Gazette Editorial Board Coverage of ICAD Group Speaker

Listen to this Iowa boy

For 20 years, Richard Longworth was a foreign correspondent for the Chicago Tribune. The Iowa boy from Boone saw much of the world close up — 75 countries, five continents. Their cultures. Their economies — always changing, determining how people work and live.

He was back in Iowa on Wednesday, warning us that globalization “on steroids” is here and won’t go away. Iowa and the Midwest are mostly “upside down” when it comes to the massive change in world economic forces.

Longworth, now a senior fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, grabbed the attention of a full-house crowd at the Iowa City Area Development Group’s annual meeting in the Sheraton Hotel. Much of his message was grim. He also offered hope and some advice.

Longworth said the Midwest, once the nation’s kingpin and innovation leader of the industrial age, has “lost its way” in the new age of globalization. We became too comfortable. There are 3 billion new workers around the world over the last decade and not enough jobs.

Global competition has closed Midwest factories, draining thousands of jobs from Midwest cities. In many communities, government is the largest employer and Walmart is the largest private employer. Many bright young people educated at world-class universities in Iowa leave the state. They won’t stay unless they can find good jobs “using their brains.”

So how does the Midwest regain thriving status? Become innovators again and embrace regionalization.

Sound familiar?

Actually, Longworth said the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City/Coralville area and its fledgling Corridor Business Alliance are ahead of the Midwest pack. Yet far to go.

Midwesterners “know how to build things” but are “ornery” about change. Longworth said. Cities and counties must stop competing with each other. Instead, collaborate to compete on the world stage. Think and act regionally. Maximize use all the region’s assets.

Think bigger. Our most effective natural region may include Waterloo-Cedar Falls at one end and the Quad Cities or even Peoria and Champagne, Ill., at the other. After all, we share many common resources in agriculture, biotech industry and world-class universities.

Midwesterners must grow more of our own entrepreneurs. Attract much more than just 4 percent of the nation’s venture capital for investment in new ideas.

And embrace diversity. “Immigration is our future; 1.5 million Hispanics literally saved Chicago,” Longworth noted.

Longworth understands Iowans. He’s seen the world. We can’t afford to ignore his message.

- By The Gazette Editorial Board