How to Really Save Jobs in the Heartland

Brian S. Feldman wrote a piece in the Washington Monthly about Donald Trump's Carrier deal and how to really bring employment and development back to the Midwest:

President-elect Trump’s recent deal to keep factory workers employed at Indiana-based Carrier Corporation has been a public relations blitz. But while pundits are debating whether the terms are a repackaged form of “corporate welfare,” or perhaps a model of strident economic nationalism, they’re once again missing the larger issue: the role that corporate consolidation is playing in destroying jobs and hollowing out the civic cultures of cities throughout America’s heartland.

Consider what’s happened over just the past few days. Monsanto shareholders approved a $66 billion merger with Bayer, a German multinational pharmaceutical and chemical company. That deal will see Monsanto’s headquarters moved overseas, dropping the number of St. Louis Fortune 500 companies to eight, down from 12 in 2000. While Monsanto has promised to keep its 4,100 employees in the Greater St. Louis Metro Area, Bayer has pledged cost savings of $1.5 billion in “synergies.” St. Louisans have heard this tune before—they know all too well this is merely plain-speak for cutting duplicative jobs.