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Just one question..if the rest of the US, particularly the midwest and Northeast, is rusted out and jobless, where will folks get the money to spend in Vegas? Vegas has a sweet point per tourists, and that is middle america. The rich aren't that big on vegas, and only so much of them to go around. If you shut down the rest of the US, the strip will be just as shuttered as the factories and cities out east. My main point is that relying on ONE industry is not healthy for any city, even las vegas with gambling. Besides the fact that there are thousands of legal gambling alternatives all over the us, from casinos to off track-betting, the problem is that a one-trick pony does not a circus make. Not only does it keep the collective skill level down per hospitality, ala Orlando, there is always a chance the tourists really will stop coming. Shortly after sep 11, 2001, there was a great dropoff for a year, than it slowly came back. Never, ever count on any single industry staying forever. And the main point is, in a one-industry town, when that industry goes, you have a ghost town left, like the old mining towns in the past, or Detroit in the present...............
Did you just drive up? I think I can still hear the echo of your car door slamming. This idea of economic diversity in Nevada has been debated for at least 60 years. Here are a couple of things you may not be aware of. Las Vegas is more dependent on the rich high roller, especially those from other countries, than on the average middle-class American. But whenever the economy is bad, people get depressed and head for places like Las Vegas to cheer themselves up. It's human nature for people to spend their money on entertainment during bad times. As far as diversity, the best kept secret of Nevada is that mining is the second largest employer to the service industry. But thanks to gaming, Nevada has survived and even flourished when the economy of the rest of the country was in the tank. There is a lot more diversity here than there was 30 years ago, and a lot more than many residents realize. But even if there was another industry on the magnitude of gaming, if anything happened to gaming it would kill everything else anyway. I'm curious as to what people think Las Vegas should do to end it's reliance on gaming.
Gaming is wrong as a basis for one reason....it is flim-flamming your fellow man. Follow my logic..considering that all gaves of chance are to shake rubes of every penny, much like the micky finns administered in dives on the south side of Chicago when Al Capone ruled the roost, it is wrong to base an entire cities survival on what is essentially a giant game of three-card-monte. It is a sin to jive your fellow man, regardless of how many comped rooms or swag the MGM Grand man tosses your way. Steve Wynn tosses you baubles, and you hand over your bank account. Sorta like Mardi Gras, except, instead of tossing beads, the casino flashes baubles at you. Then the tourist rubes do the equivalent of flashing b**bs, by whipping our their bank account. Vages is based on sin......the sin of hookers, the mustang ranch, chicago mobsters, illicit gambling, and really bad buffet food..........BTW, stay away from the Circus Circus cafe. A 300 pound woman from the upper peninsula of Michigan broke my left foot fighting to get past me to the tuna friccase. Or was that chicken surprise? Hmmmm, forgot......well, like I was sayin', Vegas is a mean, evil, place of sin. And really hot in the summer too! Yipes!
https://pics3.city-data.com/cpicc/cfiles32084.jpg (broken link)
Gaming is wrong as a basis for one reason....it is flim-flamming your fellow man. Follow my logic..considering that all gaves of chance are to shake rubes of every penny, much like the micky finns administered in dives on the south side of Chicago when Al Capone ruled the roost, it is wrong to base an entire cities survival on what is essentially a giant game of three-card-monte. It is a sin to jive your fellow man, regardless of how many comped rooms or swag the MGM Grand man tosses your way. Steve Wynn tosses you baubles, and you hand over your bank account. Sorta like Mardi Gras, except, instead of tossing beads, the casino flashes baubles at you. Then the tourist rubes do the equivalent of flashing b**bs, by whipping our their bank account. Vages is based on sin......the sin of hookers, the mustang ranch, chicago mobsters, illicit gambling, and really bad buffet food..........BTW, stay away from the Circus Circus cafe. A 300 pound woman from the upper peninsula of Michigan broke my left foot fighting to get past me to the tuna friccase. Or was that chicken surprise? Hmmmm, forgot......well, like I was sayin', Vegas is a mean, evil, place of sin. And really hot in the summer too! Yipes!
https://pics3.city-data.com/cpicc/cfiles32084.jpg (broken link)
my suggestion to you would be for YOU to stay away from vegas than.
you logic cannot be followed as it is flawed from the start. namely, you equate all gaming w/ an unwinnable game (aka 3-card monte). while there was/is undoubtedly some rigging of the games to decrease the odds of winning, they can be won.
this is not a nanny state....it is called gambling for a reason - people know there is a chance of losing the money they are playing w/....that is part of the 'thrill'. they play for the chance of winning, the free drinks, the atmosphere of las vegas. maybe LV took YOU as a rube, but most people know they will lose when they play.
it's a sin! so is life. so is being a racist. you should really inspect your house for glass before you start throwing stones. (and what the hell do the pictures you just posted have to do w/ LV? nothing, as it is clearly not vegas...but we see what you did there...you gonna edit this too?)
I don't understand why everyone has to be such asses when it comes to debating Las Vegas. Although I don't agree with every point southwest1230 made, especially how he made it, I can't say I disagree with most of what he said. A racist for showing a fatman who happens to be black eating a fat hamburger? How hypersensitive we have become. I, a part-hispanic hiding behind my computer screen, was also called a racist for my views on illegal immigration. I don't know what this person looks like, nor do I care. What if he's black? What if that's him? Is he still a racist? Why do you care?
Like it or not, Las Vegas isn't much different than Detroit. The main exception is that we have gaming, they had industry, and gaming isn't leaving. Thank god for that and all the $12,000 to $25,000/year jobs that they bring into the state.
Buzz made some points that were relevant at one time, but are not anymore. Regarding employment, have you checked lately? We are now ahead of the national unemployment average. Thanks to our other pony, construction. This place wasn't always wine and roses. Remember the 80s? Construction sucked then too, and it was hard to make a living here unless you worked in a casino. Don't forget Buzz, many people come here to end their lives too. It's a good place to destroy yourself too.
All that said, anyone who comes here, gambles, loses, good for you, you deserve it. If you haven't realized that these casinos were not built by the locals for our pleasure, or by your winnings, then you deserve to lose.
The only thing missing from this topic has been the obligitory, "southwest1230, if you don't like it, why don't you leave, or not come anymore, or go back to where you came from, etc." I'm disappointed that I had to say it for everyone.
I don't understand why everyone has to be such asses when it comes to debating Las Vegas. Although I don't agree with every point southwest1230 made, especially how he made it, I can't say I disagree with most of what he said. A racist for showing a fatman who happens to be black eating a fat hamburger? How hypersensitive we have become. I, a part-hispanic hiding behind my computer screen, was also called a racist for my views on illegal immigration. I don't know what this person looks like, nor do I care. What if he's black? What if that's him? Is he still a racist? Why do you care?
Like it or not, Las Vegas isn't much different than Detroit. The main exception is that we have gaming, they had industry, and gaming isn't leaving. Thank god for that and all the $12,000 to $25,000/year jobs that they bring into the state.
Buzz made some points that were relevant at one time, but are not anymore. Regarding employment, have you checked lately? We are now ahead of the national unemployment average. Thanks to our other pony, construction. This place wasn't always wine and roses. Remember the 80s? Construction sucked then too, and it was hard to make a living here unless you worked in a casino. Don't forget Buzz, many people come here to end their lives too. It's a good place to destroy yourself too.
All that said, anyone who comes here, gambles, loses, good for you, you deserve it. If you haven't realized that these casinos were not built by the locals for our pleasure, or by your winnings, then you deserve to lose.
The only thing missing from this topic has been the obligitory, "southwest1230, if you don't like it, why don't you leave, or not come anymore, or go back to where you came from, etc." I'm disappointed that I had to say it for everyone.
whoa whoa...i apologize if that section of my comments were misleading (and looking again at it, it was a bit).
the racist comment had to do w/ a post earlier characterizing the residents of NLV 100% animal (go back a page or two)...the post was subsequently edited but it remains in my reply.
as for why i care, hard to say. i guess i'd rather say something than say nothing...if i am off base, sw1230 is welcome to correct me. i just question the "good for my fellowman, gambling = sinnin' etc." comments given some of the previous posts.
my comment on the pictures was in question to their relevance w/ respect to the post (a fat man eating a hamburger and a restaurant that has little to do w/ casinos, gambling, or from the looks of it LV in general)
and that main exception you give for the difference between detroit and LV is a HUGE difference. it's a shame what has happened to detroit, but to say that LV and detroit aren't that different just illustrates you have never been to detroit.
also you clearly didn't read my whole post...my first line was basically if you don't like it here don't come here (or words to that effect) so you don't have to be disappointed...it was already said.
Nice job Guinessjim. I agree that Detroit isn't Las Vegas. However I do think that we are a one-trick poney, like Detroit was. The difference is our pony isn't leaving. That is the only difference, and what makes this place livable. Our population is largely uneducated, and we have a mostly undiversified economy. I used Detroit as an example, a bad example. What I meant is, without gaming, our economy wouldn't be much different than a typical Midwest post-industrial town. We have a largely unskilled, uneducated populace. We don't produce or manufacture anything. We don't have any other industry to speak of besides tourism. We had construction, but that appears to be in rapid decline (finally). I'm not knocking Las Vegas, even though it is a knock, but for a population this big, we should be more economically diversified. I find it to be a strange phenomenom that we have become so big by producing so little. Good for us our pony is named tourism and gaming, and not manufacturing. I wish we had some more ponies though.
Nice job Guinessjim. I agree that Detroit isn't Las Vegas. However I do think that we are a one-trick poney, like Detroit was. The difference is our pony isn't leaving. That is the only difference, and what makes this place livable. Our population is largely uneducated, and we have a mostly undiversified economy. I used Detroit as an example, a bad example. What I meant is, without gaming, our economy wouldn't be much different than a typical Midwest post-industrial town. We have a largely unskilled, uneducated populace. We don't produce or manufacture anything. We don't have any other industry to speak of besides tourism. We had construction, but that appears to be in rapid decline (finally). I'm not knocking Las Vegas, even though it is a knock, but for a population this big, we should be more economically diversified. I find it to be a strange phenomenom that we have become so big by producing so little. Good for us our pony is named tourism and gaming, and not manufacturing. I wish we had some more ponies though.
Interesting discussion on NPR this AM...repeats tonight. University guy points out is that one of the reasons we did not get a piece of the technical pie was that UNR, the Regents and the north blocked any technical initatives from UNLV. I did not realize it but UNLV did not give a four year degree until the 60s. They were basically a sub-campus of UNR. When option to create support for the test site and such they flew people in from Reno rather than allow UNLV the role.
Maybe it is time we returned the favor? Maybe restricts professorships in UNR or move some of their colleges? Continue until 75% of the University money is spent in LV?
I would agree our distribution is skewed to the unskilled end...but maybe we should take some initiatives to fix that over the next 50 years. I think the industry is tourism rather than gambling and is much more stable than gambling would be. Easy to add gambling to other cities. The whole complex is close to being unreproducible.
this town is unlivable because it is based on ****ing over the next person, just a giant scam, New Years eve my lease is up and I cant WAIT to get the **** out of here, my only regret is to many bad things happened in my time here such as my dog losing a limb at the hands of a disgusting greedy probably in debt because of gambling Veterinarian and I dont think I could ever forgive myself
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so you don't have to be disappointed...it was already said.
