How is everyone’s weekend going? Thanks for spending a part of it with the Six.
Earlier this month, the CEO of McDonald’s, Chris Kempczinski, gave a speech to the Economic Club of Chicago.
Kempczinski’s company is a bit of an outlier within the fraternity of Chicago-based big businesses. McDonald’s moved its corporate headquarters into the Loop in 2018, leaving west suburban Oak Brook. Since that relocation, companies like Boeing, Caterpillar and Citadel have vacated Chicago for more tax-friendly and crime-free locations.
McDonald’s remains and as Kempczinski told a group at the Economic Club, he estimates the company’s economic contribution to the city to be at $2 billion a year, according to a Wall Street Journal editorial.
That’s a lot of Happy Meals, McShakes and McGriddles.
One part of Kempczinski’s talk foreshadowed another future big business exodus. Here’s a quote from the speech, via the WSJ:
It’s felt most significantly every single day in the restaurants. We have violent crime that is happening in our restaurants…we are seeing homelessness issues in our restaurants, we are having drug overdoses that are happening in our restaurants.
It has become increasingly difficult to operate a global business out of the city of Chicago.
Anyone who has visited certain sections of Chicago recently has witnessed some of what Kempczinski is talking about. And the statistics back up what he’s saying.
Predictably, the response from politicians was combative rather than constructive.
Here’s what Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in response to Kempczinski’s remarks:
I think what would have been helpful is for the McDonald's CEO to educate himself before he spoke
With these comments, Lightfoot basically calls the CEO of one of the largest global brands an idiot; that he doesn’t have access to the same information she has. She’s firing back at McDonald’s, a company that pumps $2 billion into the local economy.
Who’s the imbecile? It’s Lightfoot.
Rather than criticize a truth spoken by one of the city’s most vital benefactors, she should be fixing the problem referenced in Kempczinski’s speech.
Why did Boeing leave? Why Caterpillar and Citadel?
Because those on charge of those companies don’t see a viable future in Chicago.
But with Lightfoot, Governor Pritzker and other incumbent Illinois politicians, it’s always someone else’s fault. They value loyalty over performance.
It’s that failed leadership that continues to derail any progress in Chicago and throughout the state.
This week was just the latest example. They’ll be another one soon I’m sure.
Let’s proceed with the Six.
1. The UnHoly Alliance of Chicago Gangs and Politicians.
With the backdrop of the current climate, figured it was a good time to unearth a classic Chicago Magazine article from 2011. A compelling read about the deep-seeded corruption in the city. The authors of the article provide a chilling sense of how Chicago’s decades-long political misconduct has evolved to produce the out of control violence in the city today.
2. Ron DeSantis Keeps Everyone Guessing on Migrant Flight Plans.
More shenanigans this week in the Migrant Flight controversy. A lawsuit on the migrants’ behalf was filed Tuesday by a civil rights law firm. At the same time, someone, and nobody seems to know who, said that DeSantis was flying a fresh load of migrants to Joe Biden’s home in Delaware, causing another round of takes accusing DeSantis of being a human trafficker. Except when the plane landed in New Jersey, it was empty – at which point DeSantis became a monster for not sending the migrants to Delaware. NBC News with the story on the likely 2024 GOP presidential candidate “punking” the media. I hope that was the governor’s intention. The media sermonizing on this subject is so tedious and and dull at this point.
3. Who’s Baseball’s MVP, Shontei or Judge?
We are in the stretch run of an historic season in MLB. First, the ageless Albert Pujols hit his 700th career home run the other night (yes, he did it as a Cardinal but the accomplishment deserves recognition as he joins Ruth, Aaron and Bonds as the only players ever to hit 700 homers). Then there’s the question of who will be the American League MVP since two players are having such unprecedented seasons that there's a great case for giving it to either one of them. Shohei Ohtani of the Angels is one of the best pitchers in the world and also a top-10 hitter. On the other hand, there’s Aaron Judge, a giant man who is currently chasing home run records of his own and a triple crown. There’s no better writer than Joe Posnaski of the JoeBlogs newsletter to put the thrilling story into perspective.
4. Inside the Documentary Cash Grab.
The surge in demand from streaming services and viewers has put a strain on the entire documentary business, as producers struggle to keep up quality when production has become downright industrial. The number of original streaming documentaries increased 77 percent from January 2019 to July 2022, with demand up 186 percent. Overall, in 2022 documentaries were responsible for 10.1 percent of original content demand on streaming. The Hollywood Reporter with a fascinating deep dive into this world, one that continues to expand and grow and become more ubiquitous in our lives.
5. Pay For Play Remains Alive and Well in Radio.
Major labels conservatively accounted for 66.1 percent of the recorded music revenue last year, with the rest of the money going to independent labels and artists. However, music off of major labels accounted for 85 percent of the songs on the 2021 Billboard Radio Songs chart, a disproportionate figure that would seem to imply that the indies are getting boxed out of radio. How’s this for a stat – trying to get a song on alternative music radio stations can cost $40,000 to $60,000, totals that can rise into the six figures for mainstream R&B/hip-hop. That’s a lot of cheddar. Billboard has the story on a practice – pay to play – as old as recorded music.
6. The Boobs that Crashed the Internet.
Why was the internet all up in arms – and, well, something else – this week about some otherwise anonymous high school shop teacher in Canada? Pretty easy to understand after linking to the photograph (good golly, Miss Molly). There’s backstory – the teacher reportedly began identifying as a woman last year and is being defended by school administrators who argue that they cannot reasonably discriminate against an expression of gender identity, even if that expression has breasts that look like giant water balloons with rubber nipples attached. And she’s a shop teacher? Isn’t it a safety hazard to be around machinery looking like that?
Thanks for reading everybody and enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Have a suggestion for The Sunday Six? Send email to jonjkerr@gmail.com.