Another problem with the Las Vegas picture is that everything was built for "the whales" and the average joe, who was looking for a comfortable bed on the strip to rest after spending a dozen hours on the strip gambling, has been pushed out of the picture.
We haven't been back to Vegas for almost a decade for that reason ...

If we could just convince the environmentalists the allow drilling for oil on our own land (Heck, the orientals are doing it 150 miles off shore, but we can't), that would be the first step to helping to solve the problem.
Then the environmentalists have to loosen up to allow construction of refineries, power plants and the like.
We've got the resources right under our feet ... but some DIMOCRATS just won't let us go after it ... maybe they've got too much at stake to see the value of the product drop.