[NLVgal]

Originally Posted by jtjtjtjt

Correct. You are more likely to soak in entrepreneurial skills by osmosis if you live in silicon valley or Seattle.

With all the complaints about what is lacking in Vegas, I've yet to hear anyone complain about not having an NFL team or NBA team. We know the NFL is not the biggest supporter of gambling and actively downplays any relation between the NFL and gambling so that explains why the NFL doesn't want a team here.

But the NBA? I would think they would be here. And players would play here at a discount, same as they do with LA and Miami. The NBA is not gambling adverse, they even have a lottery in their draft pick procedure! (some would say they have even "fixed" their lottery sometimes with the Patrick Ewing pick. So they would be a perfect fit for Vegas.)

I'm sure if you could measure the I.Q. of everyone in the city, Seattle or Boston would have a collective higher number than Vegas. L.A. would be lower, IMHO due to smog causing brain damage there. But I'm just guessing on that. But L.A. does have the best looking people there. My theory on that is that the most attractive people from all over the country go to Hollywood to try to break into show business. Most fail but stay in L.A., get married, have kids that are good looking.

We had NBA All-stars weekend here. Once.

Vegas did not like them, and the feeling was mutual. This was a basketball town at one point, when Tark was in charge of the Rebels, but that was a LONG time ago.

[lvoc]

Originally Posted by fortwaynebandit

(Native Nevada here)

Comparing Vegas to a steel mill town of 40 or more years ago is a false analogy. Steel mill workers were paid high wages which allowed them to purchase homes and they had pensions which (if they lived long enough or had survivors) would pay them a small stipend for the remainder of their lives. While casinos offer 401ks (which have been a sad joke for nearly a decade) they do not offer pensions, nor can most of their employees earn enough to ever purchase a home. The majority live in apartments,drive older vehicles and have no savings.

You simply don't know what you are talking about. Culinary members have defined benefit plans and reasonable salaries. They virtually all buy homes.

Check the employee parking lots some times.

The average Vegan has $4,000 more per year in income than does the average household in Fort Wayne. Make more than the average household in either Phoenix or Tucson.

Las Vegas also pays lip service to "professional work" but does little to attract it. Zappos is essentially a store and a warehouse; it's not a "game changer" in the business world. There are few other major employers in the city outside of the casinos and there likely never will be. If corporations weren't attracted by Nevada's low wages,low taxes and right to work laws in the 1980s or 1990s, they would hardly be interested now when the have an entire world in which to locate their operations. Additionally,the casinos don't want higher paying work in the area as it would drain away their best workers (most people have no desire to work in a casino and the majority can see where it wouldn't be a long-term proposition)

Even the service industry depends upon a steady stream of clients to keep things going. Most tourists to Las Vegas never leave Downtown or The Strip. That means local businesses have to cater to locals who have limited discretionary incomes. That also means that those business' profits are never going to be that high as low-paid workers barely have enough survive much spend on anything more than basic and essentials.

Las Vegas is, and always has been, a boom town. While that worked greater in the 1960s-1990s, things have begun to tail off. While there are a few bright lights, they aren't enough to sustain a population over a million,many of who are retirees or long-term unemployed who are neither working, nor paying much in taxes. Without a significant industry coming to Las Vegas and paying above standard wages for decades, the city's tax base will continue to shrink and eventually, so will the city.

It that respect, it will be like the cities in Midwest.

Once in a while you run into someone who gets something wrong. But this collection takes the cake. Nothing stated is correct. The tax intake of the cities is growing reasonably quickly and will continue to do so over the next years. With the exception of NLV, who got way to ambitious at the wrong time, everybody is in pretty good shape. The schools are funded at less than a desirable rate but that is a historic peculiarity of the SW. And the basic facts remain...the Las Vegas worker is paid better than those in Phoenix, Tucson or Fort Wayne.

[logline]

Think we

[Kitchen Witch]

Well, here's more info



Economic report shows Las Vegas growth, optimism are on the rise | Las Vegas Review-Journal

[SoHoVe]

Good articles!

I hadn't been back until this year for almost 5 years and. Was kind of leary of what I would find but inspite of everything that took place I really thought the city (westside at least) looked FAR better than it had when I left.
Soooo many improvements...I got the same feeling I did when I first visited on my way to somewhere else 16 years ago and the feeling was "wow, nice, I would love to live here".

I had NO IDEA though how many projects had been completed since I left and until I came back to CD I had no idea the state was still increasing in population. I'm pretty encouraged by all of this. As an outsider all the national media seems to focus on (for the most part) is the bad.

I see Vegas coming back better than before...not suggesting insane housing appreciation or anything of that nature but better as in more of a place people will want to stay, not for easy money but for quality of life. At least I hope so.

[Datafeed]

Originally Posted by Kitchen Witch

Well, here's more info



Economic report shows Las Vegas growth, optimism are on the rise | Las Vegas Review-Journal

Lol...that;s like citing wikipedia in a term paper.

[Kitchen Witch]

Originally Posted by Datafeed

Lol...that;s like citing wikipedia in a term paper.

Lol, if the article was completely negative anti-Las Vegas posters would be jumping up and down proclaiming that "finally someone legitimate is telling the truth!"

[SoHoVe]

Originally Posted by Datafeed

Lol...that;s like citing wikipedia in a term paper.

Actually there is a college textbook they use at Northwestern that cites wikipedia.

Lol

[fortwaynebandit]

Originally Posted by lvoc

You simply don't know what you are talking about. Culinary members have defined benefit plans and reasonable salaries. They virtually all buy homes.

Ahhh.....most are either ill-suited for culinary work or they simply have no interest in doing it. Also, there are a finite number of culinary workers needed which means that there are only few jobs open at any given time. Finally, the restaurant business in notoriously unstable. That's why the turnover rate is so high. Anybody watching Gordon Ramsay knows that.

"Virtually all " buying homes is an inaccurate overstatement. Banks will only to lend long-term employees with low levels of personal debt the money necessary to buy homes. If they owe 50-100k for culinary school loans there is no way that they are ever going to get a mortgage until that debt is paid down to reasonable limits. That could be 10-15 years for most people or longer. Also, the type of car that person drives is never a sign of good financial health or even solid employment.

Most casino employees are poorly paid and they struggle along or work two jobs to survive. That has always been the way that Las Vegas was, even during the boom years which are now well in the past.

[lvoc]

Originally Posted by fortwaynebandit

Ahhh.....most are either ill-suited for culinary work or they simply have no interest in doing it. Also, there are a finite number of culinary workers needed which means that there are only few jobs open at any given time. Finally, the restaurant business in notoriously unstable. That's why the turnover rate is so high. Anybody watching Gordon Ramsay knows that.

"Virtually all " buying homes is an inaccurate overstatement. Banks will only to lend long-term employees with low levels of personal debt the money necessary to buy homes. If they owe 50-100k for culinary school loans there is no way that they are ever going to get a mortgage until that debt is paid down to reasonable limits. That could be 10-15 years for most people or longer. Also, the type of car that person drives is never a sign of good financial health or even solid employment.

Most casino employees are poorly paid and they struggle along or work two jobs to survive. That has always been the way that Las Vegas was, even during the boom years which are now well in the past.

You remain woefully misinformed. There are roughly 100,000 people employed on the strip in the Casino Industry. Around half are members of the Culinary or Bartenders Union. All of the employees have pension plans with the union members of the defined benefit sort.

The total pay package of strip employees is about $40,000. That includes benefits but does not include tips.

Those who make a career out of the strip virtually always purchase a home. They make more than enough and generally have two incomes.