The Chicago developer Calvin Boender transformed the former disco at 940 N. Rush St with over $2.5 million dollars in renovations, converting the iconic dance venue into 6,000 square feet of upscale retail space, reflecting a shift towards boutique shopping and capitalizing on the foot traffic generated by the nearby Bloomingdale's.

Since starting my Miscanthus Fiber business, Renew Biomass, I was probably like most Americans in that I knew that fiber was good for me, but did not know exactly why. The last 10 years or so have seen an uptick in high-fiber bread and cereals, numerous new brands of fiber supplements and other groceries promoting their fiber content.

In a previous post, I made reference to the “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico where the nutrient runoff from the upper Mississippi river system has introduced millions of tons of leached fertilizers into an area of the gulf roughly the size of Connecticut.

In a previous post I detailed how intensive corn stover utilization for livestock feed replacement and cellulosic ethanol production causes soil degradation through nutrient removal, erosion, runoff and minimizes the soil’s water holding capacity.

The only positive economic indicator is blind human optimism and investors sense trouble ahead. This has triggered a search for value in a marketplace weary of government intervention and manipulated financial statistics.