It's official, the Dutch are pulling out of Springfield

Reports have surfaced on several military websites, today, that the Royal Netherlands Air Force will leave Springfield-Beckley Airport, moving it's F-16 fighter jets to Tucson, Arizona where they will, no doubt, be asked to present identification. According to the Website F-16.net, this is a done deal. Tucson apparently has more to offer than Springfield, as several other nations have been training pilots there.

F-16.net: Dutch F-16 pilot training to return to Tucson

Ohio Area MilCom: Bad News For Springfield - The Dutch Move to Tucson

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This from Harvey Paige:

News reports that the Royal Netherlands Air Force will leave Springfield-Beckley Airport are welcome by some, but tinged with sorrow for others in the area who may be unemployed as a consequence. Hopefully future efforts to improve the economy around the Miami Valley will bear fruit, without also causing great discomfort to others.

The question of how an economy can be kept viable was on my mind as I biked around Portsmouth, Ohio this past weekend. Portsmouth once had a vibrant economy based on steel, shoes, rail and river transportation, and uranium enrichment. All of those activities have greatly declined, or disappeared entirely. Portsmouth has not been very successful in replacing the lost jobs. So what can be done?

First, and probably most important, it is to support the local economy to the extent possible, so that one does not need to replace jobs. We should BUY LOCAL, even when it costs more than going to the stores whose profits go to Cincinnati, Michigan, or Arkansas. To do otherwise is courting disaster. Perhaps that should also be a national strategy. The shoes no longer made in Portsmouth were perfectly good footwear. The shoes now made in “low wage” countries are not sold at “low wage” prices. The money that formerly went to local workers now goes to manufacturers, shippers and brand owners, with foreign wage earners receiving a minor part of the consumer’s dollar. We should have bought local.

But some businesses and industries will disappear as we react to discoveries of new technologies and to declines in availability of raw materials, or as we simply make new choices. New jobs for those who lose their employment as a result of such changes should be based on better ways to supply the goods or services that make life better for the buyer and seller. Jobs based on the degradation of someone else’s quality of life can not be justified in a modern society.