STL Develops

Last month I attended a community forum at the Old Post Office hosted by FOCUS St. Louis and Metropolis St. Louis. The forum was about how a global economy affects the Midwest. Panelists were Richard Longworth, senior fellow at The Chicago Council on Global Affairs and author of Caught in the Middle: America’s Heartland in the Age of Globalism and Rob Paral, principal at the consulting firm Rob Paral and Associates and author of The Chicago Council on Global Affairs’ inaugural Heartland Paper, “Mexican Immigration in the Midwest: Meaning and Implications.”　The discussion was moderated by former Governor Bob Holden. The panelists explained that the Midwest was once the center of progress for the country and Industrialization occurred largely in the Midwest and was a major reason that the quality of life increased so much in the country. However, this region in general has tended to focus on this successful past and cling to it tightly as a person would a ship in the ocean. The problem is the ship has been sinking and it’s time to build a new one. Rob Paral explained that Mexican Immigration has been increasing greatly in the Midwest and will continue to do so as long as there are available low skill jobs. In order to build a better future the panelists recommend two general frameworks.

First, The Midwest needs to work as a region to gain political influence and increase innovation. For example, we have several of the top universities in the country, but often they compete with each other rather than collaborate. Furthermore, we fight for federal resources rather than work together to demand more. Second, we need to embrace Mexican Immigration. As long as there are low-skill jobs available and a shortage of Americans willing to work in them, there will be immigration. Therefore, we must work to incorporate and naturalize these immigrants. The first step would be to have a legal immigration process that is realistic and allows low-skilled workers access to the US. One striking example from Longworth’s book about the reality of Mexican Immigration is a factory in rural Illinois. The factory workers have transformed from predominantly white to predominantly Mexican workers earning far less than the white workers used to. Many workers recent these Mexicans for taking there jobs. However, the reality of the situation is that factory would not operate in that location paying the high wages the white workers earned, it would simple leave the country. The way I see it is the option is not white workers earning a large salary versus Mexicans earning a low salary. The real options are Mexicans earning a low salary and an open plant in town or no plant at all and thus no income coming into the community from it.

Midwesterners are proud people who were the backbone of the country for a couple of generations. People could earn a good living with little education, but those days are over. We can continue to pretend that the government or Mexicans or any other excuse we want to make is what has changed this. However, the reality is globalization has been occurring, is occurring and will continue to occur. We have to compete against countries that have the ability to create many products at similar or better quality levels and have a work force willing to work for far less than the typical American. In order to regenerate our economy we need to work to innovate and create new products and services that are better than what the rest of the world can. Furthermore, we need to embrace immigrants who can help us compete including low-skilled Mexican workers.