[GregBear24]

Height is overrated. A majority of the best looking, most architecturally significant buildings in chicago are under- say 600ft or so. Many of these foreign nations recently entered the period we were in the 1920's and they want to show the world how great they are. I find nothing wrong with that, since it would be hypocritical of any american to spite it. However, we did invent the skyscraper and brought this technology to the world. In a way, these great supertalls going up around the world pay homage to chicago and new york scraper' building just by existing. Lebron and Kobe wouldn't do what they're doing without being inspired by jordan. James might be bigger and stronger, but jordan is the real king of basketball and no one argues. I find no need for america to go bigger if it's not functional and efficient enough, and the free market has no demand for it. Instead, america needs to focus on better design, and even in chicago we need to push the envelope more while also returning to our roots. The skyneedle is a wonderful design indeed, but if it's not feasible to build it then so be it. Kelleher made his fortune investing in real estate, and the fact he got burned so bad by the markets- both with the spire and his other investments- shows that perhaps he had this coming. Perhaps we all did, but the point is that urban development should be a product of free markets and not government-backed pissing contests. The trend still remains that people are moving back to chicago, and young people from all over continue to desire living here. Over time, this trend could give us more highrise and supertall development due to increased demand, but we'll see if that trend can overcome our shady financial and political environment.

Hope I didn't go too off topic here.