-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
Concrete is more than just a building material — it’s a marker of growth. When communities are building homes, infrastructure, schools, and workplaces, concrete consumption rises. When they’re not, it falls.That’s why the latest U.S. Geological Survey data on cement consumption — the key ingredient in concrete — is so concerning. In 2024, the seven counties of the Chicago area recorded their lowest cement usage in more than a decade, roughly 27% below the 30-year average. We still haven’t returned to the levels seen before the Great Recession, and the stagnation tells a deeper story. The most obvious missing piece? Housing.
Summary and audio linked here.
Chicago’s political leadership is floating a pension buyout program as evidence it is seriously addressing the city’s thirty-six-billion-dollar unfunded pension liability, but Mark Glennon, founder of the Illinois policy research organization Wirepoints, said that the proposal moves debt from one column to another rather than reducing it, and that the broader fiscal picture facing the city continues to deteriorate across every measurable dimension. Audio here.
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
The state’s existing buyout program for its own pensions is the precedent for Chicago, which should be a warning: Look out for similar exaggerated claims and shoddy analysis.
Full interview and summary linked here.
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Instead of cranes they should be showing wrecking balls. The economy is getting much worse, just check out the S&P and it is a great leading indicator of the future. Lots of cloudy days ahead.
Rampant Nimbyism and governmental obstructions. Either they don’t want to have their property values lowered to protect their investments or they don’t want them raised because they are broke.
Business is slow for Ozinga so they shill for the ending of single-family zoning in Illinois. They don’t come right out and say it but they allude to it in several places, speaking of bold leadership, and onerous zoning laws, and housing. I’m sorry (not sorry) Ozinga, but I don’t want a 6 flat with 33% Low-Income housing on the 10,000 sq foot lot next to my house. That’s not NIMBYism, that’s common sense. I also don’t want an ADU on the back of my neighbor’s lot so the tenant can leer at my wife while she gardens outside. No… Read more »
Third world, anything goes express! All aboard!