"All that glitter isn't gold in Vegas; Strip struggles as it focuses on high-rollers" by Ashley Powers, Los Angeles Times | January 4, 2009
LAS VEGAS - Las Vegas has staked its future on 320-thread count linens, 2,200 square-foot suites, filet mignon, Chanel, seaweed wraps, and $5,000 bets on slot machines. The latest batch of megaresorts revels in luxury - thrift mostly vanished with showgirls and the Rat Pack.
Now observers are wondering whether that was a wise bet.
The recession has hobbled Las Vegas casinos, once lauded as impervious to the national economy's ups and downs. Comparing this past October with the same month the previous year, almost everything has plummeted: the number of visitors, hotel occupancy, the number of conventions....
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Analysts say Las Vegas Boulevard - now pocked with empty lots and stalled construction projects - should bounce back once the credit crisis wanes and tourists feel confident enough to splurge on vacations.
Yeah, in about TWO YEARS they tell us -- even though they plan to wreck the economy way before then!
But while previous downturns passed as quickly as a thunderstorm, economists expect this squall to linger through 2009, push Clark County's unemployment rate as high as 10 percent, and wipe out casino projects.
Tourism is Nevada's primary breadwinner, and the Strip, with more than $6.8 billion in gaming revenue last year, is the biggest cash machine of all. How its high-end image plays to tourists during and after the recession will affect the entire state.
"People might want luxury, but are they willing to pay for it?" said Keith Schwer, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. "We might have missed our brand."
Las Vegas has thrived on showmanship and glitz, but it was purposely affordable. Benny Binion, who launched the World Series of Poker, talked about making "little people feel like big people" to get rich. The creator of Caesars Palace reportedly declined to name it "Caesar's" because he wanted every guest to feel like an emperor.
That's how the rich keep us all off their backs: because it COULD HAPPEN TO YOU! YOU could win the LOTTERY!!!
I say we eat the bastards; I'm going hungry a lot these days.
The idea of Las Vegas as cheap, if somewhat tacky, carried it through other economic slumps, Schwer said. But Steve Wynn changed things: His Mirage resort and casino, which opened in 1989, introduced high-end boutiques and steakhouses to gambling palaces. Bellagio was even more lavish.
The latest Strip projects - including
Hundreds of people waited outside recently for Encore's opening - many merely to ogle. "I can't afford to stay here. If I had money I would. A lot of money," said Julia Dziegelewski, 62, who was visiting from Palm Bay, Fla., where she said she is struggling to sell her home....
In recent months, tourists and locals have objected in newspapers and online that the Strip caters to the bourgeoisie....
Your kidding?
Recently, tourism officials flew in 120 residents of Cransfills Gap, Texas - population 351 - and filmed them sky-diving, golfing, and patronizing night clubs. The resulting ad blitz intends to paint Vegas as a quick and affordable getaway for Middle America....
Yeah, GO GAMBLE your HARD-EARNED DOUGH away, AmeriKa!
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Seriously, are you that fucking stoo-pid that the MSM can INSULT YOU SO and get away with it (as they grab the slot-machine side-arm)?
