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Sunday, July 25, 2010 | 2 a.m.
Sun coverage
Sun archives
- Senate roll call on unemployment benefits (7-24-2010)
- Nearly 40,000 Nevadans have lost jobless benefits (7-20-2010)
- Las Vegas jobless rate soars to 14.5 percent (7-19-2010)
- Foreclosure rate drops, but Nevada still ranks No. 1 (7-14-2010)
- Sharron Angle advocates halting unemployment benefits to force jobless to seek work (6-30-2010)
- Nevada to borrow up to $1 billion to cover jobless benefits (1-28-2010)
For at least a year, economists have said Nevada’s economy was “bouncing along the bottom” instead of still searching for it.
The number of residents turning to the state for help tells a different story — if the economy has stopped its slide, then its most vulnerable residents are still in free fall. More than one in 10 Nevadans are on food stamps, a 35 percent jump from a year ago, according to state statistics; welfare rolls have grown 22 percent; and the number getting health care through Medicaid has increased 23 percent.
The Great Recession has Nevada firmly in its grip.
Elliott Parker, chairman of UNR’s Economics Department, offered some of the starkest warnings about Nevada’s economy. Yet even he believed the state had bottomed out a year ago.
“Perhaps I was too optimistic. I think most of us were using garden-variety recessions as a baseline for comparison,” he said in an e-mail. “We need to admit that this is technically a depression.”
To be sure, for years economic data have reflected Nevada’s economic struggles. One index, which combines foreclosure rates, unemployment increases and food stamp growth, has named Nevada the most economically “distressed” state since January 2009, when it surpassed Florida.
But even as 39 states showed improvement in unemployment this month, Nevada tumbled more. In May 2009, the state’s unemployment rate was 11.2 percent. Now it’s 14.2 percent.
The faces behind these numbers can be seen at state welfare offices with their long lines, tense waits and overburdened staffs.
“The stress level in offices is tremendous. Lobbies are overcrowded. Families are feeling like they’re sinking deeper and deeper,” said Miki Allard, staff specialist with the state’s Welfare and Supportive Services Division. “Everybody involved is stressed dramatically.”
At the welfare office on East Flamingo Road on Friday, the line was 150 deep by 7:45 a.m. People had begun arriving more than an hour earlier.
“The only option I have is to come here and see if I can get help,” said Monique Barnes, 22, who waited with her husband and two daughters.
Barnes and her family moved to Las Vegas from Pahrump in May. The Sonic where she worked cut her hours to one a day. She was bringing home $37.75 a week and figured a bigger city would offer better opportunity.
She was wrong.
“I’m disappointed to move and still be in the same position,” Barnes said. “It’s really no jobs out here, period.”
Barnes, who receives food stamps and Medicaid, was waiting to enroll in welfare.
As it deals with record numbers applying for help, the division has processed the “vast majority” of applications — 83 percent — within 30 days, the standard set by the federal government, Allard said.
Last year the Legislature approved an additional 230 positions for welfare offices and Gov. Jim Gibbons’ administration exempted vacant welfare jobs from a statewide hiring freeze. But because of Nevada’s budget deficit, the division, like nearly all other state agencies, has had to institute furloughs.
As people poured into the Flamingo office Friday, a security guard warned it was a furlough day, and there would be long waits.
For the next several hours people streamed in — men with canes, men with skateboards.
Children, bored of sitting quietly, ran from wall to wall, dodging overwhelmed parents who tried to corral them.
Ryan Chastain, 18, sat fiddling with his cell phone. He waited to apply for food stamps for the first time. “My girlfriend’s got $4,000 and that’s going to run out soon. We need money for food,” he said.
Chastain, who is unemployed, hopes to open an air-conditioning business one day. His girlfriend wants to teach history and English. Both have been looking for jobs with no luck.
“She wants to work for a casino and makes enough money to pay for a semester of school,” Chastain said. “You need to get a job to make money to do these things. It’s a circle. The world revolves around money.”
Parker said that in the past couple of quarters, personal income in the state has begun to grow, albeit slowly. But “unemployment tends to lag income growth, and poverty lags that,” he said.
People have been burning through their savings, pawning items, relying on friends and family. The longer hard times continue, “the more they need social services, and the harder it will be to claw their way back once the economy recovers,” he said.
Nevada administrators decided in March 2009 to expand who qualifies for food stamps, called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Previously families had to make 130 percent or less of the poverty level; now they can make 200 percent of the poverty level. A family of three with an income of $3,052 a month or less would qualify for food assistance.
In Clark County, requests for housing assistance have surged in recent months, according to Nancy McLane, director of Clark County Social Service. The program is meant as a last gasp effort to prevent homelessness.
At the same time, because of budget cuts, the county offers one month’s rent assistance instead of three for able-bodied residents. Those with disabilities now receive only six months of housing assistance instead of indefinite help.
The situation illustrates Nevada governments’ tight position. As a hurting workforce increases demand for services, there is less tax revenue to meet that need. The county had been spending about $900,000 a month on housing assistance; it has since scaled that back to about $300,000.
Although the number of people seeking assistance during the past 12 months is grim enough, it’s even more astonishing to consider how far Nevada has fallen since the recession began in late 2007.
The low for cash welfare payments came in March 2007, when there were just over 16,000 recipients. Now there are 30,498. Medicaid recipients totaled 165,000 in April 2007. Nevada now has 263,568. And the number of people on food stamps in April 2007 was just under 125,000. Now it stands at 283,683.
Nannette Perez has a job. She works at the Eagle Mini Mart just off the Strip. But business is slow and employees’ hours are regularly cut, Perez said, so she needs food stamps to make ends meet and feed her six children.
“I’m embarrassed to be on assistance because I know my potential,” Perez, 38, said. “I don’t want to sound snobby and say ‘I’m better than that,’ but I know I am. But I need help.”
Perez’s mother, Mary Carcieri, joined her in the waiting room at the Flamingo welfare office.
Carcieri, 65, moved from California to Las Vegas in January to be closer to Perez. She expected a tough economy, but nothing like this. She had worked for 50 years as a waitress and never before applied for public assistance, she said.
“It’s disheartening, but it will make the difference between whether I eat or starve,” Carcieri said, holding an application for food stamps and health care benefits.
Mother and daughter showed little hope for the future. Politicians and decision-makers just don’t get it, they said.
“The people in office, they already have everything they need,” Perez said. “They try to help us to make themselves feel better, but they don’t see how we live, how we struggle.
“Right now, they are helping the small businesses so they will hire people, but that’s not working. I hope at some point somebody will stop and really say, ‘Let’s help these people.’ ”
The loss of Gov. Guinn highlights the fact that the State of Nevada has been without leadership since he left office. May the next governor have a plan, a clue to diversify and get this economy moving again. All we got from the current governor was "no new taxes". He told us what he wouldn't do, and he never did anything.
A 38 year old mother of SIX that has her mother who has worked 50 years leave her job and move here to be closer? Where's the father or fathers of the six. An 18 year old kid on welfare? A 22 year old with TWO kids. Is there something wrong here or is it I'm missing something.
You took the words right out of my mouth Chuck321...Was the mother working in Calif.?So she joined her daughter on food stamps in Nevada.Did she think she was going to come here with NO JOB in hand and then find one.Honestly, I think half these people don't have a brain in their head.Where are the father(s) of these 6 children?
Thats Americans and Washington give give and they take take til there is nothing left.
Pork spending must stop.
Where are the Fathers of these children? A much better question would be: "Since when did the majority of men take responsibility for the sexual drives?" GET REAL! Besides, we won't fix this problem by blaming the Fathers, the Mothers or the Children!
Of course people need to be smarter about their choices and take their full share of responsibility - THAT is a "No Brainer!"
Every issue is rooted in the need to improve EDUCATION in Nevada! Something Nevada has not focused on as a priority since we had Kenny Guinn in the Nevada Governor's Mansion! Rory Reid is the only Gubernatorial Candidated even raising this issue with serious solutions - and it will take decades to fix it and for Nevadans to correct our educational challenges over the generations!
I've advocated for the poorest of the poor for nearly a decade now in Nevada - and seen the numbers just go up, where we now have an estimated 2,000 + Homeless Children and over 4,000 Homeless Veterans and nearly 15,000 Homeless (non-veteran) Citizens! Those numbers do NOT reflect the countless number of people living with family and friends and kids "couch surfing" in an unstable status! So, what are these brutally poor people to do now? Starve? THAT is UNACCEPTABLE in America!
No one supports laziness, waste, fraud or abuse - but, Nevada needs to have a public conversation about compassion - and selfishness, cruelty and GREED! We must focus on preventing Homelessness as doing so successfully saves countless thousands of dollars!
The Republicans have nothing to offer in the way of solutions - all we hear from them is "no" "No" and "Hell NO!" Well, look where that stupid selfishness got us! I'm voting for Rory Reid (and every Democrat down the ticket) when I "Remember in NOvember!"
We are Nevadans and Americans - we can fix this!
Some of you folks are missing the overall point of this article ... that Nevada hasn't effectively diversified its economy to enable its citizens to ride out a recession relatively unscathed. Given that we rely far too heavily on tourism and gambling, when the rest of the nation is in recession, it should be a foregone conclusion folks from around the nation won't be boarding planes to head to Vegas so they can spend the monies they'll desparately need to put food on the table and roofs over their heads. It's time we elected some folks who truly have our best interests in mind, folks who can fix our education system and attract businesses to our state so we can diversify our economy ... oh and while they're at it ... I said 'state' ... not just Vegas, Henderson, Carson City and Reno ... there are cities in the rurals that are capable of hosting new enterprises.
Add to this, Wynn and LV Sands are now focusing on Asia while MGM and Harrah's may not be far behind. The 2011 Nevada budget is facing a projected 54% shortfall. Harrah's has a $19B debt. Lake Las Vegas is bankrupt. Stations is bankrupt, M resort is in trouble. Local municipalities face more cuts...
Anybody care to wager that John Paulson is "shorting" Las Vegas while he holds major shares of MGM, Harrah's and Boyd?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_usa_immigr...
Just maybe Arizona has started something that may help a little in our fight against unemployment and homeless people.
I find it interesting that 18 year old Ryan has enough money to pay for a cell phone but yet needs a hand out fromthe government to buy food. Boo hoo I feel so sorry for that low life
I agree that the failure of the father(s) of those children share fault for their situation. However the comments tendered of intolerance were posted by the limited in thought.
A phone is necessary to successfully search for a job.
Not everyone with an Hispanic last name is an illegal.
I do not see Hispanic men begging on a street corner.
I do not see unemployed white guys out in front of Home Depot or Star Nursery.
Thinking beyond blind hatred might be a good idea prior to touching a keyboard.
Dear Johnathan_Abbinett,
A few things.
First, Rory is going to lose in November.
Second, your question is much WORSE than, "Where are the fathers of these children?" Stable, two-parent households are MUCH LESS LIKELY to live in poverty than single-parent households.
Third, the woman's sexual drives are just as significant as the man's. It takes TWO to make a baby.
Fourth, a stable homelife with parents who are interested in their child is MORE important than education. If they have a broken home, no matter how good their education is they won't benefit from it.
It is flat out wrong to hand people anything that they have not earned, besides opportunity.
Any parent can and will tell you this.
Or you might drive through many American inner cities 50 years after the so-called "Great Society" destroyed millions of Black American families. Crime, drugs, over a 75% illegitimacy rate. That's what liberals call "help".
Fifty years ago, poor people were poor, but decent, hard working and respectable Fifty years of handouts later and poor people are without ambition or a sense of self-determination. We have families in which no member has held a job for three generations.
The typical American defined as poor by the government has a car, air conditioning, a refrigerator a stove, a clothes washer and dryer, and a microwave. He had two color televisions, cable or satellite TV reception, a VCR or DVD player, and a stereo. He is able to obtain medical care. His home is in good repair and is not overcrowded. By his own report, his family was not hungry and he had sufficient funds in the past year to meet his family's essential needs. While this individual's life is not opulent, it is equally far from the popular images of dire poverty conveyed by the press, liberal activists, and politicians.
The Democrats in Congress, led by Nevada's own Harry Reid, passed Obamacare which is a massive new entitlement that we cannot afford.
Hiding spending is not the same as reducing spending.
I love this country and I know we are broke. And sensible people stop spending when they run out of money.
Mr. Obama is currently borrowing 41 cents of every dollar he is spending. That is beyond fiscal irresponsibility, that is insanity.
I would not vote for another Democrat if his name were Ronald Reagan. No more Democrats! (They have controlled Congress, i.e. spending, for 40 of the last 50 years, and look at us.)
joinamerica
"It is flat out wrong to hand people anything that they have not earned, besides opportunity."
and YOU get to decide what it means to "earn" something?
"Any parent can and will tell you this."
I know, any parent will tell you that your children have to "earn" a roof over their heads and food on the tale... That is such a bad comparison...
"They have controlled Congress, i.e. spending, for 40 of the last 50 years, and look at us."
One could take a snapshot at many others points when the economy was good and make the same assertion. That is a meaningless number manipulated to validate your own standpoint.
"Obamacare" isn't even remotely an entitlement. It actually empowers the insurance companies even more by mandating coverage.
I love when people assert opinions as if they were facts.
"Rory is going to lose in November."
Michael1, did you even read Jonathon_Abbinett's post? and your statements are just off.
"Stable, two-parent households are MUCH LESS LIKELY to live in poverty than single-parent households."
well, if they are stable and have two parents, then of course. It's a circular argument, two incomes create more income, therefore more stability, or if not more income then an extra pair of hands to do things like, I don't know, raise their children? So duh!
"If they have a broken home, no matter how good their education is they won't benefit from it."
that is just patently a false statement, unless you mean to say that people that grew up with stable homes tend to be stable as adults, but show me a stable home in which the child got a worse education than other children with "unstable"homes yet ended up better off. Hard to do I bet, since the stable home tends to come with a good education, and unstable homes with good educations tend to be wealthy and parental wealth is the number ONE indicator of future financial success for children. One can't really separate those things like that in the real world, just when you are trying to pass off your opinion as fact.
Major brands always give out their popular brand samples (in a way it is similar to coupons) I alway use qualityhealth to get mine http://bit.ly/9UAtgc enjoy your free samples
The gov already has to borrow all this money from China to give to these people anyway, and how much longer can that last?
Less and less people are paying taxes - from the Tax Foundation
"Roughly 51.6 million tax returns, or 36.3 percent, were filed by such "nonpayers," people whose exemptions, deductions and credits wiped out any federal income tax due." "We're now in a situation where a record number of tax filers are completely disconnected from the cost of government."
They still vote though, and are likely to maintain their status quo of social benefits and money funneling. The real losers are the retiring seniors who are going to find the social security fund is just a big 1.5 trillion IOU because our gov has already spent it.
wow i am really really sad by this. wow is the first thing that came to mind we have people that are on the brink of starving people who without help will be on the street! Being on the street is a black hole there is very few ways out! all this and the only thing people talk about is how they should not pay for this or how these people are lazy and stupid!
Wow is my what comes to mind! What ever happend to this country to helping your fellow man to be there in there time of need! people are not proud to be on these programs there ashamed that they need this help but what other options do that have! I dont see people who are hiring hanging out at this office.
Right now they are talking about keeping the bush tax cuts in place somthing that only helps 2% of americans save money and in most cases saves this 2% more than these people will make in there liftime. Now almost all rep are for this yet they oppose extending the unemployment benifits to americans trying to find a job!
People think that milking the system is fun they are dead wrong i hope people never have to go threw a time in there life when they need help its a sad and humbling thing to say look i need help but i hope help is there if you ever need it. people dont go on welfare to get rich they dont get medicade to screw the insurance compaines they dont get rent assistance to get free rent they do it so they dont have to become homless go hungry or die from the flu!
I guess people in this country would feel bad for how bad this depresion has affected people till they see pictures and adds on tv saying help this child for 39cents a day and the tv is showing americans!
look not all people are equal not all people are smart but nobody wants to stay poor. It just really makes me sad how some people are so naive with hate on giving up so little to help these people! these programs are not ment to keep these people on welfare for 50yrs or food for life or free rent as long as they live its to help people who are going threw a hard time and the system cuts them off after short amounts of time so stop being gready and take time and help out your fellow man!
I understand that everybody is pinching pennys and you find it unfair to give money you made to help others but its the right thing to do! I feel that all people who feel against this to donate time at there local soup kitchen! Then ask if you think people are truly milking the system!
and lastly if you have a better idea please post it try to help the problem stop being selfish by saying how it affects you. imagine what you would do if this was you on line!
Along with these types of aids should come lots of free condoms. Seriously.
BIRTH CONTROL SHOULD BE A MAJOR CONCERN OF THOSE WHO MAKE PUBLIC POLICY.
"Just maybe Arizona has started something that may help a little in our fight against unemployment and homeless people."
Illegal immigrants will leave AZ and come here. For NV to pass such a law would cause boycotts that would increase unemployment. We are in a bind with that situation, too. And as the comment says, it would help "a little," but it wouldn't help a lot. The bigger problem is that the federal government is now hopelessly in bed and in love with business - and so is this state's govt.
Diversification is crucial, but even more crucial is for government at all levels to institute policies to encourage people who can't afford children to not have them! Pay them something at tax time - it's way cheaper than this. Have free condoms available at convenience stores and government offices and agencies. And it goes without saying that improving education is essential. Etc.
Too bad this state is so corrupt. But even a corrupt state can make this happen:
FREE, AVAILABLE CONDOMS
FREE, AVAILABLE CONDOMS
FREE, AVAILABLE CONDOMS
And provide any woman who asks with a free diaphragm. Provide all women with kids on welfare/getting government help or visiting soup kitchen with diaphragms whether they want them or not. Encourage birth control! Make more BC happen!
And make birth control facts, info, and classes also free and easily available, and in whatever languages are needed.
All I can say is get ready. WW#3 is coming to your home, and not on the news.
Several people have commented on a 22-year-old married woman who already has two children and an apparently unmarried 38-year-old woman with six kids. They haven't connected the dots. White people, particularly middle-class white people, have fewer and fewer children, while Hispanic and other minorities have lots of kids. White families with no kids, one kid, two kids have defined the national future. In a few decades whites will become the new minority, concentrated in the senior citizen population. Will it be as a recent article argued: Gray vs. Brown?
I remember my mom and dad said eat whats on your plate because people in China are starving for that food.
Now people in the US are starving.
What happen?
damn ppl have short memories, just a few decades ago only ONE parent worked and sustained a family of eight. Catholics have many children since they do not believe in birth control anyone not white having many children is condemned hmmm just plain racism at its finest. sympathy for nonwhites and Catholics with many children--blame for nonwhites. I love LV
Thank Obama.
Socialism is upon us.
I have a friend that is 64 years old, she has never been married and never had any children. When I went to visit her, she had NOTHING in her frig, but some mustard and some ketchup. She finally told me (Being proud) that she has been looking for a part time job for a least a year.
She gets $758 a month in social security. SOCIAL SECURIT IS NOT WELFARE!!! It's something one pays into all of their lives. I brought her back to my home, and gave her half of all the food I had in my frig and freezer. The next day I took her down to social services to apply for food stamps. Good God, why didn't she tell me before?
I'm generally conservative. I agree with the comments that you really have to be careful about only having the number of kids you can reasonably support. My wife and I stopped at one kid because of the economy. I would've liked to have had more, but I just don't see things improving anytime soon.
The problem with this state is that its politicans are some of the most backward, ignorant people I've ever seen. At times, I think no long term thought is ever given to policy decisions. You only hear the stock sound bite of the day from either party. Our current Governor is a poster child of this thinking.
Am I the only person in Nevada who thinks Governor Gibbons looks and acts like Governor Lepetomane from "Blazing Saddles"?
If Nevada really wants to heal the economy, we have to get away from gaming. I realize its part of our heritage and I think it should continue in Nevada, but our absolute reliance on gaming attracts the wrong kind of industry and people to the state. Additionally, gaming is a declining industry, especially as other states legalize it and the IRS more tightly regulates casino finances.
The biggest problem is that all of our politicans are in the back pocket of the gaming industry. They rely on the antiquated stock answer of whatever is good for gaming is good for Nevada, especially when backed with gaming money, above the table and, sometimes, below the table.
Nevada needs a strong educational system, it needs livability attractions beyond multibillion dollar casinos, and it needs to be out attracting real "normal city" industry to Nevada.
I'm sorry, but the stock answer of "low taxes" doesn't attract industry; there's a much bigger picture. Nevada has to provide a balanced package that makes people want to work and make lives here. The strategy of being a tax haven isn't working out too well.