controlled mortgage giants, and by the Veterans Affairs Department.

Realtors and home builders had lobbied hard to raise the loan limits for all four entities, arguing that the last thing the country’s stubbornly weak housing market needs is stricter limits on government-backed mortgages. They were backed by members of Congress of both parties from areas where housing costs are high, like Southern California and New York.

“We’d have liked broader language, but the FHA is still an important part of the puzzle,” Jamie Gregory, a lobbyist with the National Association of Realtors, said Tuesday.

Conservatives and a majority of House Republicans oppose the increase, saying the government should reduce its involvement in subsidizing housing in hopes that the private market would step up.

In a written statement, the president of the conservative Club for Growth called increasing FHA’s loan limits “beyond ridiculous” and said his group would note how lawmakers vote on the issue when they rate members of Congress seeking re-election. He said raising the limits does the opposite of reducing the federal role in housing markets _ something that many conservatives and the Obama administration say they want to strengthen the private market and protect federal taxpayers payday advance.

It has so far cost the government about $170 billion to rescue Fannie and Freddie, which nearly collapsed in 2008 because of risky loans in their portfolios.

The size of loans that federal agencies can back is based on a formula that includes a region’s median housing cost. More than a fifth of the country’s roughly 3,100 counties would be affected by the higher FHA loan limits.

FHA insurance is often used by buyers who put down small down payments. The agency has insured more than 40 million homes since it was established in 1934, and last year three quarters of those it insured were first-time buyers.

“It’s good news for the more than 600 counties that faced loan limit decline,” said Robert Dietz, an economist for the National Association of Home Builders. “FHA is important for first-time home buyers, so that will help support housing demand.”

The provision was included in a bill financing the departments of Housing and Urban Affairs, Commerce, Justice, Transportation and several other agencies for the rest of the government’s fiscal year, which began Oct. 1. It would also keep all other federal agencies functioning through Dec. 16 as lawmakers continue working on permanent spending bills.

The Democratic-run Senate had voted to increase the loan limits in its housing bill, but the version approved by the Republican-led House left the ceilings alone.

The House and Senate are expected to approve the overall compromise legislation later this week.

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Capital One Financial Corp. says its third-quarter profit edged up 1 percent, despite a big drop in the amount of loans written off as uncollectible.

The McLean, Va.-based bank says Thursday its net income for the September quarter was $813 million, or $1.77 per share.

Total revenue rose 4 percent to $4.2 billion.

Wall Street was expecting profit of $1.68 per share, on revenue of $4.04 billion.

The bank, best known for its ubiquitous “What’s in your wallet?” advertising campaign, said it wrote off $812 million in uncollectible loans, a drop of 47 percent from last year guaranteed online personal loans. But marketing and operating expenses rose 15 percent, offsetting some of that benefit.

Capital One shares added 74 cents, or 2 percent, in Thursday trading and were unchanged aftermarket.

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ST. CHARLES

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is set to take the stand in a grand larceny trial Monday, answering questions from prosecutors who say he was bilked out of more than $1 million and from defense lawyers who claim he is using the case to cover up unsavory campaign practices.

On trial is John Haggerty, a political operative who worked on the mayor’s re-election campaigns and is now accused of convincing the mayor and his staff to pay for a $1.1 million poll-monitoring operation that never materialized, then using most of the cash to buy himself a house.

But much of the questioning so far has revolved around Bloomberg, as Haggerty’s lawyers have sought to turn the jury’s focus to the billionaire mayor, painting a picture of a high-rolling candidate surrounded by privileged insiders who skirted ethics rules, threw money at problems and didn’t hesitate to bend the law.

Prosecutors do not accuse the mayor of any wrongdoing, and Bloomberg’s representatives have said his campaign broke no laws and followed standard practices.

The cross-examination of the mayor Monday promises to be tense. Defense lawyers used their opening statements to flatly accuse him of “campaign fraud.” Bloomberg’s spokesman says the tactics are a sign of desperation.

Prosecutors may try to limit what questions Bloomberg must answer. Before the trial, they asked Manhattan state Supreme Court Justice Ronald A. Zweibel to bar their adversaries from inquiring about the mayor’s campaign finances. The judge nixed that request but said he might revisit the issue if it arises during the trial.

Haggerty, 42, is a veteran of several prominent New York Republican campaigns. As a volunteer on the 2009 campaign of the Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-unaffiliated mayor, Haggerty was the point man on “ballot security,” a term used mainly by Republicans for poll watching with an eye to preventing voter fraud.

He presented Bloomberg campaign aides with a $1.1 million budget that included more than 1,300 paid poll watchers, an office, two-way radios and other expenses, according to prosecution filings and documents aired at the trial. Prosecutors say Haggerty did little of what he promised and used about $750,000 of the money to buy his brother’s share of their late father’s home.

Bloomberg financed the plan with a personal donation to the Independence Party that didn’t have to be reported until after the election. Haggerty’s lawyers argue that Bloomberg was trying to distance himself from a practice that has at times been subjected to court scrutiny as an alleged tool for voter suppression, something that Bloomberg’s aides deny.

Since the mayor’s donation to the party could not legally be earmarked for a specific purpose, it is not evidence that any money was stolen from Bloomberg, the defense argues.

The trial has offered an unusual peek behind the scenes of the mayor’s self-financed campaigns and inside City Hall, as some of his closest aides have answered questions about their relationship with the mayor and how they spend his money. Former Deputy Mayor Kevin Sheekey said on the stand that he didn’t enjoy his first two years in office.

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Man Dip has a six-month lease on life.

That’s about how long local grocery stores will give the spicy sausage and cheese dip, a new product from an unknown local entrepreneur, before they decide whether to keep it or dump it. But that’s a lot farther than most other food startups make it in the highly competitive race for grocery shelf space.

If it were up to Dr. Ted Mimlitz, the man behind Man Dip, the concoction he’s been whipping up for 15 years might have remained just a party favorite and inside joke among his circle of friends.

But about four years ago, Andy Wolf, a serial entrepreneur who has brought to market a number of items including a deer sled for hunters, took a bite of Mimlitz’s dip at a school-related event for their children.

“I said right there, ‘Have you ever thought about bringing this out commercially?’” Wolf said. “I pestered him for three months. Then he called me one December night and said, ‘Do you really think we can do this?’ I said, ‘Absolutely.’

That confidence belies the difficulty in bringing a product to market from scratch. Lots of folks flirt with the idea of branding and selling their homemade creations. But few people pursue it beyond their daydreams.

Local products face stiff competition from large food manufacturers with established brands, bulk negotiating power and money for extensive product and marketing research. Most local food products that have found success at area grocery stores are affiliated with local restaurants or well-known landmarks such as the Hill. Think Imo’s salad dressing, Zia’s pasta sauce and Fitz’s root beer.

“When people see that on your shelves, there’s that connection right away,” said Rich Wallace, Dierbergs’ director of procurement.

Another local example