Guess which city tops the misery index, according to BusinessInsider.com? Yup, good old Las Vegas, where real estate values have totally cratered and employment isn’t looking so hot, either. Any talk of recovery on the Strip looks somewhat relative when placed in the context of what irresponsible developers and borrowers have done to the local economy. The long stretches of empty storefronts and foreclosed homes off of Las Vegas Boulevard look like something out of the Third World. “Growth pays for itself,” huh? “Build it and they will come,” will they?
Also high on the misery index are two major satellite markets for casinos (New Orleans and Detroit), several Las Vegas and Reno “feeder” markets, and seven Florida cities. That last fact ought to both act as a spur to Sunshine State casino development — i.e., job creation — and put a brake on runaway revenue projections for aforesaid casinos.
I was in Las Vegas in early July and was really shocked at the number of empty storefronts on Maryland Parkway and I’m originally from St. Louis which hasn’t really boomed since the steamboat trade died out. If any place disproves trickle down economics it is greater Las Vegas.