Who would have thought that a city famous for mobsters would take, if anything, something that could be taken as indirect criticism, so personally. I read and watch the news. I know Las Vegas has been hit hard during our economic crisis. Tourism is down which means money is down, which means unemployment is up, as it is damn near everywhere else. But, when President Obama says:
“When times are tough, you tighten your belts”
“You don’t go buying a boat when you can barely pay your mortgage”
“You don’t blow a bunch of cash on Vegas when you’re trying to save for college. You prioritize. You make tough choices.”
That’s NOT a dig at Las Vegas, that is the voice of the nation saying spend your money wisely. If you have a vacation fund, by all means, book the flight, the room and the gambling time. Have a blast, that’s what Vegas is there for. But, if you truly can’t afford it, don’t go to Vegas and dump your load at the $1,000 ante poker tables. It may seem like a great idea at the time, but you’ll regret it later. What the hell is he supposed to say?
SPEND SPEND SPEND! Let’s keep Vegas afloat while the lot of you go bankrupt from one too many spins on the roulette wheel?
Now, if he said, screw Vegas, go to Atlantic City. Then, maybe they’d have something to bitch about.
This boils down to one, simple thing. The whole country is suffering right now, Vegas isn’t going through something the rest of us aren’t. Hold your chin up, fight through it, and hopefully, we’ll all be better for it, when this whole mess is over.
Furthermore, the supposed first dig at Vegas, from last year. Wasn’t a dig either! I sure as hell don’t want companies receiving government bailouts to still give corporate executives, massive bonuses and then shooting off to some fancy retreat, vacation, or bullshit corporate outing on my dime! Metaphors aside, most people would think the corporate execs would be jetting off to Vegas.
If I was representing Las Vegas, I wouldn’t be taking this personally. All this does, is make the city of Las Vegas and the state of Nevada get the same reputation as casinos have had for so many years. Who cares how much you spend, or what it does to you, financially, as long as you spend it here. It is the President’s responsibility to get into the hearts and minds of the American public about our spending and our saving. If that means you get mentioned as he attempts to educate us, so be it. When the economy levels out, the people will come flocking back, just as they did before we bottomed out.
