Rag Hand

Nevada’s unemployment rate now stands at 13.1%, a number that does not reflect people who’s benefits have run out, or others who have had to settle part time work until things get better.

Bill Anderson, chief economist for the state Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation, said the job loss figures cast “further doubt on the likelihood for a near-term economic recovery in Nevada.” He also said: “The much anticipated opening of City Center in Las Vegas failed to be the immediate catalyst the leisure and hospitality industry needed to stop the evaporation of jobs.”

In the early 1980s we had a downturn that lasted about a year and a half. This one is over two years old, going strong and, according to Bill Anderson: “Despite the length and depth of the downturn, Nevada’s job market will likely worsen in the months ahead.”

When that the “experts” said they were surprised that the opening of City Center didn’t revitalize the hotel and entertainment industries, I’m the one that looked surprised. Why would it? We have an over abundance of rooms and the City Center project was aimed at well heeled tourists with plenty of loose cash. –An increasingly illusive target.

The problem is; when “they” were touting all these new jobs City Center would create, they just sort of skimmed over the 12,000 or so construction workers who were about to become unemployed. They also failed to tell us where all the tourists that would be required to keep everyone employed were going to come from.

Unless it’s a project that will miraculously put money in the potential tourist’s pocket, most people don’t care about yet another joint opening in Las Vegas. They are far to preoccupied with trivial things; like finding work, paying the rent, and feeding their families.

Our entire economy is built on separating a fool and his money. –Well, I’m afraid the money lenders, with their friends “on the hill” and in the SEC, beat us to the punch and showed us just what rank amateurs we really are in the process.

Governor Jim Gibbons of Nevada is talking about Opting out of Medicaid. Saying that the state would struggle to pay the unfunded costs.

From LasVegasNow.com:

Rhea Gertken of Nevada Legal Services agrees. She believes dropping Medicaid may not be the best option. “For some people, it’s a lifeline,” Gertken said. “It’s astounding really to think that we would do away with a really huge program on the hopes that the new health care bill would cover the same people.”

But, the conservative think-tank Nevada Policy Research Institute believes otherwise. “The mandated expansion on Medicaid would impose a new unfunded mandate on Nevada,” NPRI Fiscal Policy Analyst Geoffrey Lawrence said. Lawrence says depending on the details of a health care reform bill, the state could save serious money. Plus, he says people would still get the health care they need. “Individuals currently on Medicaid would be eligible for… federal subsidies. So, they could go out and buy their own personal insurance plan,” he said.

You will notice the vague references to federal subsidies without telling specifically where or how these could be obtained. Much less what qualifications would be required to obtain these subsidies. –Typical elitist Neo-Cons.

The governor and his cronies are among those people who have never had to worry about paying the bills. And as such, have no idea what it’s like to try struggle to afford medications and doctors visits.

As far as buying personal insurance goes; what insurance company under the current rules will cover pre-existing conditions at prices normal people can afford?

Trust me. This bit about forcing insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions is mostly rhetoric. No matter how well intentioned some politicians are, by the time the insurance companies’ bought and paid for politicians are done negotiating and folding in exemptions, nobody will be any better off than they are now.

The US government has decided not to seek a fifth racketeering trial against John “Junior” Gotti, son of the notorious Gambino family crime boss.

After four trials and a series of hung juries government prosecutors have given up. The “Teflon Son” of the “Teflon Don” is free to get on with his life.

Federal prosecutors in Tampa, Florida, brought the latest case in 2008, but it was returned to Manhattan by a judge who said he was left with the “unmistakable and disquieting impression” that the government had shopped for a trial location where it might finally win.

The John “Senior” Gotti escaped conviction in a series of trials in the 1980s and early 1990s, gaining him the nickname “Teflon Don” because the charges wouldn’t stick to him. Now, aside from being sentenced to five years in ’99 after pleading guilty –over his father’s objections– to racketeering, “Junior” –who swears he left the business in the 90′s– is following the same path.

Apple filed a complaint with ICAAN’s UDRP and won 16 domain names from one man, Daniel Bijan, who didn’t even bother to show up to defend himself.

My guess is that none of the domains were generating enough income to be worth the cost of the high priced legal help required to fight the behemoth from Cupertino.

There were a bunch of names starting with macbook, like macbookpro.com that indicate to me that, because he wasn’t an Apple rep or reseller, he was more than likely cyber-squatting. –This is especially likely with a domain name like ipodaccessories.info.

Dot info? It doesn’t seem to be a very practical stand alone domain name for a retail website, what with everybody expecting a dot com. How would anyone find it?

(Did you know that the dot com has become so expected that if you are using Firefox and Explorer and you type in the primary name of the url, “raghand” for instance, and hit control + enter the browser automatically adds the .com?)

I’m not a big fan of the 800lb gorillas of this world. But in this case it appears to me that they were right, and that this gentleman was in it to make a fast buck off Apple.

The Icelandic economy is in the toilet and now the government wants to bailout an online bank so foreign investors won’t loose their money.

Almost a quarter of voters in Iceland have signed a petition against a bill to repay money lost by foreigners when an Icelandic online bank collapsed.
The petition urged the president to veto the legislation and called for a referendum on the issue.

Parliament this week approved the bill to reimburse 3.8bn euros ($17.192 bn) lost by Dutch and British savers when the Icesave scheme failed in 2008.

The compensation amounts to some 12,000 euros ($17,192) for each of the 320,000 citizens.

Can you imagine the US passing a specific bill asking you to pay an additional $17k to bail out AIG?

It’s interesting that the Icelandic government has threatened to resign if the members of parliament refused to pass this bill. —-It makes a guy wonder how much cash the president and his friends must have invested with these foreign investment companies?