He inveighed against the “ruinous and devastating effect of sending the profits out of our local communities to a common center, Wall Street.” Chain
stores, he warned parents, closed the “door of opportunity” for their children, who might otherwise grow up to become “prosperous business leaders.”
To save Main Street, state lawmakers in the 1930s passed “fair trade” legislation
that set floors for retail prices, protecting small-town manufacturers and retailers from big business’s economies of scale.
Through global freelancing platforms like Upwork, for example, rural
and small-town Americans can find jobs anywhere in world, using abilities and talents they already have.
These laws permitted manufacturers to dictate prices for their products in a state (which is where
that now-meaningless phrase “manufacturer’s suggested retail price” comes from); if a manufacturer had a price agreement with even one retailer in a state, other stores in the state could not discount that product.
Americans, regardless of education or geographical location, have marketable skills in the global economy: They speak English
and understand the nuances of communicating with Americans — something that cannot be easily shipped overseas.
From the beginning of our country’s history, rural and small-town Americans have been on the losing side of a rising market economy.
What’s novel is that today, the underlying values of Main Street — living
and working with autonomy in your own small community — can be attained, as long as you are willing to find that work online.