Vegas has no one to blame but itself. Tough decisions have been but off for years by the GOP controlled legislature and governor's office and, go figure, now Nevada is in the fiscal toilet. To pinion an entire state's economy on, not merely the existence of disposable income, but on the willingness to throw it away on cheap thrills by people worldwide borders on criminal. Goodman is a boob. Instead of playing the hurt old man with the showgirls draped around him, he should be up in Carson City demanding tax reform and out trying to bring companies into Nevada. He should be hawking renewable energy and aerospace, de-salinization and mag-lev light rail, not boobs and black-jack. Investment houses around the world are downgrading casino and gaming stocks that have deep connections to Las Vegas because the long-term trend is away from travel solely for the purpose of blowing money. The casinos you see in the next 3 years will be the same casinos in 20 years. There will be no more. The cycle of spend is utterly ending and that spells doom for Nevada unless they dismount their 'one-trick pony.' Just read the stock reports for Sands and I.G.T. Gaming is de-centralizing throughout the country but Gibbons and Goodman just don't have the stones to admit it and act upon it.

BTW: Short-notice medium size conference and meeting (100 to 250 attendees) bookings in Chicago AND Milwaukee were UP by 12% in January 09. Companies still have to meet, they're just not meeting in Vegas. Why should they? Vegas is distraction personified and now is the time for focus.

No, no Houston. Bush didn't keep us safe after September 11th; it's just that no one attacked us. The 9/11 attackers achieved their goal: they sent the country into economic turmoil and induced us to invade Iraq. After 9/11, there was no need to attack the US again, as we were cooking our own goose well enough on our own. Bush can no more take credit for preventing attacks after 9/11 than have responsibility imposed upon him for the 9/11 attacks in the first place.

As for Carter: he stood before the people and took responsibility for the failed hostage rescue attempt when every military professional knew that it was the fault of the mission commanders themselves. Marine and Naval professionals around the country knew that Carter was a more courageous man than most presidents for quietly taking the blame. He stood tall in our eyes then and still does now. You simply blow smoke out of an utterly ignorant orifice. You've perhaps forgotten Ford's "Whip Inflation Now" buttons? Your comments are offensively moronic.

Do you honestly think any HERE/Culinary member would vote to decertify? You must be drinking Nance's koolaid! Unfortunately, this combo union was never going to work: UNITE is too small in rank and file, but dripping with cash. Did Wilhelm or Taylor really think Raynor would permit rank and file votes on issue's he controlled? This is an unfortunately timed, but totally forseeable fight. Raynor will ultimately take his bank and go home, leaving Here/Culinary with the UNITE members but not their cash.

Especially when that power rests in the hands of the employer. The only rights an employer loses with a card check system is the right to fire and obstruct union organizers during the average 6 years it takes between an election and certification by the NLRB. On objection to the election is all it takes to but the case on the NLRB's slow-train, and no one is protected during that time. That's it. That's all the check card system does.

Hey Nance? Why has Wisconsin brought more new employers into their state than Nevada? They have an income tax. AND it's freakin cold there! But, their schools, from an aggressive pre-K to UW Madison, make Nevada schools look third world. Their health care system is light-years better than Nevada. Those 2 strengths equal happier, more contented employees. Your 'pull-up-the-ladder, Jack, 'cuz-I'm-aboard' mentality has Nevada becoming a joke in the business community. All that your Nevada has to offer are boobs and gun fire. The better Nevada is willing to invest in the future.

So KDR81, was the Gov. lying when he said state revenues were down 35%? That sure sounds like a revenue 'crunch' to me. Face it. Nevada has ridden the wave of federal money and gambling revenue as far as it will go. Did you not think that whenever the economy flattened, all that disposable income that is brought into and spent in Vegas would be the first to go? By cheapening the Nevada educational system, gutting the health care system, and yet continuing to play the conservative game of no taxes, this Gov has pushed Nevada to the bottom of the barrel. The businesses that could be drawn into Nevada for all the positives the mountain west has to offer stopped giving Nevada serious consideration a year and a half ago, when it was clear that this state would not adequately fund education and health care. Time to put up or shut up. An income tax is an investment in the future of Nevada. Nevada can no longer afford the short-sightedness of the above commentators. Write on the board a hundred time: No investment=No future.

This is hilarious! You don't have a state income tax, partner, so quit your cryin. Maybe you should count your blessings that you don't live in Michigan or Illinois, where they are suffering a worse ecomomy AND pay a state income tax. And it's -10 there AND they have the Detroit Lions. Someone from Detroit reads this they're gonna fly here and slap your baby-wimpering mouth just to warm up.

Clearly, the people of the State of Nevada are unwilling to meet their own responsibilities when it comes to state government. Like the mark who cruises into the casino, we hope for something for nothing, and are only now learning we get nothing for nothing. Nevadans could invest in Nevada if they were asked. It's not hard to do, and it's not unfair. Casino patrons alone cannot be the sole source of investment in Nevada. If we believe in our State, invest in it. So many other states are also suffering the burdens of this poor economy, but they will stand far ahead in the line for Federal infrastructure investments than Nevada, because Nevadans refuse to invest in their own state. That's right folks; we're talking about taxes. We're talking about an investment by those most able and by those most directly benefitting from the State's success to invest in the State, just like you would in a business. It's called responsibility. The rest of the country looks upon the whining of Nevada's government as that of a spoiled child. If we're unwilling to invest in Nevada, we'll get exactly what we pay for: the worst health care, the worst universities, the most fragile non-gaming business environment, and the least responsible government. We also get Unions who live in OZ and not only don't lead the Western labor movement, but are becoming the antithesis of core, values based labor. We also get municipal executives financially connected to the very interests they support with public funds. Nevada has quietly and yet quickly marginalized itself in the west and throughout the country as the Libertarian stronghold of nothingness.

Matois and Future 2012 seem to forget the demographic of casino customers. Many of those who come to Vegas to gamble just happen to be living on their 401K and other retirement benefits. How willing do you think the AARP and other organizations will be to invite their members to a Station Casino now that Station has decided on daily cash flow instead of supporting their employees? How many senior groups and tour companies around the country who cater to senior travel groups will be willing to sponsor trips to a casino that doesn't protect the very means these customers utilize in the first place? This is typical corporate short sightedness. Forget the Culinary Union. Station's own customers will likely bite back pretty hard against this move. The market will demonstrate their poor judgement.

Did you really write this letter Mr. Finnegan? McCain's campaign offices throughout the country have become nerve centers for phony letters to the editor. They either create phony heart rendering stories or jump on any letter that questions McCain. Sorry to wake you, Finnegan, but the poor judgement exercised by the McCain campaign's open assault upon honest opinion places all these letters to the editor in doubt. Your letter has the same tempo and intonation as many others found here in the Sun, the LA Times, Boston Globe and many many others. We're just not believing it any more. People from many walks of life may share the same opinion, but they rarely express it in an identical fashion.