[vegaslocal55]

Originally Posted by jfkIII

If LV refuses to provide the old-fashioned value, tourism will steadily decline. That, in itself, won't force the 37 other states to ban casinos...but it may force the million-plus to leave town. I used to go to LV EVERY year...sometimes twice in a year. Haven't been there since 2007...yet wife and I just bought a timeshare in Orlando...and we'll be there next month.

My wife and I are just 2 less visitors per year. You do the extrapolation.

Geez, JFK, get a life! You haven't been here in 3 years & you're posting negative info (often?) on the LV site? Get lost!

[airics]

Originally Posted by vegaslocal55

geez, jfk, get a life! You haven't been here in 3 years & you're posting negative info (often?) on the lv site? Get lost!

I second that!

[Deezus]

Originally Posted by jfkIII

The future of Las Vegas...is in its past. Plain and simple.

You mean let the Italian Mafia and Jewish gangsters run the town again? I agree--you read about Vegas in the 50s, the Mob ran the town like clockwork.

[Willy702]

Originally Posted by jfkIII

If LV refuses to provide the old-fashioned value, tourism will steadily decline. That, in itself, won't force the 37 other states to ban casinos...but it may force the million-plus to leave town. I used to go to LV EVERY year...sometimes twice in a year. Haven't been there since 2007...yet wife and I just bought a timeshare in Orlando...and we'll be there next month.

My wife and I are just 2 less visitors per year. You do the extrapolation.

There are plenty of places which do that, but the problem is everyone expect it from Wynn or City Center. Sorry its not going to happen. But hard to argue you aren't getting value from the lower cost hotels on the Strip. Ballys is a perfectly good hotel in an amazing location for rates you'll never see in most cities, but then people ***** about it not having a $3 buffet or whatever. You just can't please these people.

I just can't believe you think Orlando offers more value. How can Orlando offer better value when Disney isn't exactly sharing its profits to keep hotel rates down or subsidize food offerings?

[ChrisKLAS]

Not speaking to the local economy, I find LVD's notion that we're somehow headed for a national economic collapse to be fearmongering, at best. My small business "survived" the great recession, posting banner quarters in all but 1Q 2009, and sales over the past 6 months have been overwhelmingly outstanding.

Thanks to the great recession, my fiance and I were able to purchase the house of our dreams (almost 6k sqft, 4 car garage, pool table lounge w/ bar, almost an acre) here in Las Vegas at a 70% discount off what the place sold for in 06. In cash.

My business is in low to mid-range price collectibles (anywhere from $25 to $100 per item), so obviously someone out there has dispensable income to purchase these miniature airplanes. We're also heavily involved in the advertising industry (I own and operate 8 websites totaling about 500,000 unique visitors per day which operate on the ad revenue they generate), and though that did take a pretty good hit when the bottom fell out, it's slowly recovered and we're now exceeding the revenue we had before the great collapse.

I put quite a chunk of change into LV Sands stock back when everyone was panicking and the stock was under $5/share. It's at $32 now, and I'm sitting pretty.

Union Pacific has pulled 900 mothballed railroad locomotives out of storage in the past 3 months as they were needed to keep up with increasing freight demand. More moving freight trains is a good sign for the economy.

Airfares are on the rise due to pent up demand, and hotel bookings nationwide are up.

Point is, though there are mixed signals everywhere, the news isn't all bad, at least on the national scale. Vegas... that's another story.

[olecapt]

Ahh comeon guys. This video guy is a card carrying idiot. He lacks the ability to differentiate between the collapse of the free market system driven by "greed" and government interference. Got bias tatooed all over him.

Notice that every frigging scene is set in some dismal sand lot? You been around Las Vegas? Sure there are some...but everywhere?
In time Vegas will come back just fine. It is actually weathering the storm reasonably well...though not helped like this sort of jerk who discourages the recovery.

The ship is righting...it is not going to sink this time. It is going to come charging back.

My big fear is that the development turkeys will get going again. I would hope we could contain growth to what we need to support the economy...but I fear growth will again become the second industry. I wish we could learn.

But send this turkey back to LA.

And JFK...we can and will live without you. Your loss. And five years out you will be bitching about that condo you could have bought.

[Spraynard Kruger]

Originally Posted by olecapt

He lacks the ability to differentiate between the collapse of the free market system driven by "greed" and government interference. Got bias tatooed all over him.

While he wasn't the most articulate fellow, the bubble was engineered from cradle to grave with money pumped by the feds channeled through banks. There's no denying that.

The taxpayer consequence due to the actions of the supposed free market is also undeniable.

The number one flaw in the reporting was the assumption of a further economic collapse. The video was also shot some time ago when things were a bit more precarious.

But it was biased, no doubt. It probably came from one of the doom and gloom conspiracy theorist websites.

Regardless, being a Pollyanna regarding the Vegas economy bouncing back better than ever is equally ridiculous. Your fears regarding growth as our second industry are well-founded and will likely prove true. We're poised to pump the credit bubble up all over again. The GSE's are still unstable and channeling funnymoney.

There is no sense in predicting the future, but I see the good and the bad. The glass is half full....for now.

[lyra33]

To me the housing market is twisted because builders, although losing money, simply change their selling price while home owners/investors do not have that luxury. Not to mention the overbuilding caused a lot of the problem as well.

[Robustus]

Originally Posted by Spraynard Kruger

We're poised to pump the credit bubble up all over again.

Yup. I highly doubt America has sufficiently learned the lesson... Also, as someone who recently went through getting a mortgage in Las Vegas, I should note that it *should* have been more difficult. Yeah, I had to provide plenty of documentation, etc (more than most since I'm self-employed), but the system is inherently flawed in that I only ever interfaced with a mortgage broker who gets paid on commission. The underwriter (who worked for the same company) never met me. Shouldn't the person whose job is on the line if the loan goes bad be the one who actually evaluates me? Improper incentives still abound.

Plus, my loan was also instantly packaged and sold to a big bank. Before I even signed my closing papers (the fact that this had been done was *in* my closing docs)!

[tom_c]

Originally Posted by ChrisKLAS

My business is in low to mid-range price collectibles (anywhere from $25 to $100 per item), so obviously someone out there has dispensable income to purchase these miniature airplanes. .

Got any Piper Cherokees?

Las Vegas future is being built on the Eldorado Dry Lake bed to start. Moving into things like renewable energy is just one way to diversify and it's already happening.

Solar power plants in the Mojave Desert - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://www.accessclarkcounty.com/dep...mentReport.pdf
ACCIONA North America
Nevada Solar One, Boulder City, Nevada :: POWER Magazine :: Page 1 of 4

If Las Vegas moves even further into renewable energy technologies it should attract other tech companies to Las Vegas. This will begin providing a more diversified economy and demands for more effective education and health care. What it will do is make Nevada far less dependent on tourism and gaming and make a far more solid and stable economy.