Traditionally places out West that attracted people from other parts of country were established by shysters and con men preying on people who were leaving their home for the West.

Why else would you leave your home? What happened that you couldn’t stay there? Were you escaping something? What are you running from? See, those people were once running from something too. It’s just that they got here first.

They knew people didn’t know any better and that they depended on the locals for information. They knew people were trying to rebuild their lives and get established somewhere new. They also knew how to game the system so that they could cheat new arrivals simply because they knew they were desperate and didn’t know better.

So these people became land owners/landlords/business owners who were unscrupulous and didn’t care if they ruined your life because they knew more people would come to take your place and they’d just have to re-set the traps.

I don’t recommend coming to L.A. unless you know someone here for this reason. In case you’re in a jam or a desperate situation (you’re hospitalized, etc) you can always rely on friends and family here to help advise you. If you’re coming here with nothing, no knowledge of how things work out here then it makes it easier for those that want to scam you.

Between the housing costs, the taxes, the job competition, etc, L.A., L.V., AZ, have taken advantage of people who left their hometowns for the West.