Happy Labor Day (Or Is It Really Happy)

Today is Labor Day and many people are taking the day off (at least those who work in government) and having BBQ's or going swimming. Some will picnic in the mountains while others will be at work.
But is it a happy Labor Day in Las Vegas?
The unemployment rate is about 14.6% in Nevada, but the number is much higher when you include those who stopped looking for work or are under employed.
There thousands of homes in the valley that have been foreclosed on or in the process of being foreclosed on. The homes for sale, if they are bought, are being bought by investors with cash and are sitting empty, if they cannot be rented. This is killing neighborhoods.
People are leaving Las Vegas in droves. We may be getting slightly more visitors, but it is the locals that drive this economy in areas other than the Strip. Fewer locals mean fewer businesses and lower tax revenue.
Our local and state governments are running out of cash. One reason is that fewer tax dollars are rolling in and the other is the huge expenses local government has. One good thing about this is that the local and state governments are starting to get the message, with the exception of CCSD and higher education- they are still on a spending spree. Of course, the government employee unions don't get it, like the CCFD firefighter's union- they are still doing a Paris Hilton imitation- being a blonde bimbo and snorting cocaine while denying that they are not the problem.
The nation is only a few months away from the largest tax hike in our history and the Democrats are gleeful that more of us will be losing more money. They say hooray, the rich are going to be taxed higher along with companies. Oh, wait, the rich and their companies will just pass those tax increases on to us peons.
Harry Reid probably thought that the stimulus bill would work and I think he was sincere about it, but it has failed and he won't admit it. Instead, he is putting all his money on green energy, which is turning out to be a fraud at the taxpayer expense. The green energy companies take all the tax money and cheap land, put up very little of their own, make huge promises about employment and then nothing happens. We see this all over the country.
The private sector is not hiring very much- they are sitting on their cash to see what happens in November. Because of higher health insurance costs caused by Obama Care, higher taxes, more regulation, higher energy costs and perhaps higher costs to employ a person, private business just isn't hiring.
It's not all the Democrats fault, but they do own the economy and currently have Congress and the White House, so, yes, a large amount of blame goes to them. I will concede that Bush didn't help much, but the Dem's are making a bad situation worse. Bush inherited a recession when he too office and then 9/11 took place, a double whammy in the economy, but within years, through tax cuts and less regulation, the economy soared to new heights and it can happen again, when the Democrats get out of the way. (yes, that is being simplistic, but you cannot argue with the success)
So, is this a happy Labor Day? If you are a government worker, probably. In the private sector? Not so much.