In contrast, Las Vegas - where it snowed earlier this winter - had beautiful weather with temps in the upper 50's, low 60's and clear blue skies the whole time I was there. I usually don't look forward to going to Las Vegas for the show, but just the chance to feel some warm air and abundant sunshine after the harsh December we just experienced. I'm back in Iowa after a week in Las Vegas for the annual Consumer Electronics Show - my 23rd visit for the show. Right now, it is -3 outside and we had a blizzard warning the Monday evening I got home. And now we're expecting another 5 or 6 inches of snow today with sub-zero temperatures forecast for tonight and all day tomorrow.
At one point in my life, I used to think Las Vegas showed the best and worst of America. Now, after the financial debacles this past year, I'm afraid that Las Vegas only shows what's really wrong with America. Las Vegas is built upon excess, not success. The city was built by losers, not winners. The city thrives on suckers, not the level-headed.
I've often said that everyone in America should be sentenced to visit Las Vegas for a minimum of three days, once in their lifetime. At first, the glitz and glamour will stun the rookies who visit the city. One can easily get caught up in the fervor that has defined this city since the elegant "Rat Pack" days of the 60's.
From the time you arrive at and, subsequently, leave McCarran International Airport, you'll see slot machines everywhere. They're in the airport, they're in casinos, they're in grocery stores, they're in laundromats. And they're there for only one purpose - to extract money from your pockets. If I never hear the distinctive Wheel of Fortune four-note chime again, I'll be happy because there has to be over over 100,000 Wheel of Fortune slot machines scattered all around Las Vegas.
You go sit at a bar - there's video poker. I have to say that at one time I used to have a jones for video poker. Now, I can't tell you the last time I put a quarter into a video poker machine. It is the quickest way to drain $20 bucks from your pocket. The allure of having a free beer while you're playing notwithstanding, after you're done, you realize that you just spent $80 bucks on four beers.
And if you're not playing video poker, that bottle of Budweiser costs $4.25 at the bar. Gone are the days of $1.00 domestic and $1.50 import prices on beer. You want to drink in Vegas, you either gamble while you're doing it, or pay premium prices on drinks. Either way, they've got you coming and going.
The biggest thing that always amazes me during my annual trips to Las Vegas is the amount of new, large buildings that go up each year. And this year was no exception. I was simply blown away - in this very down economy - the amount of casinos, hotels and high-rise condos being built in Las Vegas when I was there. At one point, I counted over 20 large cranes in the Strip Area from my hotel room window on the 28th floor of the Las Vegas Hilton. The whole time I'm thinking, "Where is this money coming from? I would think there has to be an end to this madness at some point."
The new City Center project is one of these huge developments going on right now. Owned by MGM Mirage, the City Center will have three high-rise luxury condo towers, be the home for the new 4,000 room Aria resort, conference center and casino, and will also have an upscale shopping district on the property. But all is not rosy with this huge development. The day after I arrived, MGM Mirage announced that they were cutting back on the project to help raise cash and cut costs. The announced cut backs would save the parent corporation around $400 million dollars.
I was talking to a friend of mine about the amount of building going on and he said, "Yeah, but have you noticed that not one crane has moved since we got here last week?" I began to look out the window during the day time and see that he was mostly correct.
Developer and hotelier/casino owner Steve Wynn just opened Encore, his new hotel/casino that will complement his pricey Wynn hotel and casino next door. Encore, which looks exactly like the Wynn, was already facing an uncertain future before its doors opened on Jan 2.
Gaming revenue and tourism in Nevada are down sharply. Over 4000 people have been laid off from casinos in the Las Vegas area alone. And in December, city officials said they had *only* a net gain of 20,000 people for the Las Vegas area in 2008 - down from the 50,000 to 60,000 people they normally have move into the area on an annual basis.
When you pull back the curtain and look at the infrastructure of Las Vegas, you see the real dirt and grime the city has to offer. You see the crappy little strip malls filled with nail shops, pay-day loan establishments and endless Chinese restaurants. Even the famed Strip is not immune to the sleaze and crap that permeates Las Vegas with businesses with names like Sexpresso, Cheap T-Shirts and Strip Liquor. The dregs of the earth walk the streets of Las Vegas as over 12,000 homeless people are now in the Las Vegas area - a 50% rise in the homeless population in Las Vegas over the last decade.
There are really no winners in Las Vegas, except for the hotels, casinos and restaurants. There's always the guy who says he just won $6700 bucks in Vegas, but he neglects to tell you he had to lose $9200 to make the $6700. Then there's the hustlers and con-men that permeate the city, the degenerate gamblers who literally live inside the casinos, and the hucksters who implore you to take in a show that features cheesy performers impersonating Cher, Britney Spears and Tom Jones - all for $75 bucks when you can go see the real Cher, Britney Spears or Tom Jones just down the street. As I said, this city was built by suckers.
Suckers, like me. Each year, I send my dirty laundry, copies of trade magazines I picked up at the show, and other things back home via UPS or FedEx Ground. On Sunday, one of the guys from Cambridge Audio who was showing with us told me that he had sent some things back to England using the business office at the Las Vegas Hilton. He said, "It was rather convenient than taking it all the way out to DHL at the airport."
Even though there was a FedEx/Kinkos just down the way on Paradise Road, I decided to take my 25 pound box of stuff down to the business office to send out. By the time the adding machine had stopped smoking from the addition of handling fees and what not, the bill came to just over $61 bucks to ship this box back to Iowa. Did I say, "Wait a minute..."? Nope, I pulled out my Visa card and puckered my butt hole when I signed the receipt. Something that would have cost me about $22 bucks at FedEx/Kinkos just cost me nearly three times the normal amount because I got suckered at a Las Vegas hotel.
And finally, the prices some of these restaurants are charging in Las Vegas is absolutely outrageous. You'll be hearing more about that in coming entries on Road Tips.
Honestly, though, I'd like to go back out to Vegas with Cindy sometime when there isn't a convention going on and I'm free to do whatever I please. I'd love to go do the full tour at the Hoover Dam, go out to Death Valley, and just walk around and see the good stuff in Vegas. But really, that should not take much more than three days. That's because Las Vegas continues to be the world's largest living toilet.
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