Was that really a bear market drop in stocks or ...?

[MelroseHawkins]

A little over 10 years ago Chicago got a bunch of money from the feds to tear down the projects. They then needed to rehouse all of the occupants. You can correlate the rise in crime in a bunch of mid sized towns around the midwest, including our own Iowa City, directly to this relocation process. My dad has friends in Galesburg who said a quarter of the town is now basically a no-go zone. I've heard similar about parts of Champagne. And pockets of Peoria. And Rockford. And Kenosha.

I lived in Iowa City from 1993 - 1997 then moved up in northern Iowa. I then moved my family back to the Iowa City area in 2012 due to a job promotion. The city completely changed in that gap of years because of what you mentioned above. The downtown area and Ped mall can be dangerous at night now. I don't go down there after dark. I merely work across the street but am out of there in the afternoon. There is a neighborhood pocket in S Iowa City just south of the Hwy 6 that goes thru Iowa City that is a sketchy area, the Broadway St area/neighborhood.

It used to be this nice little sleepy college town, especially in the summer when the students are gone. Now it's a smaller city that can have similar dangers that a Chicago has.

Oh, I forgot the pocket over off of Mormon Trek in the Pheasant ridge area. This over by the Morman Trek Fareway. I never go over there as have no need to, but, that can be a sketchy area.

Also, there is a bad pocket in Coralville a few blocks east of the mall.

I suspect Galesburg is a similar situation. Sad.

 

[okeefe4prez]

I suspect Galesburg is a similar situation. Sad.

I think Galesburg is worse due to the Amtrak line running through there.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

I think Galesburg is worse due to the Amtrak line running through there.

Yea, when you mentioned Amtrak, that's what I thought. Straight public line to Chicago.

 

[HawkGold]

I know Rantoul. One of my buddies growing up moved to the U from Urbana back in the '90's and once we could drive we would do a road trip to Champaign for a couple weeks each summer. I drank many beers at a farm on the edge of Rantoul. It struck me as the last place on earth one would expect the schools to become so dangerous that people quit mid year. Holy shit.

Rantoul was a decent place for a military town. When the base closed it took a while, but it has gone steadily downhill. Surrounded by great farmland for the most part. The City Schools environment is not good. Dangerous actually even in the younger grades. One has to feel bad for the kids. The HS is bad, but is still influenced by the local farm towns that feed into it. Rantoul is on the Amtrak from Chicago line and on the I57 cartel drug run.

 

[uihawk82]

I have no nice furniture and our house is barely furnished for a 3000 sq ft house. Nice furniture is a waste of money and my wife and I are minimalists. I paid off my student loans and mortgage in 2012 and haven't had any debt other than revolving credit card debt paid off monthly bince then. Bought my new house with cash, bought cars with cash. My grandma lived through the Depression and farm crisis and she taught us to never borrow more than you can comfortably repay even if everything goes completely sideways and to try to avoid debt at all costs. There is a way to get rich by borrowing money, but it carries substantial risk. I suspect that people have forgotten about risks associated with borrowing money to buy business assets, real estate and stonks, but there could be a reckoning in the very near future. For the average consumer, paying interest for a long time can really impair your ability to accumulate wealth.

I am sort of a minimalist as well as a utilitarian. I do not need fancy, expensive cars or clothes, even back when I wore a suit and tie to work. I have nice lower cost, economical mileage cars because of the utility that they get me from here to there, they ride well and are comfortable enough. I do not accumulate a lot of possessions as my wife does that for both of us.

I do have to say for a minimalist that 3000 sq ft for your house is more than minimalist unless of course you have a few kids living with you.

 

[okeefe4prez]

I am sort of a minimalist as well as a utilitarian. I do not need fancy, expensive cars or clothes, even back when I wore a suit and tie to work. I have nice lower cost, economical mileage cars because of the utility that they get me from here to there, they ride well and are comfortable enough. I do not accumulate a lot of possessions as my wife does that for both of us.

I do have to say for a minimalist that 3000 sq ft for your house is more than minimalist unless of course you have a few kids living with you.

I bought a 3000 sq ft house because that's how they build them here and I didn't want a smaller 50 year old house with the maintenance (the area had the same economic depression of a typical Iowa/Illinois/Ohio mid sized town when the textile mills left and then had a renaissance that started around 2000 so the housing inventory is either pre 1970 or post 2000 because nothing got built in the '70's- '90's). I also wanted a yard. It is a 5 BR and I have one kid, but I have told every member of my family that they can come live with me if they ever need to because I don't want them to live in a nursing home unless it is absolutely unavoidable.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

I am sort of a minimalist as well as a utilitarian. I do not need fancy, expensive cars or clothes, even back when I wore a suit and tie to work. I have nice lower cost, economical mileage cars because of the utility that they get me from here to there, they ride well and are comfortable enough. I do not accumulate a lot of possessions as my wife does that for both of us.

I do have to say for a minimalist that 3000 sq ft for your house is more than minimalist unless of course you have a few kids living with you.

This describes me to a T. My family has a modest home built in 1996 in a nice city. We don't drive Beamers, Infiniti, or Lexus cars. We have practical and reliable cars as they just get me from one place to where I want to go. I don't have the latest gadgets such as the latest I-phone. I don't even really care for the I-phone to be honest with you. I find it to be a pain in the azz. I don't let clothes or high end name brands define me.

I'd like to think I bring more substance than that. I live in a high affluent area and people are down right crazy chasing the neighbors or name brands, living outside their means and vain as hell. The vainness of people really bugs me.