Minnesota: Love or Hate Living There? (Minneapolis, St. Paul: apartment, health insurance, townhome)

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by MantaRay

Does MN tend to avoid the icy road thing, ie. is it typically snowfall that's the issue with driving? I lived in Atlanta for 7 years, and came to found there is no driving worse than icy driving where you really can't go anywhere. If it's already cold, and precipitation falls as snow, no biggie unless it's a blizzard. But when it's not freezing and it rains and then the temps drop overnight and creates sheets of ice on the road, that makes for some seriously dangerous driving.

And 20F isn't as cold as 0F but it's still cold enough to freeze water solid. And honestly, 20F with no wind and with sunshine feels much better even than 40F with wind and overcast, so it's not just the temperature that makes it bad.

Wind doesn't matter to me at 20F.

Ice in Atlanta has a larger impact on driving than ice in the Twin Cities because most areas in the Twin Cities would apply melting agent to the roads, sometimes preemptively, which gets rid of the ice and sometimes even prevents it from forming, while the Atlanta metro generally lets the roads goes through a natural freeze/thaw cycle or just sit there, resulting in an ice surface that is sometimes slick and very hard to drive on. Sand helps a little, but sometimes not much.

[yoyoma02]

Originally Posted by Govie

There's a reason they call us "Moneysota" or "Moneyapolis"...there is no shortage of freeloaders who find themselves here from Detroit, Milwaukee, Chicago or any number of other places.

I've literally never heard that expression in my life.

I've heard "Minnesnowta" a billion times.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by Govie

Furthermore the state consistently ranks the highest in poll after poll of quality of life. There's a reason they call us "Moneysota" or "Moneyapolis"...there is no shortage of freeloaders who find themselves here from Detroit, Milwaukee, Chicago or any number of other places.

I've never heard that phrase, and I doubt native Minnesotans would use it at all. It doesn't fit the relatively non-demonstrative mindset found in the upper midwest.

[Govie]

It's not a phrase I've heard a lot but an older fellow I talked to some time back broke it down for me how so many people come here because our welfare system is so "giving" and how completely abused it is being.

[ram2]

Originally Posted by Govie

It's not a phrase I've heard a lot but an older fellow I talked to some time back broke it down for me how so many people come here because our welfare system is so "giving" and how completely abused it is being.

There is some truth to this. Back during the recession of the early 1990s, I knew some families who moved from St. Louis to the Twin Cities area strictly for the better welfare benefits.

[dravogadro]

Originally Posted by Govie

It's not a phrase I've heard a lot but an older fellow I talked to some time back broke it down for me how so many people come here because our welfare system is so "giving" and how completely abused it is being.

Please break it down for us. I am interested in learning more.

[Govie]

Originally Posted by dravogadro

Please break it down for us. I am interested in learning more.

Why does Minneapolis have the largest population of Somalis (HOT climate people and people that HATE cold climate, this one being the worst in Continental U.S.) anywhere in the world outside of Mogadishu? Also, why do we have the second largest Indochinese population than anywhere in the United States? These people are flocking to the state while our "native" population (mostly white - our state is 87% white) generally just hate the weather. Those are rhetorical questions, BTW.

Like I said, in a nutshell welfare is the biggest reason. Some facts:

As of 2008, Medicaid enrollees in Minnesota received the second largest amount in benefits in the country. However, the state has cut outlay to the program as stated in the 2012-2013 budget, meaning the state’s ranking in this category may soon change. Residents of the state have to pay a very large amount in taxes. The average citizen of Minnesota pays 10.3% of their income in state and local taxes, which is the seventh largest amount in the country.

Read more: The States Doing The Most (and Least) To Spread The Wealth - 24/7 Wall St. The States Doing The Most (and Least) To Spread The Wealth - 24/7 Wall St.

Furthermore:

Minnesota among leaders in welfare spending
by Chris Williams, Associated Press
September 30, 2009

Minneapolis (AP) — Welfare spending in Minnesota is among the highest in the nation, according to new census figures, and it's been growing steadily for more than 10 years due to the rising cost of providing health care for the needy.

Nearly 23 percent of all state and local government spending in Minnesota during fiscal 2007 went toward services that fall under the Census Bureau's broad definition of welfare, according to the 2007 Census of Government Finances. Among states, that ranked behind only Maine at 24.3 percent and Rhode Island at 23.7 percent.

The report said $9.3 billion of the $40.6 billion spent by all levels of government in the state that year was on welfare programs.


...

Minnesota also has more generous health care programs than many other states, he said.

Taken together, the costs have been steadily taking up a larger share of government spending in Minnesota since at least 1992.

The census data show that in 1992, public welfare spending accounted for 15.2 percent of what Minnesota governments spent. It climbed to 16.7 percent in 1997 and just 18.4 percent in 2002....

Minnesota among leaders in welfare spending | Minnesota Public Radio News

Combine this with us being such a "progressive" (yet still "purple) state, and things like St. Paul having more colleges per capita than anywhere in America (2nd, actually), those are some of the reasons.

For further reading: Immigrants Tend to Live in High Welfare Benefit States

[asitshouldbe]

Don't love it or hate it, I'm in the middle, I could definitely live without anymore snow.

[Missourian11]

I can relate to the posts above talking about Minnesota having good welfare programs.

I still remember the negative reactions from few Minnesotans when I first told them that I moved to MN two years ago alone with my two young children. They assumed I came for the welfare as a single mother, which is totally untrue!

After losing my husband in 2007 to the war, I didn't need welfare because I was well provided by the Army for his service to the country along with life insurance he left behind for us. I happen to be a well-educated lady so I came to MN for better teaching job at postsecondary level while finishing graduate school at the same time.

[dravogadro]

Originally Posted by Govie

Why does Minneapolis have the largest population of Somalis (HOT climate people and people that HATE cold climate, this one being the worst in Continental U.S.) anywhere in the world outside of Mogadishu? Also, why do we have the second largest Indochinese population than anywhere in the United States? These people are flocking to the state while our "native" population (mostly white - our state is 87% white) generally just hate the weather. Those are rhetorical questions, BTW. Like I said, in a nutshell welfare is the biggest reason.

Does this mean that Somalis and Indochinese want welfare benefits more than other refugee populations? I'm trying to understand why Minnesota doesn't have equal representation across refugee groups.


It seems like the benefits may be mostly tied to having some of the highest cost of living - is that what you mean by having so many colleges?


Is your argument that Minnesota should not be doing this? I'm just trying to figure out whether it is 'bad' to be a state that has higher benefits, particularly when it seems that MN is using the money for health-related expenses (Medicaid), and not cash benefits, which I feel is what really makes people angry.

From the MPR article:

State Demographer Tom Gillaspy said it's hard to point to any single reason welfare is such a big slice of government spending in Minnesota, but he noted the state has a higher percentage of residents in nursing homes receiving aid than most others.

Are these the poor people coming here? Or do we just support the elderly more?