We have discussed the 'downside' of America's "black gold" rush and the town of Williston, North Dakota is the poster child for the costs and benefits of this exuberance. But, as The BBC reports, there is some silver lining for those willing to deal…"Strippers can earn $2,500 per shift here," says a bouncer, "but the men here are 100% worse. It's horrible. They're animals."
A taste of Williston and "Whispers" Strip Club – "if you come to Williston, you'll have a job within 20 minutes"
It's a busy Monday night at Whispers strip bar in the oil boomtown of Williston, North Dakota.
A man in overalls drains his glass before showering money on a pole dancer.
By the side of the stage, a half-nude woman is building a miniature house out of folded dollar bills.
Strippers can earn $2,500 (£1,500) per shift here, says a bouncer.
But one employee, who goes by the name of Alexis, isn't feeling especially motivated tonight.
She's wearing a woolly sweater because whenever the front door opens an Arctic draught slashes at the pleather booths. It's -31C (-24F) outside.
"I do this work back in Illinois," says the mother of two, sipping a Sprite.
"But the men here are 100% worse. It's horrible. They're animals.
"I've only been here a week, but I'm done with Williston. I'm going home next weekend."
Fortunately for Whispers, there's no lack of applicants eager to take her place.
Exotic dancers are flocking here from as far away as Russia for the same reason as everyone else – to make their fortune in a place known as Kuwait on the Prairie.
Williston was once a humble ranching community tucked away near the Canadian border in one of the remotest US states.
But a sea of oil and gas beneath the region's farmland, and the hydraulic fracking technology that began to unlock it in 2006, has turned this small city into the wellhead of the North American energy boom.
However, as we noted previously, it's not all glitz and glamor and making it rain…
Lured by the promise of jobs created by the oil and gas boom, unemployed people are flocking to North Dakota en masse. This is heralded by many in the mainstream media as great news – labor mobility at its best – however, there is a darker side: rents are surging and finding a place to live at any price is difficult. As Reuters reports, amid all the boomtime plenty, however, is a housing affordability crisis. North Dakota saw a 200% jump in homelessness last year, the biggest increase of any state – "people are coming because it's widely publicized that we have jobs, but it's not widely publicized that we don't have housing."
via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1hrcmYp Tyler Durden