Commentary
Why Heller should be Trump’s Interior Secretary
Later this week Donald Trump could name Dean Heller to replace ethically challenged Ryan Zinke as Secretary of the Interior, and Heller might be the best person Trump could possibly name to the job. Make no mistake, every person who is a possible Interior nominee — at least two Republican politicians from nearly every state […]
Don’t let automation tomorrow distract from pay today
As you may have heard, horrifying studies say Las Vegas is one of the most likely places in the solar system for automation to replace oodles and oodles of jobs. Because jobs in hotels and travel and food service are among those most likely to be automated. For example, a famous study from Oxford researchers […]
Little Tariff Man
Hey, this thing ain’t got no bill of rights! argued those who were opposed to the ratification of the U.S. Constitution. Or words to that effect. No problem, ratify this puppy and we’ll get cracking on your Bill o’ Rights lickety-split, promised James Madison. Or words to that effect. Madison was by some accounts mildly […]
The GOP path from “a kinder, gentler nation” to “very fine people, on both sides”
Imagine, if you will, Donald Trump and the charlatans, third-raters and crooks in his cabinet providing world leadership as the Soviet Union disintegrated, or building a broad international coalition to confront Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait. Even harder to imagine: Trump with an approval rating of 89 percent. That’s what George H.W. Bush’s was shortly […]
Nevada income growth is miserable and a stadium won’t fix that
Nevada’s median household income rose from $25,776 in 1984 to $56,550 in 2017, a 119 percent increase. That’s the smallest increase of any state in the nation, according to historical Census Bureau tables. Nationally, median household income (not adjusted for inflation) between 1984 and 2017 rose 174 percent, from $22,415 to $61,372. When adjusted for […]
Mini-commentary: A woman-majority Legislature and nice things too?
Democratic Assemblyman Chris Brooks, aka Gov.-elect Steve Sisolak transition leader Michelle White’s spouse, wants the Clark County Commission to appoint him to Commissioner-elect Tick Segerblom’s now-vacant state Senate seat. And then commissioners could appoint a woman to fill Brooks’s seat in the Assembly. And then if commissioners appoint a woman to fill Attorney General-elect Aaron […]
State gives tax breaks to Google, all stimulus-response like
If Google hires 50 people in Henderson by the end of 2023, great. If Google spends $600 million on its Henderson server farm or warehouse silo or whatever it is over the next 10 years, fine. And if Google’s foray into Henderson generates nearly $94 million in tax revenue over 20 years, peachy. Those are […]
Brookings Mountain West launches “Las Vegas and the Middle Class” project
There’s one thing that rich and poor have in common in the U.S. — they both tend to describe themselves as “middle class.” That might reflect the nation’s historical egalitarian ethos – “all men are created equal,” the 19th century rise of democracy, the faith, however misplaced and vexed, that in the U.S., while everyone […]
So now what?
Things might be more cut and dried if Sheldon Adelson and Adam Laxalt had won. Democrats, with hefty majorities in the state Legislature, would have been able to thwart all the truly egregious Adelson/Laxalt policy proposals. Next year’s legislative session would have been full of sound and fury, likely signifying, in the end, nothing much […]
What Republicans mean when they say “California”
“I just don’t know what that means,” Gov. Brian Sandoval told the Review-Journal several weeks ago when asked about warnings from Dean Heller and Adam Laxalt that Nevada is at risk of becoming too much like California. Sandoval should read the Review-Journal’s opinion page. Its most high-profile columnist knows exactly what Republicans think is disgusting […]
Commentary: Trump’s latest ugly distraction
As funerals have begun in Pittsburgh for the victims of a white supremacist mass murderer, and as the nation continues to shake its collective head about an ardent Trump supporter sending pipe bombs to people Trump attacks, and with the election mere days away…Donald Trump and the Republicans clearly had to change the subject. Local […]
Laxalt to Southern Nevada: Buzz off
I confess I’ve never found Nevada’s north-south split as fascinating as its most spirited participants seem to think it is. Don’t get me wrong. I suggested back in 2011 (and not for the first or last time) that Clark County should secede from the state. Though the rest of Nevada would be deprived of its […]