[Winterfall8324]

People live where civilization is allowed (the three river settlements, etc).

The south east has forests and green pasture, the north east has rivers, the midwest has the great-lakes, and the pacific coast has the fertile Mediterranean soil.

Unless there is an alternative form of living like the indigenous desert tribes in Saudi Arabia, should we have a highly developed modern city in the middle of the desert?

The land is cheap, but the people drain resources from elsewhere and hurt the nation as a whole.

It is also a sad place, suburban sprawl, lack of communal areas, no rooted history, and a strip packed with tourists celebrating degeneracy.

The people don't like it either, they are lower middle class people trying to live an upper middle class lifestyle.

But even philosophically there is something wrong with people living beyond there means, or trying to recreate a lifestyle that is not their own.

I think Las Vegas was a mistake, from a time when the hoover dam made people think anything is possible, and mobsters needed a place to funnel their money.

That is not natural place to live, and it's time has long passed. With the pandemic people are losing hope, because Vegas was never a real community to begin with.

[Svoboda]

You think most of this is somehow unique to Las Vegas?

You damn near just described every city and town in America just to varying degrees. I've lived in the Pacific Northwest and Midwest and could make the same statements save for them being desert landscape and having massive tourism like the Strip.

[Winterfall8324]

Originally Posted by Svoboda

You think most of this is somehow unique to Las Vegas?

You damn near just described every city and town in America just to varying degrees. I've lived in the Pacific Northwest and Midwest and could make the same statements save for them being desert landscape and having massive tourism like the Strip.

There is a spectrum.

There are definitely plenty of examples in the mountain west.

However resort towns like Park City, Aspen, etc. are more like Brettonwood NH, and there existence is more than justified.

However for major cities, Las Vegas is the poster child for this problem.

It was first created for the mafia.

Now it exists for people who can't afford a middle class lifestyle in a normal city, but artificially inflating the material life of people is drain on this country (both in terms of our resources and social organization).

And the people in Vegas aren't better off for it, this model of living needs to end.

People can still dwell in the deserts, but then they will have to live like the desert tribes, they shouldn't be subsidized by opportunistic real-estate developers and the hoover dam.

[longviewJoe]

Originally Posted by Winterfall8324

People live where civilization is allowed (the three river settlements, etc).

The south east has forests and green pasture, the north east has rivers, the midwest has the great-lakes, and the pacific coast has the fertile Mediterranean soil.

Unless there is an alternative form of living like the indigenous desert tribes in Saudi Arabia, should we have a highly developed modern city in the middle of the desert?

The land is cheap, but the people drain resources from elsewhere and hurt the nation as a whole.

It is also a sad place, suburban sprawl, lack of communal areas, no rooted history, and a strip packed with tourists celebrating degeneracy.

The people don't like it either, they are lower middle class people trying to live an upper middle class lifestyle.

But even philosophically there is something wrong with people living beyond there means, or trying to recreate a lifestyle that is not their own.

I think Las Vegas was a mistake, from a time when the hoover dam made people think anything is possible, and mobsters needed a place to funnel their money.

That is not natural place to live, and it's time has long passed. With the pandemic people are losing hope, because Vegas was never a real community to begin with.

Too deep for me. I personally like it and since about two million people live down there I don't see it changing anytime soon.

[Winterfall8324]

Originally Posted by longviewJoe

Too deep for me. I personally like it and since about two million people live down there I don't see it changing anytime soon.

Hasn't covid struck badly?

I think as an individual you can be satisfied, but there is no community or economy holding it together.

Just a little more pressure and the house of cards will collapse. Besides, it uses too much water.

[longviewJoe]

Originally Posted by Winterfall8324

Hasn't covid struck badly?

I think as an individual you can be satisfied, but there is no community or economy holding it together.

Just a little more pressure and the house of cards will collapse. Besides, it uses too much water.

It struck everywhere badly.

Community is fine.

Many places in the west need more water.

All is fine. The sky is not falling.

[lvmensch]

Originally Posted by Winterfall8324

Hasn't covid struck badly?

I think as an individual you can be satisfied, but there is no community or economy holding it together.

Just a little more pressure and the house of cards will collapse. Besides, it uses too much water.

Simply nonsense. Las Vegas easily has enough water for another million people and may well be able to conserve and do better than that.

Perfectly reasonable city with a mission of providing communication and entertainment to the US..

[bayview6]

Yes.