Exodus of Its Restless Young Makes Iowa Fear for Future

LA Times ^ | 2/6/05 | Stephanie Simon

[BurbankKarl]

WHITING, Iowa — The cafe was selling hot biscuits and coffee for $1.50, but most of the red vinyl seats were empty, as they often are. Bert McCandless, 73, glanced around glumly.

"This place used to be full. Now look at it," he said. "Iowa's losing people like crazy." With a grumble he added: "What … is there to keep them here?"

That's a question state legislators are trying very hard to answer.

Iowa suffers from an alarming brain drain: It loses more of its young, single, well-educated adults than any state except North Dakota. In search of bigger cities, hipper crowds and warmer weather, young Iowans flee in such numbers that demographers predict the state will face a drastic labor shortage within two decades.

Desperate to keep the state's future from bolting, the Republican leadership in the state Senate is proposing trying to entice young adults to stick around by abolishing the state income tax for everyone under 30.

About a dozen states, including California, exempt low-income elderly from filing tax returns. New Mexico offers a free ride to anyone who makes it to 100. But Iowa would be the first state in the nation to stop taxing young adults.

[zzen01]

It's because Iowa has a SUCKA*S business climate. NE has NO such problems.

A Born and expatriate Iowan

[BipolarBob]

This sounds age discriminatory. Taxes based on age? Opinions from attorneys?

[xJones]

What's the deal, there's no incentives, no tax breaks or inticements for businesses to consider moving in?

[Hardastarboard]

Iowa is one of the most boring places on the earth, in addition to having a weak economic climate, as one of the other posters mentioned. If you can get a copy of Bob Mould's "Levelland" from "Where'd You Bury the Body?" (Napster is one source), it talks about growing up in Nebraska and how he just couldn't stand it, wondered why anyone would ever live there. Pretty much describes Iowa as well.

[taxesareforever]

It's because Iowa has a SUCKA*S business climate.

So does Washington State. Which state doesn't? It seems like the government in every state is passing more and more laws which tend to drive businesses out. No wonder there is so much work going overseas. The more that leave the harder they hit those that are left. I guess the government is winning because so many in government want to turn this nation into a third world country.

[woofer]

It's because Iowa has a SUCKA*S business climate. NE has NO such problems.

No question about that, zen.I've been in Iowa three years and am just amazed sometimes.

Hey, did you know that if Iowa gave its Southern tier of counties to Missouri it would raise the I.Q. of both states?

[WL-law]

I'll tell you all something, if you promise to keep it a secret. Virginia's Shenandoah Valley is a fabulous, beautiful place to be....

shhhh! Keep it a secret.

[aft_lizard]

I grew up in Kansas and Nebraska. Growing up I hated it there because I thought there was nothing to do. I live in Phoenix now and realize, it wasnt that there wasnt anything to do it was because I thought there was nothing to do. In Phoenix I realize there is just more of everything that I thought was boring in small town Kansas. More movie theatres, more restauraunts, more concerts.

[SamAdams76]

I spent a few weeks in Cedar Rapids back in the mid 1980s (I was going to a school at Rockwell Collins) in the middle of winter. To be kind, it was one of the most "nowhere" places I have ever been. I stayed at a Best Western just outside of town near one of those huge shopping malls that was so big in the 1980s. The mall was basically empty everytime I went there and I have no idea how they made their money. About the only people I saw there were bands of kids with Motley Crew and/or Poison haircuts. It was the era of the big hair bands, pre-Nirvana.

I remember walking into the city from the hotel (my employer was too cheap to rent me a car) and just marvelling at the emptiness of the place. I actually had a very relaxing time there, to tell you the truth, and the people I did meet were very polite. But I'd never consider living there.

I remember going to the hotel bar at night and getting beer on draft for $1 a glass. On the TV, they were always playing high school basketball games. High School hoops are very big in Iowa.

[loboinok]

in addition to having a weak economic climate

That is due to Iowa losing manufacturing jobs BIG time. Started in the 70's and was still going strong in 89 when I left. Not to mention that Eastern Iowa is strong RAT territory.

[niteowl77]

I'm a third-generation Iowa native, but if I were younger, I'd leave the place too. Business? We've been de-industrialized like every other rural state, and the powers that be aren't going to reverse that exodus.

Nothing matters here anymore but the education industry. If the tax monies didn't go into a highway, they got poured into the bottomless pit of public education, which is never satiated. Tom Vilsack's first order of business was to wipe out the budget surplus by giving it to his masters in the NEA, and it has gone downhill from there.

[Sam Cree]

What is the problem, are they worrying about a smaller tax base or something...perhaps a smaller kingdom to rule?

[Uncle Meat]

I grew up in Nw Iowa and haven't been living there since 1984.Nothing to do but get drunk,stoned and get in trouble.The hunting and fishing's great,from what my youngest brother says.That's why he still lives there.I've been living in southeast Georgia since 1987,except for the 2 years I had to spend in Korea.I passed Iowa up when I got out of the service in'92.Don't ever have plans to go back and live there again.I don't even want to be buried there when I'm dead and gone.

[sine_nomine]

I know what you mean. I grew up in corn country and now live in Phoenix.

Thanks for your service in Iraq.

[buccaneer81]

Hey, did you know that if Iowa gave its Southern tier of counties to Missouri it would raise the I.Q. of both states?

Having spent some time in Fairfield I would have to question your logic.

[Verginius Rufus]

Wasn't there a contest some time ago to come up with an exciting new slogan for Iowa? One of the suggestions was "Gateway to Nebraska."

[RFEngineer]

"Virginia's Shenandoah Valley is a fabulous, beautiful place to be...."

I'm planning on moving back there as soon as I figure out how......so I'd appreciate you keeping your pie-hole shut!!! You are correct, it is fabulous, except for Rockbridge County. People should stay away from there. There is no reason to even think about going there. None. Did I mention that folks should stay away?

[nuke rocketeer]

I grew up in West Texas and also could not wait to go somewhere else. After 30 years living in the more populated areas of Texas, Illinois, and Pennsylvania, I'd move back to Garden City in a minute if only someone would start building a nuke plant in Glasscock, Sterling, Howard, Martin, Reagan, Upton, or Midland Counties. I'm too damn old to go back to working in the oilfields again. I'd love to be back where you can leave your house unlocked for weeks on end, the keys in your car, and trust the kids to be watched out for when out of your eyesight.

I used to think that the old hometown was the butthole boring capital of Texas. I realized about 15 years ago that it is one of the better places on Earth to raise a family. Where else can a kid feel comfortable knocking on a door at 11:00 PM to use the phone to call for help and instead get a ride home, learn about sex from watching the animals do it as you are riding the bus to school in the morning, play football in front of all 1800 people that live in the county along with another 500 or more from the other school, watch a spectacular sunrise while waiting in a deer blind on a cool, crisp November norning, see the spectacular night skies where you can see ALL the stars your great-great grandfather saw, chase your model rockets for miles to get it back, and enjoy the cameraderie that only those who go to a small school can know.

Don't knock those places. They are a fast disappearing, irreplaceable piece of America.

[Hardastarboard]

I have a buddy who lives 20 miles from there. He confirms that you are correct - "Gateway to Nebraska" was a contender.