A year ago, the town of Newton, Iowa, population 15,000, was in the doldrums. In a pattern that is worth noting because it’s going to be repeated throughout the U.S. in towns large and small as the economy crawls toward new sources of productivity, the town’s largest employer, Maytag Washing Machines, closed its plant and officer there in October of 2007, costing Newton 1,800 jobs, 800 in management and 1,000 in manufacturing.

By early 2007, Newton had already seen the writing on the wall, and had begun mapping its evolution–from washing machines to wind machines, as it would turn out. Today, Newton is home to a manufacturing plant for Boston-based TPI, one of the country’s leading wind turbine brands. CBS Evening News covered the story last week. How Newton did it can serve as a blueprint for other similar-sized communities, whose fortunes (and mis-fortunes) are tightly tied to a single large employer. (more…)