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Luxury cars, designer clothes, not to mention they tend to reside in the "cool" cities like NYC, LA, Chicago,etc. I feel like they get over to these cities easier than a lot of Americans. Anyone notice this? And why? It is not right.
Well, I'm not exactly a "foreigner." But I am an Indian American and I can tell you the reason people in that particular community tend to be successful is because they are drawn from the educated class in that country. It is certainly not representative of the Indian population as a whole. Clever people figured out long ago that there is a disproportionately high premium placed on high educational attainment in the U.S. economy. In other words, "there's gold in them hills!"
By the way, immigrants don't end up in cities like the ones you mentioned because they are "cool" but rather because those are where the high-paying jobs and opportunities are in large quantities. Many people also make their money elsewhere and buy properties in those places.
Another thing - luxury cars, designer clothes and other upscale items and such are obvious status symbols. They are intended to show people around you that you have "arrived" and so are important markers if you never had access to those things previously. That is the psychology behind it.
Another thing - luxury cars, designer clothes and other upscale items and such are obvious status symbols. They are intended to show people around you that you have "arrived" and so are important markers if you never had access to those things previously. That is the psychology behind it.
I don't know about you folks... but when I see that type of stuff on a person who works "regular 9-5" job...
Europeans live a much more frugal lifestyle than Americans do. That applies to all income groups with the possible exception of the very wealthy. It gives the Europeans much more disposable income. Americans will have a boat, two snowmobiles, two ATVs, two cars, big screen TVs and owe money on all of it.
Yep it's noticeable in the city I'm in.....
Idk how they come here & just seem to acquire so much, so fast....
I will say that some of the people I knew from Europe came here from really poor countries
& now have properties, rentals, etc.
Makes ya' wonder
they work their azzes off and don't spend their money on anything but the bare necessities..... they also tend to live much more densely than Americans do.... ie: a large extended family in a small 2 or 3 bedroom house or apartment.......
People that come here from other countries realize the opportunities we have here and often work harder than the average American-bread person.
The smart ones that work hard will improve their standard of living. The not so smart ones that work hard may not gravitate towards being upper-class, but will still be happy because likely where they came from was much worst than here.
European immigrants to America tend to congregate in the larger cities. This at least has been my admittedly limited observation. An example is my ethnic group of origin, Russians (and other Russian-speaking ex-Soviet citizens). America's major cities tend to have ethnic enclaves populated by such immigrants. Successive generations decamp from said enclaves and fan out, but often remain in the general metro area. It's rare for such immigrants to favor America's smaller cities, especially in the heartland.
To give an example, the city closest to my own residence has a population of about 150,000. This makes it some 10 times smaller than Chicago, which is the "local" major city. But the local population of immigrants of Russian-extraction is not one tenth of Chicago's. It's maybe one-hundredth, or even smaller. There is no critical-mass to support ethnic grocery stores, hair salons, restaurants, tailors, barber shops, bakeries and so forth.
Another way to phrase this is that America's larger cities tend to be disproportionately multicultural. The smaller the city/town, the more it is nth-generation American-born.
As to the question of flaunting bling-type of purchases by recent immigrants... my impression is that recent arrivals, who haven't yet amassed sufficient capital to build investment portfolios or real-estate, tend to advertise their comparative economic success in more immediately visible ways. Examples are cars, jewelry and clothing. More established people, regardless of their national origin or ethnicity, tend to be more demure in their displays of wealth.
Luxury cars, designer clothes, not to mention they tend to reside in the "cool" cities like NYC, LA, Chicago,etc. I feel like they get over to these cities easier than a lot of Americans. Anyone notice this? And why? It is not right.
You have provided absolutely no data, not even an article to back up this statement which you wrote as though it's an established fact.
Yep it's noticeable in the city I'm in.....
Idk how they come here & just seem to acquire so much, so fast....
I will say that some of the people I knew from Europe came here from really poor countries
& now have properties, rentals, etc.
Makes ya' wonder
I met a guy who came from Peru with his wife. I'm not sure, but I think they came illegally (they were indigenous Peruvians) and became legal through an amnesty. He got a job at the University of Washington as a groundskeeper. Pretty cushy gig, in terms of benefits, and a decent steady paycheck. I'm not sure what she did for work, but eventually they were able to buy a house in one of the neighborhoods near the university. When I met them, they had kids, and were living the American dream. It's possible they did work on the side, for example, he may have worked as a freelance gardner. People do what they have to do to reach their goals. Maybe some Americans have become lazy, or lack the discipline to do what it takes...?
But this isn't the type of person the OP is talking about. He's talking about Europe's equivalent of the "1%", who come here and live a high lifestyle. That's very different from people who come and start at the bottom and feel fortunate when they've been able to buy a house and make a decent life for their kids. Those types don't buy luxury cars and designer clothes. Unless they're Russian, then they're very into designer clothes that they get at outlet stores.
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