In the capital of North Carolina, as in all of the US outside of global cities, the hope for the local productive economy is the transfer of ownership of companies to their workers:

"At the engineering firm S&ME, based in Raleigh, employees not only work for the company, but they are also its owners. It's a model that city officials hope other businesses will adopt to avoid what Mayor Janet Cowell calls the 'silver tsunami'.

It's a model that city officials hope others will adopt to avoid what Mayor Janet Cowell calls the 'silver tsunami'.

"It's when many business owners over 55 retire and may sell their companies to someone from outside the state or the area," said Cowell. "That is very destabilizing, not only for those who work there, but for the entire community."

Cowell stated that potentially thousands of businesses in the Raleigh area are at risk.

On Wednesday, she announced that the city will participate as a partner in the Raleigh Employee Ownership Initiative, hoping that businesses, and the taxes they generate, will remain in the locality when owners retire."