The Ryan Thomas Collection

The Mayor of Las Vegas is angry with President Obama. As the president crosses the country in his bid to stimulate support for his package to spark economic growth, President Obama stated, “You can’t get corporate jets, you can’t go take a trip to Las Vegas or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayer’s dime.” This is in reference to Wells Fargo’s lavish corporate trip to Sin City that had a massive price tag associated with it, but has since been cancelled. Wells Fargo received $25 billion in federal bailout money in 2008 and received harsh criticism when news broke of the corporate retreat.

Mayor Oscar Goodmand of Las Vegas wrote a letter to President Obama asking our leader to refrain from making such comments because it hurts the tourism industry and the cities that depend on business tourism to survive. Nevada’s Congressperson, Shelley Berkley, chimed in and wrote to the President:

Mr. President, I support your efforts to curb corporate excesses in your recovery plan, but from the neon lights of Las Vegas to the Chicago skyline, from the white sands of Hawaii to the Kansas heartland, tourism means jobs. We need your support and we need the business more than ever before.

I think Nevada, particularly the Mayor of Las Vegas, is missing the point President Obama is attempting to make here. If a company has the profits and financial stability to plan and carry out a corporate trip, then by all means this should happen. If a company has the profit to stay at the Wynn on the Las Vegas Strip, there is no reason to stop them. In fact, yes, this does help the economy.

If a company is performing so poorly, and has made such irrational decisions and taken such frivolous acts as we have seen within the banking industry, then perhaps Las Vegas is not the place to be going. These acts have caused destabilizing effects on an entire nation, and globe at that. If a company needs to be bailed out by the federal government, then cancelling a lavish Las Vegas trip sounds in line with something that your average American family would have to do if a family member lost employment. Companies bailed out by the government and then sending employees on weekend getaways is similar to an unemployed citizen lacking any savings and in debt to Visa going to Hawaii to soak in some rays for a few weeks.  If you do not have the money, you can’t have luxury! President Obama knows this. I know this. Why can’t Mayor Goodmand wrap his head around it?

Wells Fargo, amongst numerous other banks, provided risky loans to borrowers. Apparently luck is not on their side, so Las Vegas really should be the last place to send employees. If companies that have been bailed out by the federal government really feel a need to take their employees to a recognition retreat in Nevada, like all Americans, they need to do it economically. Don’t book suites at the Wynn or the Venetian on the Las Vegas Strip, book a room Circus Circus in Reno!

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