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twitterNot much to celebrate this Nevada Day
At 145, the Silver State seems to be in even worse shape than last year
Chris Morris
Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009 | 2 a.m.
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- Nevada turns 144, but what's to celebrate? (10-31-2008)
Sun Special Section
CARSON CITY — It’s another miserable birthday for Nevada.
As the state marks its 145th year of statehood this Nevada Day, residents can reflect on the wreckage of the past 12 months. An unprecedented number of Nevadans lost their jobs, lost their houses and turned to a struggling government for help. Generally, the state felt like it was going nowhere fast.
On Nevada Day 2008, leaders statewide in politics, economics and culture surveyed by the Sun acknowledged the state was struggling. But none predicted how far we would fall.
Conditions 12 months ago now seem like a relative Eden compared with the state’s current fix.
Unemployment was 7.4 percent. Today it’s 13.3 percent, the second highest in the nation.
Gaming revenue had been in decline for eight months. That streak now stands at 20 months, with the latest receipts down nearly 10 percent from last year’s depressed numbers.
Political leaders have had their struggles. Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki stands indicted on four felony counts. Sen. John Ensign is under investigation for actions related to an affair he had with a campaign staff member and efforts to land lobbying work for her husband, who worked for the senator as a top aide.
Perhaps most troubling is what has happened to the state’s population growth, long a source of pride that Nevadans could cite as proof the state was a place that the country wanted to emulate.
Jeremy Aguero, a principal with the economic consulting firm Applied Analysis, estimates that last year Nevada was growing at rates from 1 percent to 1.5 percent. Now, he believes Nevada is shrinking.
“We’re in a deep economic recession, bordering on depression,” said Guy Rocha, a state historian and former state archivist. “People are hurting, and they’re hurting badly.”
Nevada’s unofficial cheerleader, Mayor Oscar Goodman, said: “It’s as bleak as it has been in my recollection.”
Many community leaders, while harboring private concerns, publicly want to stay upbeat.
They point to positive signs. CityCenter is set to open in December (after teetering toward a halt, like its fellow Strip properties Fontainebleau and Echelon.) The plunge in home values means Las Vegas is affordable again. And the sun continues to shine, making it an appealing destination for retirees escaping snowbound climes.
The national economy looks like it’s starting to rebound, and even if the resurgence hasn’t yet reached us, money in the pockets of people in Duluth means they’ll start to travel again and feed the slot machines that fund Nevada schools and spur job creation.
“We’re beginning to hear, more and more from business members, there’s a pulse out there,” said Veronica Meter, vice president of government relations for the Greater Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce. “People are more confident. They’re beginning to spend, beginning to invest again.”
The numbers don’t yet support that anecdotal evidence.
State economists said that for months, we have been “bouncing along the bottom.” Then came this week.
A major airline announced plans to cut almost in half its Las Vegas flights. Taxable sales, the measure of spending on most things other than groceries, fell nearly 25 percent in August from a year ago.
“Looking through the lens of where we have been over the last five years, you have to be depressed,” Aguero said. “What’s come into startling focus in some ways, this looks more like normal than what we experienced between 2005 and 2007.”
Still, he sees reasons for optimism.
Home prices have stabilized over four to five months, and sales have picked up.
He says the casino industry, which has slashed jobs, is due to hire back some of those workers. CityCenter, if it’s like previous major resort openings, will expand the tourism market rather than just cannibalize business from other Strip properties.
And, he points out, we remain a low-tax destination compared with states such as California. Nevada is an attractive place, he says, for businesses to relocate.
“I know I’m more optimistic than a lot of people, but the reason I am is that prosperity over the past 20 years is not an accident,” Aguero said. “It was not that we were at the right place at the right time. Good decisions were made.”
In the 1980s and 1990s, leaders chose to invest in the state’s infrastructure, building the Las Vegas Beltway and expanding McCarran International Airport.
“Hard choices were made to keep the state’s tax structure low. Maybe it’s too low. That’s a fair argument. But we can take advantage of being a low-cost alternative to places like California,” he said.
But Aguero admits that even if gaming comes back, the construction industry — residential, commercial and the building of megaresorts — won’t come back, leaving a gaping hole in the state economy.
William Anderson, chief economist of the state Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation, reported this month that construction boomed between 1997 and 2007, adding 48,000 jobs. Over the past two years, 50,000 jobs have been lost in that sector.
Uniformly, those interviewed for this story said that Nevada needs to diversify its economy. Some pointed to renewable energy projects and “green jobs.” Some pointed to the hope that the state’s universities could partner with private businesses to attract high-tech industries.
Rocha, the Nevada historian, called that wishful thinking.
The state, he argued, has long underfunded its education system, both at the university level and in primary grades. That has made getting the highly trained, highly skilled workers more difficult.
“We’ve not been concerned about the educational infrastructure,” he said. “Businesses will look and say, ‘Is it cheaper operate in my state than your state? Sure.’ Then they’ll look at the education system. You need it to support businesses, support families. They won’t come here.”
He predicted that Nevada will attract low-wage jobs, while high-tech companies looking for cheaper alternatives will choose Salt Lake City and Colorado.
Last year, Rocha told the Sun, “We can celebrate the past, but certainly not the present. And the future is doubtful.”
This year, he said, “it’s more true today than it was last year. We have made very little progress if we’ve made any progress whatsoever.”
“All these people trying to do happy-talk stuff, it’s deceptive. I mean, it’s free speech, but who pushes back? Who says the king has no clothes?”
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Guy is absolutely right. Check this quote last month from arch-Republican Bob Packwood:
"Do I think that a major business -- that its primary factor in locating a business is the tax structure in that state? I don't think that's the primary factor. Especially if you're any kind of a business that requires a relatively educated labor force, I think you would be more concerned with what kind of education, and if you're technical, what kind of physicists and engineers you turn out than what is the tax rate. Having said that, can the tax rate get high enough that if some company can make a decision between two states, and it's relatively equal in all other considerations, then the tax break can hurt you " If we really could afford a sensational higher education system that would be a greater factor in many businesses decisions."
"Many community leaders, while harboring private concerns, publicly want to stay upbeat."
As if it's the job of a "community leader" to treat the public like children who can't hand uncomfortable truths. We're adults. Just level with us. We'll have more respect for you if you play it straight, not cheerlead or understate the problems.
Of course, not even the Sun is playing it straight. There's no question that Krolicki and Ensign are in trouble, but no mention in this story that Harry Reid is fighting for his political life? His home poll numbers are as low as they've ever been, and he has wagered his party leadership on a vote he already knows he's going to lose (public option health-care takeover scheme).
At least Rocha talks some sense at the end and puts the happy-talk Sun in its place.
The article addresses the emotional forecast for the future, stating leadership is hopeful. Why not report the statistical forecast for the future?
The State of Nevada future budget shows a significant deficit for decades into the future. The insurmountable claims against the State by minoral claimants will be re-addressed when the claimants reach majoral age.
Given the State's liability carriers have maxed out policy limits, claimants can collect from the "insured's" assets, that is, the state's assets.
Additionally, Las Vegas resident Lavoni T. Kidd won a favorable decision giving him the right to collect damages from the "personal" assets of government employees committing malpractices.
ALERT - THE WRONGFUL DEATHS OF CHILDREN UNDER THE CURRENT ADMINISTRATION ROSE 200% THIS YEAR. YOUR RIGHT!
Lighten up. We're not exactly Calcutta now are we?
We'll never have decent education in this town as long as neanderthals like former, thank God former, senator Bob Beers praises those minor technical and medical helper schools such as the ones over on Gibson Road in Henderson. He once said they were part of our fine educational system. Not exactly MIT, Bob. I'm surprised he didn't throw in International Correspondence Schools in there as one of our better educational opportunities here in the Valley. Then again, with our sorry K-12 schools, ICS might be a real challenge to the small number of graduates. Thanks, Bob.
Finally a story where someone (Guy Rocha) points out the major flaw in the idea that we can just diversify and prosper. We're missing the foundational piece of a strong educational system. Do we have the funding and the determination to improve that system?
Does anybody know what the endowment is like at UNLV? Does it have an alumni base which does or could provide gifts to help move it to where it should be? What about other Nevada universities?
A recession is where people who want to work are not doing the things that the people who have income want to spend it on.
People were just living beyond their means by borrowing against the phantom equity in their houses. Now thats gone and there is just less money to spend and the economy contracts.
There was an inflated bubble, and it burst, simple as that. Businesses need to contract to suit the demand so they can stay in some sort of business at least. People need to change their spending habits back to more realistic and sustainable levels, which they are doing.
I think there is a relatively permanent 10% reduction in everything from the 'boomtime' levels. Whether we like it or not, there wont be "full employment" for a long time.
Many of the jobs that are left here in the USA are service jobs which are not really that important and are easily done without. We lost the manufacturing jobs awhile ago to peoples who will work for less money.
Cortez-Masto has been office almost three years and still has not gone to trial with Krolicki. How much has that cost the taxpayers of Nevada? Gibbons and Ensign are done and Harry will not let any person run against Rory. Two Reids on the ticket could be either the beginning of a Reid dynasty or the total control of Nevada by the Reid ideology. I love Nevada, where a county commissioner thinks their ready to run a State with no State experience but has Daddy's coat-tails to hold on to. Perhaps Dad can appoint you to a federal job if things don't work out in the election.
"The state has long underfunded its education system, both at the university level and in primary grades. That has made getting the highly trained, highly skilled workers more difficult."
"We've not been concerned about the educational infrastructure"
"Businesses will look and say, 'Is it cheaper operate in my state than your state? Sure.' Then they'll look at the education system. You need it to support businesses, support families. They won't come here."
"Nevada will attract low-wage jobs, while high-tech companies looking for cheaper alternatives will choose Salt Lake City and Colorado."
"It's more true today than it was last year. We have made very little progress if we've made any progress whatsoever."
I've been hearing these quotes for years........
We have a big mess to clean up and a serious hangover that needs to be addressed. We need to solve some major problems here very quickly here because we are being left behind. Good luck to all of my fellow Nevadan residents, we can move in the right direction.
This is a disturbing piece to read, as it suggests that the only savior for Nevada is diversification through attracting high tech businesses which need a solid educational foundation to support it. It seems to me that right next door California north and south is teeming with educated people who wouldn't think twice about relocating to Nevada if a nice high tech job beckons. The key here is to have the state's leaders do the proper sales job and whatever incentives are necessary to get more businesses here.
Ok, I'll say it:
The
KING
QUEEN
JACK
TEN
AND
ACE
HAVE NO CLOTHES.
No, in the future Nevada will rebound with the Strip Corridor, and the same gaming kings will be lauding the same high profile egos and Horatio stories-profiles, when in fact some were juiced ("chosen") from the get go in their careers in gaming. Certainly they have worked very, very hard, but some have had considerable help and consult.
This supply side (hotel room) success will permit future ultra fiscal conservatives to frown on public sector funding and tax policy as they continue to fund and influence-control Nevada public policy and the state juducial system.
Without diversity in leadership and ideas for the state's future, this constitutes an unacceptable breach in the trusteeship allotted gaming leadership and their majority shareholders abroad.
Meanwhile, quietly behind all the industry-state media public relations and consultant "blah, blah, blah", the state will continue to turn out more generations of children raised on shock entertainment, or heavy production entertainment, and toke and stroke culture and behaviors, all at the expense of developing real talent, well rounded adults with new ideas, and diversity in leadership.
When is the last time anyone enjoyed a really good lounge show, supporting and encouraging young talent?
As for ideas and diversity, in Nevada it's as simple as "you can work for a gaming company, but you cannot speak your mind on or off property in a public way, about most any topic, without concerns of retribution on the job."
That is the challenge of Nevada, formidable, because some people at or near the top are going to have to fundamentally change or go away, and change does not come easy to a few with all the marbles in a state that does not attract very many to begin with.
The flip side is Nevada is chock full of wonderful, hard working "people-oriented" people in the hospitality business who show up, work hard on their feet, and hope for a better neighborhood, community and leadership in both public and private sectors than they have had in recent years, despite all the record revenues. They represent Nevada's true family, and best asset.
There is also a Spanish citizenship base that is legal, still getting established and organized, and will some day stand together and state they want Nevada to be about hospitality too, but also diverse, and about families and raising kids, careers not jobs, and taking adult promotion off streets, street corners and interstates.
As for Senator Reid, the Senate Majority Leader, if Nevada does not want him, as the LVRJ keeps spinning with polls and "what if's", then there are several "big economy states" that would LOVE to have Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for their Senator, because they have invested in infrastructure and education over many years that would make it far easier to bring in federal equity to their schools and businesses.
RollingPassion:
No, not Calcutta, Detroit.
city center = city crater
Addition:
The problem-contradiction with many ultra fiscal conservatives is they spend an awful lot of money in their private lives on themselves, entitlement. Others can do as they say, but not as they do.
For some reason there are a lot of citizens at the lower rung of the economy, often lacking in education, travel and professional experiences, who buy into the very philosophy-code that keeps them down.
It's nowhere more apparent than in healthcare reform.
States with big tobacco or rural demographics which do not want to participate in a public option can now "opt out", their choice, fair and square. It's been very expensive trying to sell what's best for the top state economies in the country to these constituencies, as they passionately say no to moving the country forward.
To them the global village is about continuing to ship American jobs overseas, not restructuring to keep some of them at home. As long as they can afford a new and better TV every 10 years made in Korea or Japan, they are content.
Will their state house and legislature opt out once legislation is passed (?). NO.
We can celebrate this Nevada day knowing were one day closer to voting Harry Reid out of office.
nevada is not alone in its pathetic misery; here in illinois things are just as bad; mayor daley of chicago has put the entire city up for sale to private companies including the water utility.after telling the olympic committee how great chicago was, now hes got a $500 million deficit for the annual budget. he's already sold the parking meters and the skyway bridge, but hes out of money. even the state of illinois wants to raise the state income tax. yeah folks, things are tight in the land of the "free". its definitely gonna get worse before it gets better
Spending money on education does not make kids smarter. The spawn of janitors, food servers, and strippers will not cure cancer. Face it.
Parents can improve the education of their kids but instead expect tax payers to take care of it and enjoy the deduction.
Too many families moved here and broke the system. LV was not designed to raise large families with no income tax.
Attracting companies requires investment in intrastructure. Why is there no rail transit here? How can a big company move here without tensportation for employees? Just roads and SUVs. Bad planning.
Electing sexual predators like John Ensign and his bible banging crowd has proved disasterous for Nevada.
john ensign and the bible bangers...
ha,ha,,ha....
what a laugh!
Nick, let me help you with this one, 'bro:
"...LV was not designed to raise large families with no income tax...."
Partially correct.
ALL of Nevada was not designed for families, education, infrastructure improvements, health, safety, on and on.
IT WAS DESIGNED TO:
ALLOW QUICK DIVORCE
ALLOW PROSTITUTION
ALLOW GAMBLING
ALLOW EASY CORPORATE SET-UP
ALLOW ILLEGAL ALIENS TO WORK AND SEND MONEY HOME
ALLOW MINING WITH NEXT TO NO TAXES
ALLOW INFREQUENT-SEMI-PART-TIME LAW MAKING
ALLOW NEARLY NO COHERENT ELECTED GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT
IN OTHER WORDS *PERFECT* FOR MOBSTERS.
Nevada should be called "The You're On You're Own" State
(Don't forget to duck...)
Wixard you are correct. There was a time when a single person could work in LV and save a few bucks for their future.
Now we spend 8000 per kid on school and still people want way more! Where is the money suppose to come from? why do we all have to lose everything to educate others kids?
How is spending hoards os money gonna teach lower middle class kids algebra?
Also everyone needs to realize this economy is killing people all over. Unless your on San Franciso or Boston you must know people hurting.
The economy will recover but the big bucks for the uneducated will not and should not happen again.
Nevada's problems are worse than many states but Nevada is also a lot better off than many states.
I'd love to be optimistic but I'm afraid this time next year we'll be looking back and wishing we were as well off as we are now.
This is the culmination of many years of irresponsible governing in Washington D.C. and at many state governments. It goes back way before Bush, way before Clinton. We will be paying for this for quite some time. It will be important for our government to be ultra-conservative for a meaningful recovery.
Hey nick and your idiot sidekick 7centavos,
Do you have any proof John Ensign is a predator of any kind ?
Many of the comments appear to be addressing the State relative to children.
Just a side note - the Clark County School District has been as non-responsive as the other government agencies.
As a result, the catastrophic carrier for CCSD is now investigating if CCSD acted with neglect or intent regarding the welfare of children in their custody/care.
Because the bodily injuries have been going on for so long, the claimants are evidencing intent. That is, criminal conduct.
Therefore, under the authority of parent Lavoni T. Kidd and the federal court ruling, CCSD IS HEREBY NOTICED NOT to transfer, hide, or conceal public, private, and personal property. YOUR RIGHT!
just what you folks need another republican clown like ensign.
I can never say it enough....hope Nevada has learned its lesson... But afraid they haven't. This cannot be a one horse town anymore..who's paying the sids and bond issues. Who's making up all that lost collectable taxes ? No one,thats who. The state looks towards Las vegas for their pot of gold....thats isn't there anymore.This near depression has caught Vegas with its pants down...oops!!
Not much to celebrate? I disagree!!!!
(1) We are closer to having Gibbons out of office.
(2) The REAL John Ensign was exposed for the hypocritical cheating worm that he is.
(3) Subscriptions for the right wing RJ are down.
(4) Same sex marriages are now legal.
(5) Bush and Cheney are out of office and on their way to facing war crimes.
(6) We no longer need to concern ourselves or offer our trust to news anchor Nina Radetich.
Nor do we need to support or watch Channel 13 for allowing her to keep her job. Lame.
and the list goes on. It's all how you look at the glass of water. For me it's half full.
As a Texan who knew of Dubya's disastrous record here in the Lone Star State I tried to warn my fellow Americans of the impending disaster our country would face if they elected him and his oil/war-mongering buddies. Of course no one listened and now we ALL have to pay :-(
UNLV's endowment: $120,331,000 enough said. U. of Arizona's is five times that. No investment in education, no progress.
I had a dream last night that my testicles were potato's and I was stuck in mud, a few feet under, but somehow I could see a big fat pig with an Obama "change you can believe in" sticker on its side rooting at my,. er, um, ... potato's. Any shrinks in the house? What do you think my dream meant?
There are other states with no income taxes that do very well, and the unemployment rate is low. The state of Nevada's problem isn't more taxes, nor spending more money on schools. Bringing up Mass and SanFran as examples of bastions are also problems in other areas. Each has your up and downs. I lived in Ma, now live in Me and can tell you, that having the highest taxes in the nation brings about many problems you don't see.
Nevada's problem is that your economy is built on scamming people out of their money. Places that do that, end up eating their own at some point.
You actually see that now more and more in all states because people really want welfare for themselves, not what they need.
I am sorry to hear you all blaming this economic and educational mess on people at large. Think back 200 years ago when children were educated at home or in small little house on the prairie like classrooms where the numbers were low. Also, someone was always home, people were more trade oriented, creating actual tangible products instead of intangible services. Did anyone ever stop to think that since the "Great Depression" when gold crashed, we have created a new monetary system based on monopoly money that our government just prints more when it is time to pay the bills throwing us into the never ending cycle of inflation/recession....Remember also that Grandmas and Moms had to go to work in the factories when the boys went off to war and guess what, they never went home cause families liked the extra money... Now we are dependent upon everyone in the family working, except the kids who spend all day crammed into 20-30+ kid classrooms daydreaming and come home to empty houses until someone dead tired arrives home. We have been creating our own demise for years folks. So stop belly acking and learn how to make your own bread and teach your own kids and grandkids a good tangible trade.
Prepare yourself folks, this is not the worst it can get. I promise it will get way worse. So bad it will make the story of Moses sound like a Disney movie for kids.
So you have been warned. Learn to make your own energy with sun and wind, create your own food, do your own hunting and gutting, sheer your own sheep and make sweaters and clothing. Eventually we will have to return to living off the land as cities fall apart across the nation... It's not just Vegas, it's everywhere.
You want to solve this little economic crisis, just scoop up all the people who were not born on US Soil, including their children born here and Arnie, the Gov of Cali and send them home. That will decrease the population in a blink of an eye as there will be tons of jobs left open for the truly American. Oh but that would be racist? No matter how bad it gets here, it is still way better than most places on planet earth... believe me I have seen these places.
Welcome to the "Great Recession" created by "US"
Basic problem: Too Many People.