Already, the number of unemployed in Las Vegas is reaching unprecedented levels. Unemployment rates for the state of Nevada and for the city of Las Vegas both set new records during the month of April. In Las Vegas the unemployment rate in April was 14.2%. For the entire state the unemployment rate was 13.7%. Of course those are just the "official" numbers. We all know that the "real" unemployment numbers are much higher. For example, the "official" unemployment figure is about 14 percent in the state of Michigan right now. But if you actually believe that 86 percent of able-bodied workers in the state of Michigan are employed, then perhaps you would be interested in an offer to purchase the Golden Gate Bridge as well. Elliott Parker, an economist at the University of Nevada, Reno says that the record-setting unemployment numbers in Nevada are just part of a larger trend.... "Nevada has been losing jobs since March 2008, and we are continuing to do so." But where the state of Nevada and the city of Las Vegas have really been hammered is in the housing industry. It is estimated that a whopping 65 percent of all homes in the state of Nevada are underwater. Let that sink in for a bit. 65 percent of all home owners with a mortgage in the state of Nevada owe more than their homes are worth. Talk about an implosion. Nationally, the number of homes that are "underwater" is about 24 percent. That is an all-time record for the entire nation, but it doesn't come anywhere close to the nightmare that is unfolding in Nevada and in Las Vegas. And the number of foreclosures taking place in Nevada is absolutely breathtaking. According to RealtyTrac, Nevada is still ranked number one for foreclosure filings. In fact, one out of every 79 Nevada homes received a foreclosure filing in the month of May alone. Nevada’s foreclosure rate is now five times the national average. By just about any measure, the economy of Nevada is a complete and total disaster. A reader recently sent an email describing the economic horror that is unfolding in Las Vegas. No matter what you may think about the city, the truth is that it is sad to see any great U.S. city fall to pieces like this.... "Las Vegas is a goner. The homeless population is out of control. The real estate is far worse than I have seen in the media (no surprise there). The towers of condos are ninety five percent vacant with zero activity. The streets and parks are in decline. Local governments are busy making cuts and fighting unions. When I ride the streets they are deserted, a big change from 2006. The major casino companies have all but moved the casinos out of Nevada. Rooms and restaurants have been closing for years, even while they finished the new projects. The entire town is a skeleton staff providing substandard service and decaying properties. I still work for one of the majors which is in bankruptcy. When the next wave hits there is nowhere to cut. It will be a game of dominoes with the Wynn properties the only ones left standing. I see the ninety nine cent breakfast making a comeback. The bullet train a day late and a few billion dollars short." So is there any hope for Las Vegas? Well, if the U.S. economy gets back up off of the operating table and roars back to life there is little doubt that millions of Americans would once again soon be flying there to gamble away their discretionary income. But the truth is that any "revival" that is going to happen in Vegas is going to be very short-lived. The U.S. economy as a whole is caught in a death spiral, and we are about to see a repeat of the housing crash that devastated Las Vegas so badly the first time around. No, there really isn't any way that the death of Las Vegas can be avoided. Just like the U.S. economy as a whole, it is inevitably doomed. The numbers don't lie. The grand total of all government, corporate and consumer debt in the United States is now equal to 360 percent of GDP. That is a far greater level than the U.S. ever approached during the Great Depression. The entire U.S. economy is a house of cards built on a gigantic pile of debt and paper money, and it is only a matter of time until it all comes crashing down. But of course that isn't stopping the U.S. government from spending even more money and getting us all into even more debt. According to a recent Treasury Department report to Congress, the U.S. national debt will top $13.6 trillion this year and climb to an estimated $19.6 trillion by 2015. But as many of you who have experienced this on a personal level know, getting into continually increasing amounts of debt never ends well. So do any of you have a tale to tell about the city where you live? Do you find yourself caught in the middle of an economic nightmare? Feel free to leave a comment telling us what is happening in your area of the United States.... ****UPDATE**** A number of readers have chimed in with some very insightful comments. A sampling is below.... Vegas Bob: I lived here in Vegas from 1998-2006 and moved back at the beginning of 2010. I worked in Corporate Finance for one of the largest casino operators up until I retired. The article is spot on. Compared to its heyday in 2005-2006, Las Vegas today is an economic disaster zone. The condo I sold in 2006 for $172,500 now goes for $48,900 – a 72% haircut. It’s not getting any better. Real estate prices are resuming their descent, now that the $8,000 homebuyer tax bribe is gone. The so-called economic recovery is for wealthy people only. Everyday people just keep getting the shaft. Obama is just another Republican with a ‘D’ after his name. I’m glad I was smart enough to rent a place instead of buying one. I’m getting the hell out of this hellhole when my lease is up at year-end. Tiara: I am born and raised Vegas. When I say I was raised in Vegas I don’t mean a casino. I mean the middle of the dessert 30 miles north from the strip with the lizards and tumbleweeds. Vegas and I have a love hate relationship. I have seen this the growth in this town blow up in my face and now it is imploding just like an old worn out casino. It has been a crazy ride but due to the economy I will most likely be leaving Las Vegas soon. Growing up in this town has been interesting and leaving it will be bittersweet. Craig: I lived in vegas in 2006 and have been back to visit many times. I was there recently for the first time after the economy imploded in late 2008—That town is a shell of it’s former self. On any given night there are half the people on the strip that there used to be. The service even in the 5-star hotels has declined. You can see the lack of morale, sucked from the faces of the wokrers. I loved this town in its hay day. Right now, it’s pretty sad. Dolly: Vegas was, and is, easy to understand. I’m in the musical equipment business– audio– and we go to Trade Shows. These are held all over the world, but let’s contrast just two places, Los Angeles and Vegas: If you go to Los Angeles, you will visit with the worlds best engineering talent, and a solidly-grounded people that are there to PRODUCE something OF VALUE. You have small manufacturers, Farm and Ranch people, Oil people, the film industry and plenty of unspoiled, honest, clean-living young people who work hard, and then play hard. Many are Surfers, etc., and are a breath of Fresh Air. In short, a business convention or trade show in this city is a TREAT. Now, let’s look at Las Vegas. Everything that’s big there is built around money manipulation and power. No one gives a damn about anybody else. Got a brilliant idea? One that Los Angelinos would want to encourage you to develop and succeed at? NOT in Vegas! Any Casino in town handles more money than that in a microsecond. Besides– who are YOU? YOU don’t matter. Vegas gets all the big shows and all the big stuff– so YOU DON’T COUNT. Want to hold a convention in a DECENT CITY– say L.A., or Denver? SORRY– Vegas will move right in– bribe the show principals and it WILL be held in Vegas. Look at what happened to the National Finals Rodeo– Oklahoma City was GREAT, but VEGAS has STOLEN it. Vegas deserves the worst that can happen to it– GOOD RIDDANCE! Bob: LV was built by losers. I’ve lived in & near LV since ‘89, watched it grow cancerously, and now the tumor is shrinking… good riddance indeed to a grand delusion. This city is not electrified by the dam — it is fed with coal-generated power from Moapa. Fake Lake Mead is dying too ( and the city is fed by one old pipeline that can break down at any time … There is no primary industry here, just gambling and military — everyone here (except me, of course ) is living the Big Lie. The place is a death trap… stay away! BD: I recently went back to visit my old neighborhood (moved out of vegas and sold my house in summer of ‘08) and talked with a few of my neighbors. Apparently its so bad they dont even park their cars on the streets anymore because “these damn people siphon gas out of your gas tank”. No lie. And this is a nice gated neighborhood in Henderson….The Death Of Las Vegas
There are quite a few U.S. cities that are complete and utter economic disaster zones in 2010 (Detroit for example), but there is something about the demise of Las Vegas that is absolutely stunning. In recent decades, Las Vegas has become a symbol for the over-the-top affluence and decadence of America. But now it is a microcosm of the economic nightmare that has gripped the entire nation. When the subprime mortgage crisis stuck, no major U.S. city was more devastated than Las Vegas. When the recession went from bad to worse, Americans decided that they really didn't need to gamble so much and casino revenues plummeted. Suddenly unemployment started to increase dramatically in Vegas and even today it continues to soar. Like so many other cities that are highly dependent on tourism and entertainment, Las Vegas has gone from boom to bust. Local officials are hoping that the worst will soon be over, but the truth is that the worst is yet to come. As the U.S. economy continues to unravel, average Americans will be spending what little money they do have to put a roof over their heads and to feed their families. The truth is that the glory days of Las Vegas are over and they are not coming back. 
60 comments to The Death Of Las Vegas
Saturday 12 June 2010
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The fall of Rome all over again-a culture of greed, sex, and crime. Such societies decimate over time. History has a tendency to repeat itself.
AE Designer up there has the best idea. Will anyone listen though?
I’m Indian, spent 12 years in the US and saw the Boom-Bust period from 1995 to 2006. What a ride. Feel bad for the programmed population at large, caught like deer in the headlights of what is coming straight at them.
I don’t gamble because the odds are heavy against the player. Attended several trade shows there over the years though. The last one five years ago. Everything there is vastly over priced. When we left, I told my wife that we would NEVER be there again.
I used to go to Vegas with friends and family usually twice a year for 15 years. We stopped going a couple of years ago because most of the friendly white faces have been replaced by cold brown faces. The casino we used to stay at replaced most of the White counter staff and black jack dealers with Mexicans and other foreigners. We didn’t feel as safe as we used to when walking around Vegas at night. White people want to be around White people while on vacation, not in a multi-racial hell.
Whomever said Vegas has the best nightclubs in the world have never been to an Ibiza, Moscow or many other Euro nightclubs. Vegas is weak. Vegas bows to European nightclubs.
I’ve lived in Las Vegas for 17 years and you couldn’t pry me out of here. As others have noted, this article is completely amiss.
Las Vegas went through a boom. Too many people moved here. Too many people bought investment property here. Too many new hotel rooms were built. Houses were bought at 300% over normal value.
People who bought during the boom were unwise and thought it would last forever (no boom lasts forever). Those of us who have been here forever saw the boom and bust coming from a mile away. (I sold my house at the top, have been renting, and now am looking to buy again. Sell high, buy low).
Note: I realize that a house is worth at any given time what people are willing to pay for it. Realistically speaking, homes are closer to actual (long term) value right now.
First of all, visitor numbers are up for 8 straight months. Visitors write us when they get home and say “I thought it was going to be a ghost town… and it was jammed”. Don’t take my word: Check out video from the past couple of months:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tazVAtCHxk (random crowd shots a couple minutes into the video)
We are doing 2004 numbers in both numbers of people actually employed and in the number of visitors. 2004 was considered to be a banner year. We simply had too many people move here for construction jobs. Now they are leaving.
The high unemployment is due to construction workers who are still in town. They will eventually leave as no new construction is on the horizon and their unemployment isn’t going to last forever. When they go, you’ll see the unemployment rate drop back to around the national average here.
I’d like to know where these deserted streets are when I’m out sitting in traffic. Don’t I wish. And, the streets and parks are in fine shape, thank you very much. I can’t remember the last time I saw a pothole driving around town.
Thousands of new rooms were added to Las Vegas this year, and the opening of Cosmopolitan later in the year will add 3000 more. The only room closures were a few hundred at Binion’s and The Sahara. So, anther serious error in this article.
Restaurants are opening all the time. I know, because we get the press releases. A new restaurant at Town Square (south end of The Strip) just hired 250 people.
So, all the hard data plus empirical data are at odds with what this article presents.
In fact, the housing “crisis” here is making Las Vegas a VERY affordable place to live and do business. Homes are dirt cheap. Commercial rents are dirt cheap. Entrepreneurs who can do their business from anywhere they have a computer and cell phone are coming starting to move in slowly but surely as the word gets out. And since they come here employed, they aren’t driving up the unemployment numbers.
I am a betting man, and if the author would like to contact me and place wagers on the movement of statistics noted (visitor volume up, unemployment numbers down, number of rooms open and other hard stats that we can revisit in 12 months), by all means contact me. I’ll be happy to take your money!
Ted Newkirk
Managing Editor
Las Vegas Insider Vibe
Hey Vegas: You might help yourself out a little if you start treating your customers better like the Mob did. A good starting place would be to stop stacking the decks in your Blackjack games by intentionally clumping all of the high cards and low cards together by using shuffling techniques and frequent changing to new cards. That is cheating which equals fraud and theft. What goes around comes around. Maybe just that one thing is causing YOUR loss. From and ex great lone wolf Uston Advanced Point Count player who is way way way up on you from years of full time play in the 70’s and 80’s. Shuffle the decks and I will come back and do business with you.
Here’s a great idea; sell you house in Vegas that used be worth $480,000 (inflated, of course)and now worth $130,000 (deflated, of course) and move to the Gulf Coast.
You can get beach front property there that used to be worth $990,000 (inflated, of course) and now worth maybe, say $36,000 (real value). You’ll need to like oil in your back yard (soon to be in your living room) because that’s what all the property there comes with now. No extra charge!
http://www.theamericansheeple.com/specialpublication.html
How did it get this way. 35 plus years ago
church leaders would speak to the church members and politicians about SIN and those things of wrong doing i.e. moral conduct etc. But 301 C rules came about to shutdown churches from speaking on political issues and advising their members of right and wrong concerning up coming laws and such. This rule started to get the anti christian folk a different meaning of the separation of church and state. It was changed from what it really meant to oh! can’t have any public display of Christianity because it might hurt another persons faith and a proposed separation between church and state on these matters. So the ten commandments were removed from the courts and other public places and school was not allowed to have public prayers even to read the bible for literature due to activist Judges. Our founding fathers formed this great country from many bible faiths and deemed that there should be a separation of church and state meaning that the state would not sponsor a church i.e. compel all to follow a particular faith but made it a choice by giving everyone inalienable rights to be free and choose to follow the faith they desire. Congress and the Both houses made a public law decreeing the Bible the ‘Word of God’ and that all Americans should follow it, public law 97-280. This law is not spoken about by those who oppose Christianity nor by the politicians of our day. So here we are, just a short time later in years where political, religion, and ethic corruption is the maximum, honesty is nowhere, and if challenged, then you are ostracized in every way possible so the they can Win. People Read the Bible and see if God did not strike judgment when he said he would on those who disobey Him. Greed is just one of many SINs. Lets call it what it is. Not some political name that waters down what it is….Politics, I misspoke…No He lied, actually lied to get a favor, or political points. A murder, thief, lire etc. all have one common syndrome. They all Sinned. To take America back we can not be just go through politics at the poles. It must start with The Word of God and all obey it. Have a Change of heart to Put God first in our lives. Las Vegas and other places like it will reap judgment in due time.
John
It is a horrible thing what the new world order antichrist beast system is doing to America. They are the International Banker/Bilderbergers/Illuminati and the Freemasonry devils who are bring America to economic ruin so that they can bring us into their new world order antichrist beast system. And this system will eventually require everybody to take their zombie making and mind stealing and mind controlling mark of the beast chip in their forehead or hand in the very near future.
But first they must crash the banks and our economy and dollar to totally enslave us and make us their zombie beast chipped drones. And if you take that mark (chip); you will forever be cursed by God because it will mean that you have given your soul and life to Lucifer and his antichrist beast leader son. Read Revelation 14:9-11.
And if you don’t take the beast chip; they will kill you and martyr you. But don’t worry. You will go to heaven and live like a god or goddess if you deny it because you believe in Jesus and His Fathers salvation!! While they will be defeated at Armageddon and be judged and thrown into the great lake of fire and brimstone. Where they and those who took the mark of the beast will be in the great lake of fire and brimstone screaming and yelling their heads off forever and ever and ever!!