The shifting of the economic midwest

One of the realities I have discovered since I moved to rural Illinois over two years ago is the attitude that the status-quo must be maintained at all costs because that is what "we know."
I have experienced much in this time in the rural Midwest. I appreciate the slow pace, the informal dress, the farming business, and the spots here and there of manufacturers.
The fact is, globalization is happening here and the slow decline of the job base is now to the point where there are too few jobs and too many unskilled workers wanting jobs.
While we adapt to the slow changes on a daily basis, we fail to comprehend the systems changes augmented by those incremental changes. As Thomas Homer-Dixon puts it, "This very capacity is "a real handicap when it comes to dealing with slow-creep problems. We just don't see the change, and the thing about slow-creep problems is that they be slow-creep for awhile, but then all of a sudden there is a non-linear shift and we find ourselves in a crisis" (Shambhala Sun, September 2008). That describes the housing crisis, the financial crisis, the environmental crisis, and the disappearance of manufacturing in the Midwest.
Part of our problem is that we continue to try and solve the problems with today's thinking. Today's thinking put us in this situation. Creative and innovative thinking will bring us out of the situation.
In southeastern Illinois, we have many of the problems plaguing the Midwest with a couple of exceptions. We have Effingham that is experimenting with entrepreneurship training in the High School for the entire county. The hope is that this effort will show success and be able to be scaled up to other counties in the region. Effingham also tends to have a more progressive outlook for the future.
However, for every Effingham, I have many smaller towns that are on the verge of disappearing. This region is still bleeding its young and smart people out due to a lack of opportunity and global connectability. Broadband service is limited and expensive compared with metro areas.
It is time for a new model of economic growth that is based on sustainability and emulates the natural cycles in life.
The future can be very bright for the Midwest. Moreover the opportunities to live in small towns has its draw. However, the infrastructure will need to be on par with the larger cities, or the rural life will continue to disappear.