Back when Mark Twain was growing up in Hannibal, Missouri, river towns were the lords of the Midwest, flush with jobs and money. But only a foolish town resisted the coming of the railroads, which were the future, like it or not.
The smartest towns, like Chicago, laid down tracks fast.
In the same way, Illinois and the greater Midwest cannot wish away increased competition from low-wage countries such as China and India in today’s global economy, though it threatens jobs and pay scales. A smarter response – the only viable response – is to accept that competitive challenge and make it work to the Midwest’s advantage.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership, a sweeping trade deal between the United States and 11 Pacific Rim nations announced Oct. 5, lowers barriers to American participation in fully 40 percent of the global economy. The pact is good for America, though not without risks, and Congress should endorse it.
The real question, as we see it, is whether Midwest leaders, beginning with our own elected officials in Springfield, will wise up, ease up on shortsighted interstate economic poaching, and develop a regional strategy to tap global markets.
Border wars are plain stupid. It is only an illusion that states such as Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin must knock each other off to survive. In reality, they’re in this together. To be a player in the global economy, size matters.
Working coopera-tively, the region is better positioned to leverage such strengths as a highly trained workforce, superb universities, a central location, and cutting-edge leadership in such fields as bioscience.
When we ask business people from around the world what they look for when putting down roots in a city or state, they say two words: stability and predictability. They like low taxes and loose regulations, but what they really want is a high level of certainty about those taxes and rules.
Not surprisingly, Illinois scares them off by failing to resolve its massive financial crisis. They know taxes will have to go up, and so be it, but they sure would like to know when and by how much.
Participation in the global economy need not be a race to the bottom. But, like those old river towns, you had better learn the train business.
