[SharkyV12]

Hawaii has been trying to get away from a 'visitor' dependant economy for decades, good luck with that. In the end you go with what works, if that's visitors, then vacation homes at attractive prices is working with you got.

[tijlover]

Originally Posted by JDinNV

That about sums it up. Our local economy needs to diversify. Real estate and gambling alone won't sustain us. We need something else.

Now let's take a look at the states with well-diversified economies with an unemployment rate as high as ours if not higher. Like California, South Carolina, Oregon. What guarantees do we have with a diversified economy?

[Yeti]

At first glance, manufacturing seems like a good industry to court. Small scale, no union presence, many unskilled workers just looking to punch a clock for 8 hours. Small shops or a Toyota plant would probably do good here. I think the heat would be an issue though. I have been in many shops that were miserable in 80 degree Michigan heat, I cant imagine a manufacturing plant out here in July when its 120 outside ..... !

A UPS hub or a FedEx hub would be a good start, but our airport is too busy ....

[KonaKat]

Originally Posted by RedRockAAAA

Wow, that was all very helpful, thank you.

Now, back to the point of what we can do right now to reduce the number of houses on the market and utilize the assets we currently have, casinos.

Any non-depressing resonses?

Maybe to repeat ... how to get out of the crisis, while not instantly fixing every problem Nevada has ever had.

Somehow promote and attract industry. I mean plants that build goods, or provide a business service; not gambling or construction. A lot of businesses did locate their corporate headquarters in NV because of no state income tax and other benefits. But no real industry exists in NV except gaming. How to change that, I have no clue, but if the idea is to diversify and attract legitimate economic stimulus, I'd start with how to do it.

[Buzz123]

Do you people think that none of this is going on? It has been going on for many more years than any of you have been here. The city and state leaders have been trying to diversify for decades. You cannot put a gun to someones head and make them leave another state and move to Nevada. One of the big issues is the fact that so many here did not even finish high school. There are many other issues to overcome, most of which takes time and money. Someone else's money. You are trying to oversimplify it...and I'm one that always says all answers are basically simple. It will work itself out. It always has and it always will. We've been in the same boat before. What is wrong with tourism being the primary industry anyway? It's what we do best, let's not weaken it, lets promote what we have. It will never go out of style. It's like prostitution and lawyers. You can't get rid of them. You know, if you got it , flaunt it.

Besides, there are many other industries here, but the average person doesn't see them because they don't know where to look. Maybe they are looking for big factories with smokestacks or something. While working with employers placing people in jobs that the State helped train them for I was at times amazed at the variety of jobs available here.

Instead of looking for an ad campaign to promote Las Vegas real estate, look for the money to pay for it...whatever it is. Besides, this is mental Moderator cut: getting around profanity filter is against TOS anyway since no one here has any means to actually accomplish any of these wonderful ideas.

[tijlover]

I grew up in a virtually one-industry town, Rochester/Minnesota, with the Mayo Clinic and Hospitals there. Outside of that, there's an IBM facility. That's it! In a city of 100,000 almost 12,000+ work in the medical field.

When I lived there, my economic geography professor in college, told of all the Fortune 500 companies that really wanted to build a plant there, but the city was in privileged position of saying they weren't interested.

I say, stay on track! Add more fun to the Strip. Pool all of our ideas to get people to come here, recession or no recession. And advertise the city more to hikers (20 hikes in the Spring Mountians alone, and 40 at Red Rock) and to those interested in all the other attractions within a hundred miles of Las Vegas. And let them come back to the Strip at night.

And, I know I'm repeating myself, a Palm Springs type aerial tramway to the top of Mt. Charleston for the tourists. If they really knew what kind of a view they'd be offered from up there, in the summer time, they'd willingly pay $100 for the experience. As good as any show on the Strip.

[SharkyV12]

...no one here has any means to actually accomplish any of these wonderful ideas.

Don't underestimate the power of a grass roots movement! People talking about something was a prime factor in getting Obama elected, for example.

Hawaii HAS diversified a lot and we do have some neat high tech stuff going on here, constantly trying to draw in more. At the end of the day however, the visitor industry remains absolutely crucial to the states survival. I suspect that will always be the case for Vegas as well. The military presence here is also big business. Which, I would assume, is critical to the Vegas economy as well (Nellis).

[Buzz123]

Originally Posted by tijlover

I grew up in a virtually one-industry town, Rochester/Minnesota, with the Mayo Clinic and Hospitals there. Outside of that, there's an IBM facility. That's it! In a city of 100,000 almost 12,000+ work in the medical field.

When I lived there, my economic geography professor in college, told of all the Fortune 500 companies that really wanted to build a plant there, but the city was in privileged position of saying they weren't interested.

I say, stay on track! Add more fun to the Strip. Pool all of our ideas to get people to come here, recession or no recession. And advertise the city more to hikers (20 hikes in the Spring Mountains alone, and 40 at Red Rock) and to those interested in all the other attractions within a hundred miles of Las Vegas. And let them come back to the Strip at night.

And, I know I'm repeating myself, a Palm Springs type aerial tramway to the top of Mt. Charleston for the tourists. If they really knew what kind of a view they'd be offered from up there, in the summer time, they'd willingly pay $100 for the experience. As good as any show on the Strip.

I agree with what you say except for the tram idea on Mt. Charleston. I'd agree that a tram to the top of Black Mountain or Frenchman Mountain might be a good thing, but not Charleston. First of all it has a wilderness designation which means nothing at all is allowed to be built. Secondly, it would be a disaster to the ecology of the mountain. In fact I feel guilty singing the praises of hiking up there. The ecology system of the Spring Mountains couldn't stand the stress of all these millions of people "discovering" it. $100 a ride? I don't think so. Even the Sandia Peak Tram, the world's longest, only charges $10.00 to 17.50. Anyway, who would benefit? There would be very few employees. Rates & Tickets (http://www.sandiapeak.com/index.php?page=rates-tickets-2 - broken link)
People want to see the top of Mt. Charleston it's best that they walk up, and people from all over the world do just that. So it's well known. Maybe too well.

I think that most people don't realize the 100's of millions of dollars that are spent on advertising Las Vegas annually, by not only the individual hotels, but the LVVCA too. They buy spots on radio & TV, magazine and newspaper ads, billboards, internet sites, direct mail, bus wraps, and taxi ad carriers, all over the world.

[tijlover]

Best to walk up to the top?

That excludes the handicapped, the many-many who are too out-of-shape or too old to do the climb who will never be able to see those priceless views from up there. And it need not go to the top of the mountain, just to the Meadows at 11,000 feet would be sufficient for those glorious views to the west of Death Valley and the Sierra Mountain range.

I love hiking the South Loop Trail up there, but everytime I get up there, I think of all those that will forever be excluded from sharing these views. It's just not fair!

If the many tourists who wouldn't bat an eye at paying $100 to see a show on the Strip, would they bat an eye at paying $100 or $75 for an exciting tram ride? I don't think so!

I'm sure there could be a way of minimizing the trashing on the mountain.

[Jonotastic]

A lot of the problem has to do with the current low rates. I invested my money into LVS (Las Vegas Sands) and was listening to their first quarter earnings report and their occupancy is doing well, however they are aren't making much money due to the low ADR and discounts/freebies. Mix that into high loan payments = losses in the millions. Giving more discounts etc I don't think is the kind of help they need, it may hurt the resorts more once the economy returns because people will expect these lower rates.