BusinessFlare Take

SUN BELT HOUSING MARKET SHOWING DANGEROUS SIGNS OF OVERINFLATION – Wall Street is sounding the alarm that Sun Belt housing markets are dangerously inflated, with major investors valuing homes as much as 35% below current prices. Translation: if Invitation Homes and other big landlords won’t touch these properties at today’s prices, regular buyers are probably overpaying by a mile. States like Texas and Florida — pandemic boom hotspots — are seeing foreclosures pile up (3,280 starts in Texas and 2,810 in Florida just in April) as high rates squeeze overextended homeowners. Local officials who bragged about skyrocketing values might soon face the hangover: a nasty market correction that no amount of Chamber-of-Commerce happy talk can stop. BusinessFlare. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/real-estate/article-14708061/southern-state-housing-market-real-estate-crash.html

Street Economics Insight

MOST CEOs ADMIT AI INVESTMENTS FAILING TO DELIVER EXPECTED RETURNS – In a classic case of FOMO over ROI, a new IBM survey of 2,000 CEOs found only 25% got the expected returns from their big AI projects. Half of them say they aren’t even seeing value from their shiny “generative AI” investments yet. But does that stop the spending spree? Of course not. A whopping 85% still insist the payoff is coming by 2027 – because heaven forbid they admit they might be pouring millions down a tech hype black hole. No surprise then that only 15% of employees think their company even has a clear AI strategy in the first place. In short, most companies have no idea how to “AI-ify” their business effectively, but they’ll keep burning cash on it rather than risk looking like tech laggards. Street Economics. https://futurism.com/ceos-return-ai-investments

Drama Meter

CITRUS COUNTY COMMISSION MEETING EXPLODES OVER SECRET $3M FUNDING REQUEST – Dozens of fed-up residents swarmed this week’s Citrus County Board of County Commissioners meeting to demand their leaders come clean about a shady $3 million funding request made behind the public’s back. The county administrator and commission chair apparently tried to score state money for a private development without telling the rest of the board – a revelation that has ignited a local scandal. Citizens lined up with prepared statements, blasting the officials for subverting transparency and betraying the public trust. Drama Meter: 9.0. This level of dysfunction is undermining local governance to a comical degree. When your own voters are accusing you of backroom deals in open session, any talk of “economic development” in Citrus is dead on arrival until trust is restored. Drama Meter. https://www.chronicleonline.com/news/local/fireworks-erupt-at-citrus-county-commission-meeting/article_678f4446-ac35-5d61-81fd-41868da62d69.html

Book Drop

$10 MILLION BRIDGE TO NOWHERE SITS UNUSED FOR TWO YEARS WHILE BUREAUCRATS DEBATE – In the State of Connecticut , a pedestrian bridge project has turned into a case study in bureaucratic absurdity. The state spent $10+ million building a downtown footbridge in Meriden – and it’s been sitting completely unused for two years because regulators decided an extra $1.7 million environmental study was needed after it was built. Yes, the bridge is fully constructed (they even spent $50k repainting it) yet it remains fenced off while agencies bicker over paperwork. Local businesses who spruced up their properties expecting foot traffic are livid (and lawyering up). It’s the kind of nonsense Kevin C. lampoons in Red Tape Empire: a tiny bridge held hostage by giant red tape. Until someone in authority grows a spine and cuts through this mess, taxpayers are literally looking at a Bridge to Nowhere – courtesy of bureaucratic incompetence. https://www.ctinsider.com/news/article/meriden-pedestrian-bridge-remains-closed-18981345.php

ECOSINT Signal

CHINESE-MEXICAN MONEY LAUNDERING NETWORK TURNS US BANKS INTO UNWITTING ACCOMPLICES – A sprawling criminal enterprise linking Chinese financiers and Mexican cartels is turning America’s banks into unwitting laundromats. In one case, Chinese “money brokers” allegedly moved $50 million of Sinaloa cartel cash by depositing bags of money at ATMs and teller windows all across Los Angeles. It’s a laundering scheme that exploits loopholes and lax oversight, effectively outsmarting the anti-money-laundering safeguards of major banks. U.S. officials warn these operations are happening everywhere, not just L.A., as Chinese underground networks swap dirty dollars for clean Chinese yuan in a complex dance around currency controls. The bottom line: transnational cartels found a way to wash money in broad daylight, and it’s a glaring reminder that global crime can penetrate right down to your local Main Street bank branch. ECOSINT. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ar-AA1EMfHP

Red River Flavor

ULTRA-PROCESSED FOODS DRIVING AMERICA’S CHRONIC DISEASE EPIDEMIC – After decades of churning out processed food-like substances, America is now reaping the health disaster it sowed. Our leading causes of death – heart disease, diabetes, certain cancers – are largely diet-driven chronic diseases, not random bad luck. Ultra-processed foods make up 58% of the American diet, and they’re directly linked to higher rates of everything from heart failure to depression. In other words, the US chronic disease epidemic isn’t a medical mystery; it’s a food system and nutrition failure. Weak regulations and powerful food lobbies have flooded supermarkets and school cafeterias with addictive, nutrient-poor products, and now life expectancy is actually falling amid this modern malnutrition. Until we treat Big Food like Big Tobacco – there’s even talk of international treaties to curb ultra-processed junk – we’ll continue financing a healthcare crisis that starts on our dinner plates. Goodnight’s Red River. https://www.wsj.com/health/wellness/red-meat-chronic-disease-artificial-sweeteners-c8a7e8db

The Music Cities

BRUCE DICKINSON CHAMPIONS LONDON’S GRASSROOTS MUSIC VENUES AS ECONOMIC ENGINES – London is literally putting its grassroots music scene on the map – the Tube map, to be precise – in a new campaign to boost the city’s independent venues. Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson has teamed up with London Mayor Sadiq Khan to champion the capital’s 179 small music venues, which collectively hosted over 4.2 million audience visits and 328,000 performers last year. These tiny clubs and pubs are the breeding ground for tomorrow’s superstars and pump about £313 million into London’s economy annually. But they’ve been threatened in recent years by development, rising costs, and the post-pandemic hangover. The city’s response? A splashy “London Creates Music” initiative that includes a special edition Tube map celebrating grassroots venues, and a media blitz to remind people that every Judas Priest or Deep Purple starts out on a small stage. It’s a refreshingly fun, irreverent approach to economic development – actually treating live music joints as the cultural infrastructure they are. Other so-called “Music Cities” might want to take notes (looking at you, Nashville and Austin, it might be too late for you) and invest in the actual music ecosystem, not just branding. The Music Cities. https://blabbermouth.net/news/iron-maidens-bruce-dickinson-backs-campaign-to-champion-londons-grassroots-music-scene

Space Economy Signal

SPACEX LAUNCHES 475TH ROCKET AS FLORIDA SOLIDIFIES POSITION AS SPACE INDUSTRY HUB – Cape Canaveral just keeps cranking out rockets. This week SpaceX‘s Falcon 9 booster roared off the pad for its 475th flight, hauling another 28 STARLINK satellites into orbit (the Starlink constellation now tops an eye-watering 7,400 satellites in space). Florida’s Space Coast has quietly become the world’s busiest spaceport, hosting a cadence of launches that would have been unthinkable a decade ago. And the boom isn’t slowing down – if anything, a new wave is coming as companies like Blue Origin pour billions into giant new rockets and manufacturing facilities in Florida. The local economy is already enjoying a influx of high-tech jobs, and even the tourism sector is cashing in on “space fever” with launch viewing parties. The biggest problem on the horizon? Possibly running out of skilled workers (who often live out of the immediate area, an opportunity local cities still haven’t seized on) and infrastructure to support the cosmic growth. It’s a good problem to have, and one that Florida is eager to solve as it solidifies its status as Ground Zero for the 21st-century space industry. https://www.floridatoday.com/story/tech/science/space/2025/05/15/spacex-launch-starlink-satellites-cape-canaveral/72830144007/

Purple Cow of the Day

PORT CHARLOTTE TRANSFORMING DEAD MALL INTO WALKABLE DOWNTOWN NEIGHBORHOOD – In sleepy Port Charlotte, FL, a dead shopping mall is being reborn as something almost unheard of in these parts: a real downtown. Developer Jeff Morr has ambitious plans to transform the defunct Promenades Mall into “Parkside Village,” a 26-acre walkable neighborhood with new apartments, shops, restaurants, and even a boutique hotel all within strolling distance. It’s envisioned as a live, work, play community where people might not even need a car to get around – essentially a foreign concept in a region defined by sprawl and strip malls. Locals are thrilled at the prospect of a real town center rising from the blight (the old mall was a nostalgic hangout back in the day, and no one’s going to miss its decay). If Parkside Village succeeds, it will create a much-needed urban heart for Port Charlotte and prove that even car-dependent suburbs can embrace a bit of placemaking fever. In other words, a true purple cow in a land of parking lots. https://www.gulfshorebusiness.com/development-continues-in-charlotte-county/

Street Economics Daily cuts through noise, jargon, and bureaucracy to deliver sharp, actionable insights for civic and economic development professionals. Blunt, irreverent, and grounded firmly in reality, it’s essential daily reading for city leaders who refuse to settle for outdated strategies. www.streeteconomics.ai | www.businessflare.net | Subscribe on LinkedIn | Follow on X.com