Storm warnings

“The long arc of this challenge is going to be painful,” says Las Vegas-based economist Jeremy Aguero of the pandemic economy. It’s not just a matter of metaphorical life and death for business in Sin City. There are literal lives at stake. Retired Mafia hitman Frank Cullotta and entrepreneur Adam Flowers had teamed up to offer tours of Mob hotspots, both physical and virtual. Then came Covid-19 and both men caught it. It also killed Flowers’ father John. Needless to say, business has come to a screeching halt for the Flowers/Cullotta duo, both of whom found themselves on unemployment. They’re a microcosm of Las Vegas’ entertainment industry, a leg of the tripod that keeps Sin City upright—a leg that’s been kicked away.

Gov. Steve Sisolak‘s administration is faced with Sophie’s Choice: Reopen more businesses and risk a rising death toll (and possibly another Great Shutdown) or keep things as they are while the economy slowly strangulates. We value lives over dollars but not everybody has that order of priorities. Yes, we’re looking at you, Mayor Carolyn Goodman (I). Recovery, Aguero says, could be three years out. It took longer than that to fully rebound from the stock market crash of 2008, so what Aguero is saying sounds like relatively good news to us. Still, one Elvis Presley impersonator thinks present-day Vegas is a contradiction in terms. “You don’t usually come to Vegas to be careful,” he said. “You go there to be reckless and have fun.”

More alarming is the news that 47% of the Las Vegas population (15% of the state) is at risk for eviction. The rubber hits the road September 1, when the Silver State’s moratorium on evictions ends. And you thought the homeless problem was bad now … However, Suzy Vasquez, the Nevada State Apartment Association‘s executive director, is sanguine. She thinks that only 10% of renters are likely to be evicted, ones who have “ghosted” (not communicated with) their landlords. “We have people buying cars and RVs but not paying their rent,” she told CNN. But with unemployment benefits set to decline, “People are going to be a little more strapped.” Adds Flowers, “How long can everybody just sit? … How long can the government keep printing money?”

What is it about Las Vegas that brings out the inner asshole in people? Battle axe Yolanda Yarbrough swatted some poor American Airlines employee at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix because she couldn’t board her connecting flight to Vegas. How come? She refused to wear a PPE mask, an American Airlines requirement. If people like Yarbrough wear their seatbelts on airplanes (as we are required to do if we want to fly), why is a mask such an imposition? The question is rhetorical as any hope of a logical answer would be futile.

Need a laugh? Some Internet genius has synchronized Igor Stravinsky‘s orgasmic The Rite of Spring ballet to … the Teletubbies. I laughed myself silly watching this and hope you will too. We could all use some levity right about now.