Is Las Vegas the new Detroit? (Reno, Laughlin: lawyers, find a job, taxis)

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While that may be true of Detroit proper, it is not true of Metro Detroit, which would be somewhat like the Strip area compared to Centennial area or the SW area in Vegas. The difference is that you only have one large county whereas Metro Detroit has 9 counties. In Detroit's "bubble" the hardest hit were not in Detroit proper, but in the Metro Detroit area. We are about the 4th or 5th with the most underwater homes. LV is, of course, 1st. Good time for me to own a home is both cities. I am underwater in MI, for sure. Sinking further everyday.

Very true. On my last flight there in April, (dang, I am due, it's been too long!) there were a couple guys in front of me who booked their flights that day because they had hit in Detroit for $300K. Jumped the first flight, paid $400. each...I paid 180. total. They had small taste and wanted bigger! Hopefully, they left that $300K there and they will be back because I am sure they have comped rooms beckoning to them!

At a bowling fundraiser the other night here in Metro Detroit, one guy was saying that he goes to the casinos in Detroit to practice. Goes to LV at least twice a year and is looking to move there to be a dealer. (we'll see, but we dream and sometimes they come true, but just saying, LV gets in your blood.) I asked him why. He said because he loves it there, not just the gambling, the whole desert experience, it is better for his allergies (I have heard both ways), hates winter...same reasons...


I would much rather live there too! Working on it.

They are trying the farming, but now there are reports of toxic ground. Like that is any different than all the pesticides and hormones they use on our food.

No comparison. I go to the casinos in Detroit occasionally. Totally different vibe. You can not walk between them. Who wants to just get going and then drive to another one of the THREE? In the freezing, icy, cruddy roads of Detroit? Just not the same. Going there makes me WANT to leave and head west! Besides, I have to pay for my drinks when I gamble here. So, I don't go much anymore. And since they banned smoking in Canadian casinos, they all flock over to NY or Detroit. Stupid move on Canada's part because everyone here used to go there!

Detroit was once a very popular place to live. Back in the first half of the 20th century. Because of the auto industry, thousands of people moved here. In droves. Unfortunately, the different races could not keep it together and as Tiger Beer stated, the white flight began in the 60s. The suburbs grew and Detroit started falling apart, killing itself. Politics lent a hand in that. So, I don't think it started with the auto industry leaving as much as it was the people, which created horrible living, terrible government, bad press which made more companies leave and just a lack of pride.

Agreed. The second time I visited LV, our group went to Lady Luck (had a blast and was dealt my one and only Royal on a game called 3-5-7. They got rid of that game, I loved it! It was only one of a couple times I ever played a card table game) we were playing craps. One of the GIRLS in our group kept dropping the F bomb. She was asked to leave. I don't see that anymore. I don't think they want to ask anyone who is dropping money on the table to leave!

Didn't you sell you house in MI?

There's an old saying that goes
"Three things make money in a Depression. Bars, hookers, and taxis. You need the last one to get back and forth between the first two."

You might also include "casinos" in that quote. Desperate and frustrated folks with very little money, who still think that they can have it all, will blow their money on lottery tickets and keno, poker and slots, thinking that with their last $100 they will strike it rich and never have to worry again. It rarely happens, of course, just like the bars and *hoarhouses only offer fleeting respite, nothing concrete and permanent. Nevertheless, people will do what they will do.

Not to mention that those who still have money and jobs will still go to Vegas for the entertainment value. People who live there will still need doctors, lawyers, restaurants, grocery stores, clothes, and other basic and not-so-basic items. The whole undercurrent of the Las Vegas gambling industry supports all of their service industries. Unlike the auto industry, their gambling industry won't be shipped overseas; their 'product' isn't based on locally produced steel and muscle and work, but on the gullibility and fallibility of the human race, which is never-ending.

Plus - Las Vegas is not kind to the down-and-out. They don't encourage poverty, they reject it or ignore it. They won't build state-of-the-art Section 8 housing, or cater to the Welfare mindset, or use their gambling and other profits to encourage dependence. Las Vegas is fiercely independent and historically profit-oriented - no liberal sheltering or sympathy, or protectionist mindset there; they'll take anyone's cash with a smile and a thank you.

There are a lot of towns that might end up like Detroit, but Las Vegas isn't one of them - unless they get a lot of airheaded sympathtic liberals in office who think that throwing money at the poor among them will raise their quality of life.

JMHO and observations.

MM...that would be a disaster.

Well, there are a lot of different types of people who vote Democratic. But the particular kind of 'liberal' minded who are into those types of programs...probably simply would not find themselves attracted to Las Vegas.

But I am thinking what a disaster that would be if Las Vegas did cater to them. I also get irked everytime I see a poster already on Section 8 and welfare benefits elsewhere trying to figure out a way to transfer their lifestyle out to Las Vegas. Grrr.

Ditto on that Grr.
It's not just Vegas; it's everywhere. If you look at other states' forums, usually a couple of times a month someone is posting, asking about how they can transfer their entitlements from one state to another, if a different state pays more, what else they can get from the taxpayers of a 'new' state. They couldn't possibly care less about the current residents; all they care about is "I'm gonna MOVE - what's in it for ME?"

If you try to tell them to stay put, that things are bad everywhere, that statistics on unemployment (like most statistics) and entitlement benefits are lies, you get told off in no uncertain terms. I've pretty much given up; there's a lot of people out there who firmly believe that they have a right to benefit from what everyone else has worked for, carefully built and invested in.

I don't mean to sound like I dislike Vegas; I don't, it's FUN. It caters to my ADOLAFT - Attention Deficit Oh Look a Fire Truck! - it's pretty and shiny and there's so much to do. But I also don't go there without money to spend, and expecting to spend it. (I'm more of a foodie and a "Oh, look who's gonna be performing that week!" than a gambler, though.) I have no illusions about what Vegas is - Disneyland for grownups - and I heartily approve of its practicality.

Well Said Granny.....someone finally understands Las Vegas

Hopefully it stays that way.

Not yet. Have an offer on it, waiting for the bank to accept it. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....

My bad. I misunderstood.

I feel your pain. It took 2 years for a fully credible buyer to get approved for our old house; the bank kept bringing up objections. TG the young man really loved it and wanted it. He finally was able to buy it!

We offered 1/2 down on this place and it STILL took the bank 2 months to decide if we were "worthy"...

Then they give away mortgages to people without viable incomes or credit as if they were toasters.

Good luck!