* * * What I Like About Las Vegas * * *
Dear Melody Germain,
As I sat in the lounge at McCarran airport waiting to leave
Las Vegas, I looked back at the skyline of the strip, and
thought fondly back over my stay. I'd certainly met some
interesting characters.
The thing that stood out to me was the way the taxi drivers
really had a sense of pride and ownership of their city.
It's something you get in London, but in Vegas they take it
one step further. The first trip I took in a taxi the guy
was talking about how "we're building" such-and-such a new
casino here, and "we're" putting up a new set of condos
there.
I started to wonder if he worked in construction, but it
was just that he felt a part of what they were doing in
that strange city in the middle of the desert. In London
people are more likely to bitterly complain about a new
developement.
I asked every taxi driver about the recession, and heard an
exact fifty-fifty split: Either it did hurt Las Vegas, or
it didn't.
"Oh yes, we get it bad here. The first sign of a downtown
and people start cancelling holidays. They can't afford
spare cash like that. It's like a ghost town here."
"Nah, the worse it gets the more people come here to
gamble. It's a bit quieter than normal this time of year
but there's still plenty going on."
Same city. Same profession. Absolutely opposing world
view. One guy was having a recession, the next one wasn't
- totally down to their beliefs and perception of the
world.
Every taxi driver wanted to talk about City Center. It's
the new super-casino resort, in the middle of the strip,
with apartments and shopping malls, apparently if you live
there you would never have to leave. (Not something that
appeals to me but looking at the scale model of the place
there's a part of me that wants to start saving my pennies
for a million-dollar apartment)
They're building it as fast as they can, and the taxi
drivers proudly tell me it's the biggest man-made structure
currently being built. That's a lot of construction
workers who certainly aren't have a recession.
Back in England I see Las Vegas on the British news, and
they are interviewing Real Estate developers, who are
experiencing a massive drop in sales, no doubt. But they
don't mention City Center.
It's hard to believe that MGM Mirage, the developers of
City Center, are worried. The wealthy take a long-term
view, and they know that there is a season to everything.
House prices in the UK are starting to fall from an
all-time high, and the only possible way to panic is if you
utterly ignore that they are on a cycle, that they have
always been on a cycle, and that they continue to cycle as
they always have.
Gordon Brown (he's our Prime Minister now) appears on the
TV and the commentators say he's finally acknowledging
there is a recession. He said something like "Yes, there's
a recession! Quick, everyone stop spending! So then
there'll be a recession, I mean, because there is a
recession. So we should stop spending, because everyone
stopped spending... I mean, because there is a recession!"
That's how I remember it, anyway.
And yet... several friends of mine just bought new
apartments and houses. A friend of mine just got her dream
job, my brother just got a new job at the Gherkin (an
iconic London skyscraper in the centre of the business
district). My former housemate wedding photographer is
more booked up than ever before.
My own e-book sales are pleasantly climbing, and I'm about
to re-launch Tapping.com with an exciting new video Tapping
course. Out of 3 Levels, the first will be absolutely free
(with a second bonus Preparatory level), and for the second
and third levels you can choose to pay $10, $25, $50, $79
or $99 - same product, you pick the price!
If you're having a recession you're more than welcome to
pay $10 or $25, and I'll be happy with that, because I
really just want people to tap.
My goal is to get 100,000 people through the course in the
first six months, and my business advisors think most
people will go for $79 or $50, because people like to pay
what they think things are worth, and personal development
tends to be something people keep spending on. Either way
it will easily be enough to fund the development of the
next levels of the course, as well as my next trip to Las
Vegas! :)
I get a bunch of financial newsletters, and again, about
half of them are talking gloom and doom - the other half
are talking about the industries and parts of the world
that are on the up right now.
So no matter your situation, it's up to you if your
'Personal Economy' has a recession. If you don't want to
have a recession, you just have to find people to deal with
who aren't having one either.
Take care,
Magnus
