Elon Musk's Chicago Loop May Be Ambitious to a Fault
*By Britt Terrell*
Elon Musk is a man with ideas...a lot of them.
But Vanity Fair's Maya Kosoff wonders if his latest project may be more than he can handle.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO won his bid to build a tunnel from downtown Chicago to O'Hare International Airport, partnering with Mayor Rahm Emanuel to modernize the city's struggling transportation system.
The task, though, may be particularly tricky.
"With public infrastructure, you have contracts with the government, and digging a tunnel underneath the city literally disrupts people's lives. I think it's more impactful so therefore it's kind of the most difficult (problem) to solve," Kosoff said.
The issues are only exacerbated by the fact that the airport link is far from Musk's only project. His SpaceX still aims to send humans to Mars by 2014, and Tesla is developing new cars and trucks, even as it continues to struggle with meeting production targets and burns through cash.
And in her article, ["Is Elon Musk Scamming Chicago?"](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/06/is-elon-musk-scamming-chicago), Kosoff points out that the cost and the time it will take to construct the Chicago Express Loop may also be far higher than anticipated.
"It's supposed to cost a billion dollars," Kosoff said. "But look at the cost of other public infrastructure projects in the country. It cost a billion dollars to build less than a mile of the expanded Q train on \[New York City's\] Upper East Side."
Musk estimates the 18-mile track will take three years to complete and says his Boring Company - not taxpayers - will foot the bill.
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/elon-musks-next-big-endeavor).
Roger Park, EY Americas Innovation Officer, joins Cheddar to discuss what factors are shaping the future of innovation, the top areas companies are investing in, and what it means to build a culture of innovation.
Carlo and Baker cover the latest data showing the Omicron wave has likely started, Pfizer's Covid pill, Jan. 6 and a box office rescue attempt courtesy of Spider-Man.
Following the historic vote that established the first unionized Starbucks cafe in the nation, two stores in Boston have filed to have union elections as well. Baristas Cassie Fleischer and Jaz Brisack of the Buffalo cafe joined Cheddar to discuss supporting the Boston unionizing efforts. The duo also recounted efforts they say Starbucks undertook to stop their own organizing, including claims they would lose all their current benefits, anti-union propaganda texts, and anti-union meetings. "Howard Schultz, the former CEO, even came in to make a speech about how wonderful the benefits were and how he felt like that was akin to sharing blankets during the Holocaust," said Brisack.
Stocks closed lower Tuesday as investors weighed higher than expected producer price index data, released one day before the Federal Reserve's two-day December meeting concludes. The Fed is expected to announce its decision about speeding up its asset tapering timeline, and a potential interest rate hike. Barry James, portfolio manager at James Investment Research, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss investor skittishness, what the Fed might announce, and more.
As 2021 is approaching its end, the meme stock mania that surrounded companies like Gamestop and AMC this year doesn't seem to be going anywhere. Stocks for both companies plunged to their lowest levels in months on Monday, but on Tuesday, traders seemed to come to the rescue, as the stocks for both companies saw rebounds. Great Hill Capital Chariman Thomas Hayes joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Upward Farms is an indoor vertical farming company on a mission to heal our broken food system and reconnect consumers with organic locally-grown food. The Brooklyn-based company uses its controlled environment farms to grow organic leafy greens, which are sold at whole foods markets in New York City. Upward Farms co-founder and CEO Jason Green joined Cheddar Climate to discuss.
