The Chicago Factor: Are Transplants from Chicago Ruining Our State? (Iowa City: crime rates, good schools)

[jeffs]

Originally Posted by urza216

No, folks in the bottom-level income bracket can't afford cars.. If you have NO BANK ACCOUNT (and cash your paychecks at the currency exchange) and can barely afford food and rent, how the hell are you supposed to save up to buy a car?

When you live in a section 8 apartment, and pay no rent, when you get so many thousands a year for popping out kids, when you get WIC money to buy them food, when you get welfare money, when you get food stamps, they have plenty of money to buy a car. I mean hell, they have no bills, the tax payers take care of that. I see plenty of "low income" people here driving cars with rims, and buying new york strip steaks and shrimp with their EBT food stamp cards, while talking on their 300 dollar cell phones, wearing air Jordan 150 dollar shoes.

[tollfree]

I have seen a lot of "low-income" people with iphones, which require data plans of $30 per month, but this whole argument that people are "living the good life in welfare" is just absurd.

There's an obvious racial bias on your part. You specifically only notice when black people do this, hence the "driving cars with rims/air Jordan 150 dollar shoes" comment. There's lot of low-income whites spending more money than that in a few months on all those cases of Busch Light.

When it comes to food, just because someone is low income, does that mean they have to eat SPAM all day long? Should the children of low-income families be forced to eat generic cereal too? Sounds very mean when you think about it.

[Squeamish]

Originally Posted by jeffs

...the same stores and amenities as bigger cities...

Sorry but I had to comment here. I lived in Iowa for 27 years and have lived in the Twin Cities (MN) for the past 3. When it comes to CHAIN businesses, this is very true. But major cities like Minneapolis, Chicago, Kansas City, etc. have many family-owned restaurants and specialty shops that are largely not present in any cities in Iowa. The best example I can give is Thai restaurants. There are countless good Thai restaurants here in the Twin Cities. They're all run by families or single businesspeople. Not chains. The vast majority are in Minneapolis and St. Paul proper. There wasn't a single Thai restaurant in the Waterloo-Cedar Falls metro area when I lived there! Waterloo-Cedar Falls has pretty much any chain type of business you'd want. But there isn't much that's not a chain in mid-size Iowa cities, comparatively speaking. Suburbs of major cities like the Twin Cities are the same way. I think this pattern holds true in most of the US. Chains in smaller cities, suburbs, and rural areas, but for the unique shops and restaurants that offer things you won't find at any common chain, you generally have to go to major cities.

[urza216]

Originally Posted by jeffs

I see plenty of "low income" people here driving cars with rims, and buying new york strip steaks and shrimp with their EBT food stamp cards, while talking on their 300 dollar cell phones, wearing air Jordan 150 dollar shoes.

Pssst... That's because they're selling drugs.

Or you're just grossly exaggerating.

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by urza216

Pssst... That's because they're selling drugs.

Or you're just grossly exaggerating.

From what I have been told, it isn't just African-Americans doing this. From what I was told, in some parts of New York City, Russian immigrants have been known to work "under the table" and apply for food stamps because when one works "under the table" you technically don't report your income. Because of this, one can get alot of food stamps and save up for a BMW this way. This is what I have been told.

[urza216]

Originally Posted by pirate_lafitte

From what I have been told, it isn't just African-Americans doing this.

Of course not. Nowhere did I imply this. My first weed dealer was just a plain old white guy (not an immigrant or a white guy who dressed all hip hoppy). And I know second-hand that drugs were readily available in Iowa City before the influx in black population.

I was just saying that if someone is really spending tons of cash, it's not from welfare check. It's from selling drugs. It's damn-near impossible to get by on government assistance, much less by a 130 dollar pair of shoes and expensive upgrades for your car.

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by urza216

Of course not. Nowhere did I imply this. My first weed dealer was just a plain old white guy (not an immigrant or a white guy who dressed all hip hoppy). And I know second-hand that drugs were readily available in Iowa City before the influx in black population.

I was just saying that if someone is really spending tons of cash, it's not from welfare check. It's from selling drugs. It's damn-near impossible to get by on government assistance, much less by a 130 dollar pair of shoes and expensive upgrades for your car.

I know this. I was piggybacking on the "overexaggerating" statement when you were replying to another poster.

Drugs go across racial lines. One of my neighbors was African-American. They were an couple with a grown son living with them. The father and mother were wonderful. The son, well, my father was suspicious of him. He grew up in a neighborhood that could be described as "rough". He knew how to spot a drug dealer. This young man asked my little brother,and then me, for our urine. My father thought that our neighbor might be a drug dealer because there were always people stopping by the house and getting "something" from the house. Our neighbor was later arrested for holding up a Papa John's down the street from our subdivision. This guy might have been a drug dealer, but there were drugs there before our neighbor got there, long before the African-American population was rising. Meth was a big drug of choice as it was a rural area outside of Atlanta.

A few months ago I went to a party and personally met a drug dealer. This was a White male in his twenties, looked like a college student.

Drugs have been a part of this nation long before the crack epidemic. Marijuana was widely used before 1900.

As for Iowa, I can only say this. My father is in Iowa and has a job up there. It is a well-paying job that allows him to use the skills he has built up since the late 1970's. He got a job in Iowa when no one in the state of Georgia wanted to hire him. He is in Iowa(but still technically has a house in GA) and is doing well. He is well aware of the welfare laws in Iowa. That said, he isn't on welfare. He is there to do better for himself and his family. Chances are, there are African-Americans just like him in Iowa and Minnesota. However, gang bangers and so-called "welfare queens" get the majority of the attention.

[urza216]

Originally Posted by pirate_lafitte

I know this. I was piggybacking on the "overexaggerating" statement when you were replying to another poster.

Oh okay. Whoops, my mistake. I should've got that.

[Chicago60614]

Originally Posted by urza216

Of course not. Nowhere did I imply this. My first weed dealer was just a plain old white guy (not an immigrant or a white guy who dressed all hip hoppy). And I know second-hand that drugs were readily available in Iowa City before the influx in black population.

I was just saying that if someone is really spending tons of cash, it's not from welfare check. It's from selling drugs. It's damn-near impossible to get by on government assistance, much less by a 130 dollar pair of shoes and expensive upgrades for your car.

Well yeah, I grew up in Iowa City in the 80's and 90's and anyone and everyone could very easily get drugs - that's certainly not changed or really been influenced.

The other comment about under the table income - that exists EVERYWHERE. Big cities, small towns, Iowa, New York, etc. etc. My friends own places in Chicago and we've all commented on the places that openly do the unreported income. There are very well known places in lakeview on the north side that always have the "cash only!" kitchens, events, rooms.... Anything that is given to you as cash only is more than likely off the books. They tell you its because its easier or faster or god knows what, but it's so they don't have to report the income. I've actually gotten in fights with people before where we'll be seated downstairs in a huge restaurant, then when our $300 bill comes we're told the downstairs is cash only. Yeah right. You have a "visa/mastercard" sign on the front door, my #ss you can only process cash. I only got upset because we obviously didn't have hundreds in cash sitting around, and the waiter told us it was just IMPOSSIBLE for him to ring us up with cards. We said we'd call the police and the city if he didn't take our card, and pointed out that they take them in the rest of the restaurant. That was the end of that.

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by urza216

Oh okay. Whoops, my mistake. I should've got that.

No worries. I was merely trying to drive a point home.