What can we learn here? Outside words having differing meanings between language & culture, the American identity is greatly shaped around the cultural identity of the north[east]ern US - or "Yankeedom" as we know it

These posts never blow up. enjoy these weird lunch break thoughts if you see them

more exist, but from experience here and on the hellsite that was once a bird, the above words are usually used when referring to Americans outside just the term for the nationality. All words (outside "seppo") can be used with positive or negative connotations

[If I missed more, just sound off]

*It's speculative, and I can already hear the "Nobody wants to move to IA because [reasons]" comments as I write this. These ideas would give people some reason to move here, and hopefully revitalize dying towns with new blood and industry
**This post has been piecemeal worked on since 8am CDT today

population increase where needed industries will come to (retail, healthcare, education, etc).

This would work a lot better as a video, but my free time is scant** anymore.
If needed, a very small bibliography can be produced and further research done by me outside the shallow dive already taken.

Cedar Rapids has been growing thanks to the same things (more logistics). So what needs to be done to replicate this in Clarinda or Mason City? Make it more accessible to someone - tying back into idea 2, rail and other logistical work would help build up one sector and slowly boost others with a /

Third: Seeing as a core reason for brain drainage is this lack of need for skilled workers, give companies incentives to be in these parts of the state. The DSM metro has been growing towards Bondurant thanks to warehouses & data centers and towards Adel and Ames with suburban sprawl; /

with increasing accessability to urban centers with lower costs of living (e.g. ~1hr communiting from Decatur or Ringgold County to KC by train instead of the a 2hr drive). It'd need communication & coordination with neighboring states, but outside people thinking short-term it could work. /

I'm lacking on further specifics (and results) as most of what I can find is from 2024.

Second: bring back trains (YIMBYs rejoice) - rail is what built a lot of rural Iowa up to the 20th century. High-speed rail between any of the four major cities in each cardinal direction could help /

to the north needs to be done.

Unlike the bulk of people who just complain online, I do have some ideas*: firstly IA can do what rural Italy (notably Tuscany) has done to combat their own aging villages and brain drain - sell some houses with grants and the potential for so much more. /

They've had the right idea with bringing in people thru USCRII, but given the incoming admin up top, this may get worse to deal with. As per an ISU report from 2021, has shown 60 counties have been on the decrease since 2010 (Burke, 2021) and something that's not shanghaiing 9 counties /

Short answer: No.
Long answer: No. We should use that surplus to help patch the brain drain and give incentives to both people and companies to build up rural counties. Roughly 87 counties have less than 50k people, 67 of those (especially sw & central north IA) less than 20k and shrinking. /

Will it work? I have no idea, they might've tried this in the 1800s or early 2000s for different reasons. I just know that reality tv execs would eat up a concept like this because culture shock and drama sell.

Even funnier if every episode backfires and there's no drama.

Should give refernce to why this is important:
The county seat of where I grew up has a population of 16k (~17k if college is in session)

Literally more people have watched a video from this channel than live in the place I go to renew my driver's license; numbers are fun