“Therefore, it is imperative that you encourage President Obama to publicly acknowledge that Las Vegas and all of Nevada is a wonderful place for business or pleasure and that Americans should visit and conduct business in Nevada.” — demand made by Gov. Jim Gibbons, in a letter to Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV). A pathetic rant, even by Gibbons’ standards, it displays ignorance of why, for instance, “room occupancy levels continue to decline with each passing month.” (Here’s a clue; it’s called “room inventory,” sir.)
Midnight Jim also gets wrong the number of months of consecutive decline in gambling revenue and fixates upon October’s low numbers, not November’s surprising (and reassuring) upturn. Consistent increases in visitation — particularly from the California market that Gibbons has deemed to be of paramount importance — are also ignored. Lastly, Midnight Jim, is you’re so het up about nearly two years of decline in casino taxes and 33 months of decaying retail sales, why do you continue to promote a budgetary system that is two-thirds predicated on those (clearly unreliable) sources of revenue?
[… crickets …]
