Your Curated Morning (#212) for October 16, 2025 is here!
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Welcome to Curated Morning. A compendium of news, information, and stories that economic development professionals, community development leaders and elected officials read every week to stay in touch with what is happening in our economy. The Main Thing:In the 18th and 19th centuries, countries like England put people in prison for being unable to pay off their debt. This practice was abolished by legislation passed in 1869, after the government realized that people couldn't even think about paying off their debts if they languished in prison. Today, bankruptcy is used to manage or erase excessive debt. Corporate America frequently uses bankruptcy laws to manage its debt. It’s available to ordinary citizens as well. We don't think much about debt as a moral issue anymore. It's become so normalized—student loans, mortgages, car payments, credit cards—that we rarely stop to ask the fundamental question: Is it fair to borrow from the future to pay for the present? In my meditation practice, I'm learning to stay present, to focus on the breath, to resist the temptation to ruminate about the past or worry about the future. But financial decisions are different. Every financial choice we make today creates obligations or opportunities for tomorrow. Every dollar we borrow or invest ripples forward through time, affecting people who haven't been born yet. As economic development professionals, we make these ripple-creating decisions constantly—not just for ourselves, but for entire communities. We finance stadiums with thirty-year bonds. We offer tax incentives that commit decades of future revenue. We build infrastructure that will have to be maintained long after we've retired. These aren't abstract policy choices—they're promises we're making on behalf of people who can't yet vote on them. Being kind to future generations means being honest about the financial obligations we're creating for them. It means asking tough questions about whether we're building assets or just accumulating debt. It means having the courage to say no to politically popular projects that don't make financial sense. My father understood this instinctively, even though he would never have framed it as intergenerational kindness. Read the next in the series on being kind to our future here. Focus On Economic DevelopmentFollow the Money: How $1.4 Trillion in Investment Signals Are Redrawing the Economic Map McKinsey Global Institute's sweeping analysis of 200,000 investment announcements reveals a fundamental restructuring of where and how companies are placing their bets. Since 2022, three-quarters of cross-border investment has flowed into AI infrastructure, advanced manufacturing, semiconductors, batteries, and the energy and minerals that power them—up from just half before 2020. Are these your next targeted industries. Money increasingly follows geopolitical friendships, with advanced economies investing in each other (especially the United States) while Chinese firms pivot outward and emerging markets present a patchwork of winners and laggards. Megadeals exceeding $1 billion now represent half of all investment value, driven by the eye-watering costs of semiconductor fabs, gigafactories, and data centers that can each require $10 billion or more. Why This Matters: This research offers economic developers a practical roadmap to where global capital is actually flowing—not where we hope it goes or where it went a decade ago. The message is clear: Communities positioning themselves for yesterday's industries are missing today's opportunity. The United States has doubled its foreign investment attraction since pre-pandemic times, driven overwhelmingly by semiconductor and battery investments from Japanese, South Korean, and Taiwanese firms responding to both market forces and policy incentives. Meanwhile, many emerging economies are seeing investment decline despite growing global FDI totals. What separates winners from losers? Energy availability, geopolitical positioning, and the ability to support massive capital-intensive projects. Perhaps most importantly, the report reveals that in roughly 100 economies, three companies or fewer account for over half of all foreign investment—meaning your economic future might hinge on landing just a handful of the right projects. Take Action: Commission an honest assessment of your region's alignment with the six mega-trends driving FDI: data center readiness (especially power capacity), advanced manufacturing infrastructure, critical minerals potential, semiconductor ecosystem components, battery supply chain positioning, and energy project opportunities. Develop intelligence systems to track the 500 largest global investors in future-shaping industries, identifying which are actively scouting new locations and whether your region offers competitive advantages for their specific needs. Map the entire ecosystem needed to support major projects in target sectors—from specialized suppliers to logistics infrastructure—and identify gaps you can fill before competitors do. Most critically, recognize that you're competing in a global tournament where the spoils go to a concentrated few: develop the organizational capacity to move fast, think big, and deliver the certainty that billion-dollar investors demand. Read or download the report: The FDI shake-up: How foreign direct investment today may shape industry and trade tomorrow by McKinsey Global Institute here. A new study published in Geophysical Research Letters reveals that the Panama Canal—which handles roughly $270 billion in cargo annually—faces an existential water crisis that could reshape global supply chains by century's end. Each ship passage consumes 50 million gallons of fresh water from Gatún Lake, and the canal's daily water usage exceeds New York City's consumption by 2.5 times. Under high-emissions scenarios, researchers project that severe drought conditions at Gatún Lake will double in frequency by 2100, transforming what were once rare disruptions into regular occurrences. The canal already experienced significant restrictions in 2016 and again in 2023-2024 when droughts forced limits on ship transits and vessel drafts, rippling through global supply chains. Panama is responding with a $1.5 billion, decade-long project to build a third artificial lake, but the study's lead author notes that increasing Pacific Ocean temperatures will simultaneously reduce wet-season rainfall while boosting evaporation—a climate pincer movement threatening the 110-year-old engineering marvel that connects 144 maritime routes and serves 1,700 ports worldwide. Why This Matters: This isn't just Panama's problem—it's a preview of how climate-driven infrastructure vulnerabilities will force companies to fundamentally rethink where they locate operations and how they structure supply chains. For economic developers, the Panama Canal's water crisis represents both a warning and an opportunity. Communities with abundant, climate-resilient water supplies and strategic positioning along alternative trade routes suddenly possess competitive advantages that didn't exist a generation ago. The 2023-2024 drought caused shipping delays, increased freight costs, and forced some cargo onto parallel railways—exactly the kind of supply chain disruption that sends corporate site selectors searching for Plan B locations. Meanwhile, industries requiring massive water inputs (data centers, advanced manufacturing, food processing) are learning the same lesson the canal is teaching: water security isn't just an environmental issue, it's a business continuity imperative. Economic developers in water-rich regions who've traditionally competed on labor costs or tax incentives now hold a trump card as climate change makes water availability increasingly unpredictable elsewhere. Take Action: Commission a comprehensive water security audit that quantifies your region's sustainable water capacity for industrial use over a 30-year horizon, including climate change projections—then make this data a centerpiece of your site selection marketing to companies currently dependent on climate-vulnerable supply chains. Identify and cultivate relationships with logistics companies, freight forwarders, and manufacturers who rely heavily on Panama Canal routes, particularly those shipping between Asia and the U.S. East Coast, as these firms will be actively seeking supply chain redundancy and alternative routing strategies. Develop specialized infrastructure and incentive packages for inland ports, transloading facilities, and nearshoring manufacturing operations that benefit from reduced dependence on long-distance maritime shipping. Build marketing campaigns specifically targeting industries facing supply chain vulnerabilities from the Panama Canal situation, including automotive, electronics, consumer goods, and agricultural exporters. Read The Panama Canal needs a staggering amount of water to operate. Climate change could threaten that, study warns by Corey Kane | LIVESCIENCE Bonus: Check out this very informative and up-to-date video about the Panama Canal by Johnny Harris, an independent journalist. Chicago's South Side just broke ground on what could become America's quantum computing hub, transforming 128 acres of the abandoned South Works steel foundry into the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park. California-based PsiQuantum, flush with $1 billion in recent funding, will anchor the campus where researchers aim to build the world's first commercial quantum computer—a machine requiring specialized cryogenic cooling facilities and computing infrastructure unlike anything built before. The first phase delivers 88,000 square feet of office and lab space by 2028, but the ultimate vision spans $9 billion in total investment with multiple quantum computing buildings, supporting research facilities, and a constellation of partner companies clustering around PsiQuantum's breakthrough technology. Illinois committed $200 million in state incentives to land the project, while developers Related Midwest and CRG are orchestrating the public-private partnership. The development also promises community benefits including expanded parkland, an enhanced riverwalk, and new lakefront paths—demonstrating how quantum-age infrastructure projects can deliver both cutting-edge research facilities and neighborhood amenities. Why This Matters: This groundbreaking validates everything the McKinsey FDI report predicted about future-shaping industries requiring massive capital, strategic incentives, and patient public-sector partnership. Chicago didn't land PsiQuantum by accident—they offered what California-based quantum companies need but can't easily find: vast affordable land, abundant power and water for cryogenic cooling systems, aggressive financial incentives, and the political commitment to see a decade-long buildout through multiple administrations. The $200 million state incentive package represents just 2.2% of the total $9 billion project value, yet it likely proved decisive in competing against other locations. Economic developers should note the anchor tenant strategy at work: PsiQuantum doesn't just bring its own investment, it creates gravitational pull for an entire ecosystem of quantum computing companies, suppliers, researchers, and service providers who'll fill the additional office and lab space. The 2028 timeline for phase one also reflects the reality of megaprojects—patient capital and long development horizons are required when you're building facilities that don't yet have established design standards. Perhaps most importantly, Chicago leveraged an industrial brownfield site that other cities might have dismissed, proving that legacy manufacturing infrastructure can become tomorrow's quantum computing campus. Take Action: Inventory your region's large brownfield sites and abandoned industrial facilities with robust utilities, particularly those with existing high-voltage electrical infrastructure and water/cooling capacity that quantum computing, AI data centers, and advanced manufacturing require but are expensive to build from scratch. Develop quantum-ready messaging if your region has universities conducting quantum research, national lab partnerships, or existing semiconductor/advanced manufacturing clusters—PsiQuantum chose Chicago partly due to proximity to Argonne National Laboratory and Fermilab. Document and quantify your existing STEM workforce, university research partnerships, and technology transfer capabilities, as anchor tenants in emerging industries need confidence they can access specialized talent and research collaboration. Study Chicago's community benefits approach—the parkland, riverwalk, and public space improvements that help secure local political support for massive incentive packages—because tomorrow's megaprojects will require demonstrating shared value beyond just job creation. Read Groundbreaking Held For Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park On South Side by Ian Achong | Chicago YIMBY Are you Ready to Make the Move? When I think back to the early part of my career, I wonder whether having different mentors or leaders in my life would have changed the way my career turned out. The answer is unequivocally yes. This doesn't mean my career and my work over the past 30 years were, by any means, negative. On the contrary. It's just that I wish I didn't have to wait until this far into my career to have collected all this wisdom! Seriously, there are skills and concepts I wish I had known earlier. That is why I created the Next Wave Leadership Program. It is designed to transform your career journey. You won't find the concepts and ideas anywhere else in the economic development learning universe...not at IEDC, nor your state or regional association. The next cohort starts in January, but I am offering special pricing. If you register before October 31, you will save $300. Make an investment in your future by tkaing the next steps. Fill out an application here. There is no cost or obligation to apply. Your application lets me know if you are interested. After you fill it out, I'll schedule a call with you to see if you qualify (I'm not sure everyone is ready to commit to the work). "Being part of the cohort gave me space to reflect on my career journey and engage in honest conversations about navigating challenging work environments. I appreciated the practical tips and mentorship focused on building a fulfilling and sustainable career."
Ruth Tucker Economic Development Specialist, City of Blaine MN
Other Articles of Interest this week:Green Economy-- How Microsoft and Unilever turned climate adaptation into a competitive advantage by Peter Lupoff | Trellis -- Companies with strong adaptation strategies gain a "resilience dividend" over time. Leadership -- Leadership Development Is Broken, Because We're Asking The Wrong People If It's Working by Mark Murphy | Forbes -- The multi-billion dollar global leadership development industry has a dirty secret: most leadership development programs are evaluated by the very people who design and deliver them, not by the employees who are supposed to benefit. Technology -- Maryland to open new quantum center -- by Chris Teale | RouteFifty -- The state, which unveiled the center at the Quantum World Congress, is partnering with the University of Maryland Economic Corporation and Microsoft on the project through its “Capital of Quantum” initiative. AI -- AI could be the reason some young workers can’t find jobs -- by Courtney Vien | CFO Brew -- Employment of entry-level workers has dropped 6% in the most AI-exposed fields. Something You Should Read:Extreme Brainstorming for Economic Development and Nonprofits This article addresses a universal problem: brainstorming sessions that yield incremental ideas rather than transformative ones. The author argues that we're trapped by daily operations and familiar patterns, unable to see the forest for the trees. The solution? Stretch reality to such extremes that it forces genuinely new thinking—perspectives so dramatic they reveal breakthrough ideas that would seem impossible under normal constraints. While written for for-profit companies, these "extreme prompts" can be powerfully adapted for 501(c)3 economic development organizations and public-private partnerships. Here are several reframed for the economic development and non-profit sector:
If you had to deliver 10 times the economic impact with your current funding, what would have to change fundamentally to achieve this? Would you focus on a much narrower geography or industry sector? Would you shift from direct services to systems change or policy work that creates multiplier effects? Would you need to develop a "train the trainer" model that empowers community organizations to replicate your approach? What partnerships would become essential rather than nice-to-have? This prompt forces economic development organizations to think beyond incremental program improvements toward leverage points that could transform entire communities. 2. No Funding Sources If all your current funders disappeared and you had to rebuild from scratch, what would you do differently? How would you articulate your unique value proposition to attract new foundations, corporate sponsors, or government contracts? Would you pursue earned revenue strategies you've been avoiding? What programs would you eliminate because they're resource-intensive but don't align with your most compelling narrative? Would you change your geographic focus or target population to be more competitive? This exercise helps nonprofits escape the inertia of existing funding relationships and rediscover what truly differentiates their mission. 3. Maximum Community Good If your only metric were creating the most possible benefit for the communities you serve—ignoring funder requirements, staff preferences, or traditional approaches—what would change? Would you work yourself out of a job by building community capacity to solve their own problems? Would you tackle root causes instead of symptoms, even if it's harder to measure quarterly progress? Would you collaborate with or even merge with organizations you currently compete against for funding? 4. Only One Initiative This Year If you could only launch one program, advocacy effort, or partnership this year, what single initiative would create the most lasting economic transformation? What would be so impactful that your board, funders, and community would forgive the lack of other activity? Is it a policy change that removes systemic barriers? A demonstration project that proves a new model? A coalition that could access 10x your current resources? Economic development nonprofits often spread thin across multiple programs; this prompt reveals what truly matters most. The article's core insight applies directly to the nonprofit sector: breakthrough strategies often emerge when you push at least one dimension to an extreme that defies conventional wisdom. The best ideas shouldn't be avoided simply because they seem impossibly difficult—they should be explored precisely because they are. Read Extreme brainstorming questions to trigger new, better ideas by A Smart Bear here. Bonus, : Economic Compass -- Bye, bye Miss American Pie; The outlook: inequality and consumer angst by KPMG | Compass Overheard:“To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan, and not quite enough time.”
—Leonard Bernstein
The Rabbit Hole:Reading Smart Several years ago, I was determined to read one book a week. I did an admirable job reaching about forty weeks before I burned out. I patted myself on the back for having read that many books in a year, when I realized that most people don’t read forty books in a lifetime. These forty books comprised a mix of business, fiction, and biography. I was particularly drawn to historical fiction, which combines accurate historical events with real and fictional characters. Over that year, and after, I collected (read: purchased) many books; for a bibliophile like myself, owning books is an obsession, if not a sickness. When I moved back to Illinois from New York, the majority of the boxes in the moving container were filled with books. Reading is the path to happiness, fulfillment, and wealth. When you read, you glean ideas, you learn about things you have never been exposed to, and you also ward off the perils of late-life cognitive maladies. With many hours of reading behind you, you find yourself using words that you didn't think about or use in the past. Like “ubiquitous.” Also, when I read, I go to a place I have never been. Due to my very visual mind and imagination, as I read a story, I can see in my “mind's eye” the characters, locations, and surroundings the author might be describing. The article highlighted below also provides a glimpse into another benefit of reading. Reading, according to the author of this article, changes your brain for the positive. You can read the article 6 Ways Reading Changes Your Brain (backed by Brain Scans) by Jim Kwik here. P.S. I took Kwik’s Speed Reading online course. It really works! I once worked for someone who told me that he didn’t like cheese. I had been hired before he joined the team, and he became my new boss. When he told me that, it had to set in for a second. I asked myself questions like, “How does one eat pizza if they don’t like cheese?” How about Lasagna, grilled cheese sandwiches, salads, and so on? How does one live without cheese? I could understand if he had a medical condition like lactose intolerance, or perhaps a disdain for pungent cheeses like Blue, Gorgonzola, or the smelliest of all cheeses, Limburger. After a few sleepless nights, I had to ask him again, and he said he didn't like the texture. Who knows? Maybe he grew up on Velveeta and Cheese Wiz. That experience might impact your taste palette. In my family, we grew up on cheese (even Limburger, my Father’s annual Christmas gift… “Your gift is the downstairs fridge, Dad”). I think I eat at least a slice of cheese every day. Well, cheese has finally come home to the USA to roost, so to speak. Emilia D’Albero, a certified cheesemonger from Philadelphia, won the recent Cheesemonger Olympics in France. It was the first time an American cheesemonger had won. For those of you who are asking, including my old boss above, a cheesemonger is a cheese expert and retailer who helps customers select cheeses, provides recommendations for pairings, and educates them about cheese. They are responsible for the care and quality of cheeses in a shop, including aging, tending to the cheeses, and ensuring they look, smell, and taste healthy. You can read about Emilia’s accomplishment here. In the meantime, get some good cheese and nibble it with a good wine pairing. (I recommend Velveeta on Saltines with some Boone’s Farm Pink). Age only counts for Fine Wine and Cheese (see above) As I get to a certain age, I find myself dealing with minor medical issues from time to time, which require a visit to the doctor's office. For most of my life, I worked for communities or organizations that always had top-notch insurance plans, and medical care was often an afterthought. But as I get older, I think about it more, and I realize how deficient the American health care system is. I have had good doctors, and one of my best friends from high school became a doctor. I know how hard it was for him to get through medical school and become the type of doctor who truly cares. But our system doesn’t allow it. Our medical system treats symptoms rather than addressing ‘health.’ And frankly, that is how we have trained our doctors. If I am incorrect, please respond to this newsletter and let me know why. Despite older adults set to outnumber children by 2034, the U.S. healthcare system remains inadequately focused on geriatric care, with medical schools providing minimal training in age-specific treatment approaches. Doctors often apply the same protocols to 40-year-olds and 80-year-olds, failing to account for differences in how older patients metabolize medications, present symptoms (as seen during COVID-19), or experience outcomes—leading to over-medication, missed diagnoses, and harmful interventions. According to this article, Why All Health Care Providers Need to Be Age-Friendly, the shortage of geriatricians and pervasive ageism in healthcare result in older patients being treated as generic "old people" rather than individuals with varied needs, and the solution requires "geriatricizing" all of medicine by training every healthcare worker to recognize age-specific symptoms and tailor care accordingly. If you know someone who might enjoy this newsletter, please feel free to share it with them. If someone forwarded this to you and you would like to subscribe, you can do so by clicking below. All the cool people are doing it!
Let's work together!With over three decades of experience in economic development, public administration, and small business, I can now bring my expertise to benefit you. What are the issues facing your community? What obstacles are you facing in growing your business? Let's work on this together. While I am experienced in a wide variety of sectors and issues, here is where my interests lie, and thus where I can benefit you most:
If you have any thoughts or comments regarding any articles in this newsletter please feel free to contact me through email at martin@martinkarlconsulting.com. You can review my services and offerings at www.martinkarlconsulting.com |