“Good intentions tell you nothing about the actual consequences.” — Thomas Sowell Layoffs are recession behavior. Period.I do not care what economists call it. If demand slows and a company does not need as ma…
“𝗧𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗽𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲.” — Robert Louis Stevenson I was watching a youth basketball game recently.One team couldn’t miss. Full-court press. Tr…
“Explanations exist; they have existed for all time; there is always a well-known solution to every human problem—neat, plausible, and wrong.”- H. L. MenckenVirginia keeps pouring concrete for data centers like the pace is normal…
“Let all men know how empty and worthless is the power of kings, for there is none worthy of the name, but He whom heaven, earth, and sea obey by eternal laws.”– King Canute Back in August we published a post called:…
“Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.” — Charles Mackay A guy wrote that in 1841. 1841.&nb…
Keep your eye on the prize. (Adobe)You’ve probably seen the dumb version of this story already.“Trump wants cheap oil.” “Exxon won’t touch Venezuela.” “Guyana hit the jackpot.” “Russia and Ch…
When the lights get expensive, everything else follows.For the last few years, Europe has been trying to run an industrial economy on wishful thinking.It looked fine in speeches. It looked even better in press releases.Then the bill showed up.…
Buckeyes for the win! (Adobe) Data centers are the new “economic development win” that shows up in a press release before anyone asks the obvious question.Where’s the power coming from?And who’s paying to build t…
Concrete didn’t become the default building material because it was fashionable. It won because it made sense. It was durable. It was local. And for a long time, it was the economical choice when you looked at the whole building—not just…
Making it look easy. Adobe For a long time, success in the concrete industry was simple.Know the spec.Hit strength.Keep the schedule moving.If something went wrong, you pointed to the drawings, the mix design, or the standard and moved …
Proven technology. Georgia Power.The Trump Media + TAE Fusion Power mergerstill reads like a deal someone dreamed up in the airport bar during a 3-hour delay.A social media company with meme-stock metabolism merges with a f…
What’s the productivity benchmark for a guitar-shaped building? (Miami Herald).This week’s post was inspired by a LinkedIn post from Eric Koehler. Hello Eric.Eric is a sharp, thoughtful guy and someone I respect. He was also a guest …
CO₂ capture. Because photosynthesis apparently doesn’t matter. (Adobe)I got another message this week. Same theme as a few others. “Anti-PLC.” “Only talking about it because it draws an audience.”…
Fire 'em back up. (Adobe) Every now and then something crosses my screen that stops me mid-scroll. This week it was an argument that coal fly ash might help break China’s chokehold on rare earth elements. It is not a bad though…
Grit. (Bakerconstruction.com)If you ever sit down with Dan Baker long enough, you realize the man doesn’t talk in clichés. He talks in lived experience. Everything he says comes from some job where his …
Follow the Line. Follow the Money.If you’ve been following the Type IL situation the last few years, you’ve heard every excuse under the sun about why Portland limestone cement suddenly became the “future” of American concr…
Pipe dream. (Adobe)Every once in a while, the cement industry drops a headline so painfully obvious you wonder if anyone has been awake for the last decade. This week’s gem? Europe is sounding the alarm that cement prices cou…
Progress. (Adobe)Dominion Energy just filed its 2025 Renewable Portfolio Standard plan with the Virginia State Corporation Commission. It’s their roadmap for meeting Virginia’s renewable energy mandates under the Clean Economy Act.If y…
Changing of the guard. (Adobe) Back in July, we covered the U.S. Department of Energy report A Critical Review of Impacts of Greenhouse Gas Emissions on the U.S. Climate. It didn’t get nearly the attention it deserves. The report—…
A rare glimpse of the Creative Minds of Cement in their natural habitat - a castle. (OpenAI) It was a crisp autumn morning in late 2021 when the tolling of bells echoed through the vaulted halls of Castle Valkenhorst, perched high on a Euro…
Don’t worry, we’ll just dig our own—how hard can it be?For decades, we’ve been told that free trade keeps the world out of trouble. The logic was simple: if countries are busy buying, selling, and shipping each other’…
Somebody’s paying for all this concrete… hope it’s not my Xbox bill. (photo credit: Adobe)I ran across a couple of blog posts from Harris “Kuppy” Kupperman over at Praetorian Capital. The guy’s a veteran hedge …
Is NVIDIA an Astros fan? (Getty Images)Enron was the golden child. By 2000, it was the seventh largest company in America, worth more than sixty billion dollars. The business magazines loved them. Wall Street analysts couldn’t say enough goo…
Raising cane (Adobe).If you think groceries are expensive now, just wait—this winter they could double.Back in March, I wrote about McKinley’s tariffs and how history showed us exactly what happens when governments play with trade ba…