They say history repeats itself, and it appears the economic fortune of the United States in the opening stanza of the 21st century is based on that reality.
But the economic future doesn’t have to be bleak. There are opportunities everywhere—you just have to know where to find them.
That’s why Rep. Allan Mollohan (D-WV) is preaching an important message learned from more than 20 years in the United States House of Representatives: the economic landscape has changed, and now is the time to either get on board or fall behind.
“I was first elected to Congress in 1982, and it was very apparent that the changes that were going on in the economy were systemic changes and that there were going to be challenges to our traditional economy,” Mollohan says.
Sound familiar? It should. Mollohan says the American economy is facing those same systemic changes today.
West Virginia, Mollohan’s home state, has seen these changes up close. In just the last three years, 59,000 jobs were lost in goods producing industries. Only one of six workers are employed in those goods producing jobs that once flourished both in West Virginia and around the nation.
Yet the Mountain State is in a unique position. Yes, the same economic struggles that are gripping the American economy are present in West Virginia, but there is an opportunity for the state to re-focus its priorities and not make the same mistakes others have made, Mollohan says. The state’s economy is heavily dependent on its abundant natural resources, and despite the loss of jobs in recent years, an upturn in natural resource wealth is driving a measure of economic prosperity in the Mountain State. But it won’t last, Mollohan says.
“We have a little reprieve here in West Virginia because our natural resource economy has picked up,” he says. “Well, so, does that say, ‘Oh wow, gee the economy has picked up, that’s wonderful.’ Or does it say, ‘Wow the economy has picked up and that’s just a short-term reprieve and we need to be taking those natural resource dollars and investing them in the future like we did not do for the last 200 years.’ That’s just a way of thinking we need to foster.”
The answer? Research. Mollohan says that while the natural resources available in West Virginia help propel the present economy, money should be allocated to researching ways the economy can diversify and, instead of being caught flat-footed by those systemic economic changes, benefit from them.
“Research is huge. And any government entity that really wants to help foster the new economy needs to be investing in research and they need to be investing in it handsomely,” Mollohan says.
Yes, but there’s a problem here. In the past, states have relied on the federal government to foster research and investment. That way of thinking must change, Mollohan says. Other states are already on board with putting money into investment with an eye toward diversifying their economy. Mollohan’s home state, again, must not see the short-term reprieve a natural resource economy provides and instead must use it as springboard for getting on the new economy bandwagon.
“West Virginia’s strategic economic plan going forward is increased investment by the state in new economic sectors, principally in research,” he says. “And West Virginia University, which of course is in my district so I know about it, is really taking the initiative with regards to research, in particular the medical area and biometrics area. A lot of that is federal dollars and the state needs to look at that and not be complacent with the fact that the federal government is doing it, they need to look at it and see how they can be competitive with the surrounding states and to augment that funding. It pays off huge dividends and lays that foundation of competency and infrastructure that is a springboard for the new economy.
“We have to accept West Virginia’s economy is going somewhere it’s never gone before.”