Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman made a live appearance on CNN alongside host Anderson Cooper to have a discussion about reopening her city. Their discussion turned into a debate rather quickly.
Vegas has 2.2 million people and their economy is largely based on tourism. If there isn’t any foot traffic up and down the strip, or going to the various hotels, or to the shows, then the economy all but dies. Because not only do the aforementioned businesses take a hit (or go under altogether) but so do the ancillary businesses. Uber, Lyft, food services, wedding chapels, you name it.
Mrs. Goodman was totally in favor of opening the city while Cooper was adversarial towards her because of it. Borderline condescending and beyond insulting. At moments of the conversation, he would call her “ignorant” or laugh at her in a flippant way after she made a statement. Nothing that the Mayor said was out of bounds or did not make sense.
Cooper asked the Mayor what her plan would be to open casinos while maintaining social distancing. She said that she is not a casino or hotel owner and that would be up to them. Which is accurate. All Mrs. Goodman can do is give businesses the green light to open up. Her job is not to instruct businesses how to operate. Anderson Cooper tried to attack the Mayor on that point but his cries fell short.
Everyone wants the best for themselves and their fellow man. For the most part. Nobody really wants to get sick or to infect others. The issue here is that Vegas is not a virus hot spot like New York or California or anywhere else. Hospitals are not overrun there. And the whole reasoning behind social distancing alongside shutdowns was to slow the spread to ease the potential burden on hospitals. Nothing else.
So what are we waiting on? Why not reopen our economies nationwide and be rid of this stay-at-home nonsense? At this point, excuses are running thin.
The concept of control seems to be an appetizing thought in the minds of politicians right now. What may have started off as a noble quest appears to have turned into a capitalists nightmare and socialists’ dream. Apparently, the Las Vegas Mayor can see this clearly while Anderson Cooper (and people like him) cannot.
