Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

A cool thing about Nevada is that there are more ghost towns than occupied towns. Most are really old mining town relics, but there is one that is relatively new. Coyote Springs. This thing was supposed to be a resort community with a quarter million people about 40 miles north from Las Vegas. The only thing that ever got constructed though was a big, beautiful Jack Nicholas golf course. After that it was deemed that there was no way to get an amount of water there that would be sufficient for a community of that size, so they pulled the plug. But to this day they still maintain and operate the golf course.

There might be one town over 1,000 people within a thirty mile radius, I mean this place is out by Area 51. It is remote. There are no hotels to stay at. Just a spectacular golf course out in the middle of the desert, out by where they used to test H-bombs. I suppose you could park a motor home out there for a few days and dry camp, while you play the course a handful of times, but that's about the only way that you are playing it.

Kind of crazy, really. If they are going to operate this golf course, then you'd think they'd just dial it back to like ten thousand people thereabouts, and have the golf course be the center piece of a small resort community, flanked by a couple of casino hotels or some such. Nope. Just a random golf course out in the middle of nowhere, with no houses nearby.

now I gotta play this track - good specials - cheap cheap because of the location


GOLF – LUNCH – GOLF
$25 Lunch & Stand-By Replay at Coyote Springs
– Morning round at regular rate for tee times between 6:30 – 10:00 AM
– Summertime replays MUST be off the course by 6PM (5/26–8/31)
– Up to 18-holes are included in the replay
– Lunch in Mitch’s Bar & Grill between morning and afternoon round
– Good for an entrée, chips or potato salad & a fountain soft drink
– Can not be used for breakfast before 1st round or for a meal after the 2nd round
– Book your morning tee times online or by calling 725-210-5400. Stand-By replays are based on availability on the course. Most times of the year they are available between 1:30-2:00PM.
– If you would prefer a guaranteed replay, it is $40 per player and also includes lunch in Mitch’s Bar & Grill.
– Guaranteed replays must be booked by phone with the Golf Shop or by email to karl.larcom@coyotesprings.com or kgraham@coyotesprings.com.

If memory serves, I recall some story years ago about how Subway makes their franchises super cheap to start and doesn't care much about their density. So a lot of Subways, with more going under, is more financially viable for the mothership than fewer ones that concentrate business (I suppose the loss is carried by those who start the franchise).

A good friend of mine has 7 or 8 subway franchises here in a county of 107,000 people.
Obviously he knows what he's doing.... he says on average he makes a little more than $25K per year per location

Arby’s is another fast food joint that will lighten your wallet in a hurry.

I don't think I've eaten Arby's since 1996.

Back then they had the 4 for $5 beef & cheddar sandwiches on special, or the 5 for $5 roast beef. I only ate there when they were on special. 

It is your state's choice to overregulate, over tax, etc. to cause your cost of living to go higher than most state, requiring higher salaries for people to live there and thus pay more in income tax.

I use to work for a home builder that built houses in California. $200K to $300K for a $650K new build were in taxes, fee, levies, or other types of government costs. 

This is not economics. 

It would imply that if you simply tax more and regulate more, you will create higher wages/costs/such. That is almost assuredly incorrect.

I'm sure there's some luck factors, what with the placement of silicon valley, but for a variety of reasons, it's an extremely attractive place to live and that demand drives up all the other nonsense. 

It is your state's choice to overregulate, over tax, etc. to cause your cost of living to go higher than most state, requiring higher salaries for people to live there and thus pay more in income tax.

I use to work for a home builder that built houses in California. $200K to $300K for a $650K new build were in taxes, fee, levies, or other types of government costs. 

That's part of it, but certainly not all of it. 

BTW I have a bit of a theory on this... 

• The places that are desirable to live become so regardless of government. 
• In many cases, things grow around geography. Boston and New York had ports. Chicago had access to water and shipping. Seattle has water and a port. San Francisco and the Los Angeles basin have ports and amazing weather. New Orleans is on the mouth of the Mississippi. Etc etc.
• Once people started settling in these areas, they grew. They became hubs of business, of universities, of culture. They were already desirable areas to live based on natural features which started settlements, but that led to a certain level of gravity attracting more and more people. 
• As things became crowded, cost of living naturally went up. 
• As businesses clustered, you start getting network effects which raise productivity, raise competition for workers, raise salaries. Companies might WANT to leave for less-costly places, but if that's where the workers are, you have difficulty NOT being there.
• As all of these things happen, the places are desirable enough to live that government starts asking "how much off the top can we take these fools for before they're actually willing to leave?"

The good stuff (jobs, salaries,etc) comes first--the government comes after. 


Most of us in places like this live here not because of what the government does for us, but because the place is still a net positive after accounting for all the crappy things it does to us. 

I don't think I've eaten Arby's since 1996.

Back then they had the 4 for $5 beef & cheddar sandwiches on special, or the 5 for $5 roast beef. I only ate there when they were on special.

In the summers I'd get those at least twice a month at work.Some horsey sauce or spicey mstard,that was it

Chicago has jobs. Chicago has cultural features like art, museums, food, festivals, music, etc. Chicago has great educational opportunities (maybe not in certain areas on the south/west sides, but in the suburbs), and several universities. And worst-case, if you live in the Chicago 'burbs you're getting in-state tuition at UIUC or ISU.

Sure, the weather sucks 9-10 months out of the year. But people get used to weather--and most of the people who are attracted to Chicago regionally from surrounding states because Chicago is "where the good jobs are" are used to the weather anyway.

Per my previous post, state/local government should be viewed as a parasite. Parasites grow strongest and fattest on successful hosts. Chicago has been a pretty successful host. And unlike places like Detroit (whose success was too tied to a single industry), it's success is diversified.

A lot of money has left Illinois in recent years, and it's not coming back. Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa and Missouri say thanks.