COMPETE, DON'T RETREAT:

Exports Prop Up Local Economies (TIMOTHY AEPPEL, September 11, 2008, Wall Street Journal)

Much of the world may be struggling with the economic downturn, but life has been getting better in Columbus, Ind., Kingsport, Tenn., and Waterloo, Iowa.

These out-of-the-way places have become trade hot spots as U.S. exports, fueled by the dollar's fall, continue to provide a rare spark in an otherwise gloomy economy. [...]

Columbus, population 40,000, is an export powerhouse thanks largely to diesel-engine maker Cummins Inc., which has added 1,000 jobs there since 2003. Kingsport, population 44,000, is home to Eastman Chemical Co., which is spending $1.3 billion to upgrade its sprawling chemical plant there on the strength of its global sales of plastics and fibers. And Waterloo, population 68,000, owes its healthy export economy to Deere & Co., which has announced its second major investment this year of its tractor plant there.

"Exports are impacting, in a positive manner, virtually every industry and every state," says Daniel J. Meckstroth, an economist at the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI, an Arlington, Va.-based public-policy and research group that represents mostly large manufacturers.