Orbital Settlements?

Al Globus via Space.com makes the argument that orbital habitats make more sense than the long shot Moon/Mars missions, stating that

"Thriving communities beyond Earth can't be an endless drain on Earth's economy, and settlements in Earth Orbit can provide energy, exotic materials, and a tourist destination for earthlings. Nearly unlimited, clean, electrical power can be provided by giant solar arrays in orbit that beam energy to Earth."

While I think that orbital habitats are probably the first step, I think he underestimates the difficulties, and overestimates the benefits, which in any case could also apply to the Moon and Mars as well. The first structures will probably have to lifted into orbit and assembled, and we've seen the lengthy amount of time that can take with the still uncompleted ISS. I think such structures will be built eventually, but won't be the large structures holding thousands that he apparently envisions, at least not until our technology allows us to settle the Moon. The moon has far more room for expansion, far more valuable materials than that found on near Earth asteroids. He also mentions using asteroids for materials, but seems to ignore the fact that most asteroids are far further away than even Mars, and the Moon is actually pretty close by any standard (two or three days WITH current technology, probably far less in the future).