Close your eyes and swing? | OpenAI“Hitting is timing. Pitching is upsetting timing.” — Warren SpahnTrying to figure out where the concrete market is headed feels a little like standing in the batter’s box. You do not…

Fortera ReCarb Plant | forteraglobal.com “What we see depends mainly on what we look for.” – John Lubbock  The concrete industry has heard enough slogans.Low-carbon cement. Green concrete. Carbon captur…

Protect those margins...oh, we meant jobs. | OpenAI“Liars are not believed even when they speak the truth.” - AesopRebar is one of those things people love to ignore until it becomes a problem.Then it becomes everyone&rsqu…

No end in sight. | OpenAI The latest earnings reports from Amazon, Microsoft, and Alphabet were released on April 29, 2026, and they tell a pretty simple story for the concrete industry.The AI data center buildout is not slowing down…

What a load of GOB | Credit Cardinal News"The economy is a derivative of energy."- Doomberg I am part of the 7x24 Central Virginia Exchange Education Committee. It's a committee that is part of 7x24, a networking group for…

“The real price of every thing, what every thing really costs to the man who wants to acquire it, is the toil and trouble of acquiring it.”– Adam SmithIf you’re in the construction industry, you’re buying cement…

"Wind extinguishes a candle and energizes fire. Likewise with randomness, uncertainty, chaos: you want to use them, not hide from them."- Nassim Nicholas Taleb If you live in the U.S., Australia looks like the place that should have t…

“We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run.”— Roy AmaraLast week I saw a post making the rounds about an Anthropic study. The takeaway was familiar. Archi…

"One resists the invasion of armies; one does not resist the invasion of ideas." – Victor Hugo The Iran war isn’t just another geopolitical headline.It’s an energy reset.And if you’re in concrete, you&…

“Whether one is a conservative or a radical, a protectionist or a free trader, a cosmopolitan or a nationalist, a churchman or a heathen, it is useful to know the causes and consequences of economic phenomena.”— George J. Stigler…

“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…

“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…

“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.…

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…

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 …

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—…

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…