– January NOD/NOS/TD Figures – NODs totaled 778, up from 763 in December, basically pretty steady for the last 4 months. NOSs totaled 394, up from 366 in December, but again, generally even with the last four month average. TDs fell to 190 from 221 in December, the lowest total we’ve seen since April 2008. I’ll resume my graph next month (note to self – free trials of Office 2007 will erase your old programs).
– The first 3 days of February are off to a blazing start, with 182 NODs, 75 NOSs, and 25 TDs filed. A large number of the NODs are from missed payments over a year ago. There seems to be a pretty direct relationship between the amount owed and how long the lenders are waiting to foreclose (though BK filings by the wealthier contribute to this).
– The amount owing on the NODs is trending up rather dramatically. Of the 54 NODs filed today, 6 were for over $1,000,000 (3 in IV, 2 ArrowCreekish, and 1 Caughlin). Another 8 or so were in excess of $500,000.
– Dine and Dash – No one really knows how many people are purchasing a new, cheaper home before defaulting on their underwater residences, but I can assure you that from my research that these are not isolated occurrences anymore. Most of the cases I have run into to have been average Joe’s who wouldn’t generally have the real estate savvy to execute these deals. I believe they are being "coached".
– TD to TD – There are people losing properties at Trustee’s Sales that are turning around and BUYING properties on the courthouse steps for cash, sometimes within a week or two. This is not wide spread yet, but is raising my blood pressure to apoplectic levels. The lenders need to get off their boney asses, do some due diligence, and start setting some very public examples that fraud is not acceptable. Give me deficiency judgments! Give me public humiliation, flogging on Victorian Square, the Scarlett R. 100%, each, every, ALL of the cases I have found of people losing properties then turning around and paying CASH for Trustee’s Deeds are all in the industry. That’s RE brokers, agents, bankers, developers, title and mortgage folks.
I’m just not in an "up" mood for Reno tonight.
MikeZ
I have my own theory about why the banks are looking the other way: they know how widespread lender fraud was at their institutions and they don’t want to open that can of worms.
Just sitting in lenders’ offices and listening I must have witnessed a good half dozen fraudulent loans written.
When a family of 5 comes in, in a 15 yo old beater car, with hungry kids who haven’t been bathed that day and the officer puts them into a stated income with $100K AGI, that’s lender fraud.
And I don’t think the lenders want to go there.
gimme money
MikeZ,
The kids were hungry cuz the old lady hadn’t fed ’em all day. And only two of those kids were mine, the small one was my grandkid. Lastly, you can call it a beater, but I call a 1995 Taurus with new rims a classic. Get a life, pal!
Azimuth T. Schwitters
Mike,
Kudos for the awesome research. This blog is an incredible resource. But….
While I understand that you are angry with people that you perceive as taking advantage of the crisis, I don’t see how what they are doing constitutes fraud, as you have asserted in this post as well as a few others. When you sign a promissory note it contains the remedies that are available to the lender if you default – credit report, foreclosure etc.
Unless you can show that a person intentionally deceived a lender in the formation process of the note, e.g. they lied about income or assets, then its unlikely that any kind of fraud occurred.
A business decision to default on a note does not equal fraud, even if the day after defaulting you are on the courthouse steps buying a newly foreclosed on house. Should the bank be free from any responsibility for making a bad business decision by lending more and more money in an ever inflating housing market?
I think that the people facing up to the situation and acting logically are doing EXACTLY what needs to be done. That is, coming to terms with the fact that the consequences of default are greatly outweighed by the benefits, and likely will be for some time into the future.
The sooner accept the consequences of our collective stupidity and hit the reset button, the sooner we can get back to building a productive society. Lest we end up zombies in zombie houses financed by zombie banks in a zombie country.
If anyone should be flogged its the bankers and the legislators, not the homeowners.
Zen
“If anyone should be flogged its the bankers and the legislators, not the homeowners.”
It is not only the fault of the bankers and legislators that listened to them. It is also a fault of the individuals that lied about their income and/or were financially irresponsible. Clearly every person that is loosing their home does not fall into this category, but plenty of them do. The ones that do are just as much at fault for getting us into this mess. If we all don’t learn some lessons and change some habits, we will continue to revisit this problem again and again. So don’t throw all the blame on the fat cats, a few million little mistakes by the average joe adds up.
BanteringBear
“ALL of the cases I have found of people losing properties then turning around and paying CASH for Trustee’s Deeds are all in the industry. That’s RE brokers, agents, bankers, developers, title and mortgage folks.”
These are the same weasels who were screaming “real estate only goes up” a few years ago as they drank their own Kool-Aid, offered up senseless arguments to back up their pathetic utterances, and proceeded to go “all in” on houses.
Funny we don’t here from these pieces of garbage anymore. Where are they now? Sneaking around on the courthouse steps, apparently.
BanteringBear
I’d like to start a blog which does nothing but expose the worst sinners in the Reno real estate meltdown. Mine the public data and publish the names and transactions of all of these economy killers. I don’t see any reason why it cannot be done. Public information is public information. Let’s pull the veil of secrecy away, and see what’s really going on behind the scenes, and who’s directly responsible for all of these foreclosures.
DowntownMakeoverDude
Well Bantering Bear, considering Mike’s post about ‘lateral moves’ was deleted off this blog completely, presumably from pressure by lawyers of the mentioned homebuyer in the article coming down on either Guy or Diane or Mike, unless you have the funds and a team of lawyers to fend off every pissed off exposed homeowner out there, your idea probably won’t see the light of day. Good idea though! If I had a team of lawyers, I’d put the site up myself.
smarten
BB, I agree completely with your suggestion as to publishing the worst dine/dash, lateral move sinners! It’s all protected from litigation if based upon public record. It’s also protected from defamation if true [a complete defense]. It’s further protected if not true, yet not malicious. And Guy/Diane/Chase/whomever are all protected because there’s a federal law that protects internet sites from the comments of their posters. Simply stated, there’s very, very little basis for liability [short of intentional, malicious non-truths by posters (and even then, the only persons who are potentially liable, are the posters themselves)].
My suggestion is that we start in Incline Village. I know of a couple of real estate agents and mortgage brokers who played the game and got burned. Since they continue to hack their wares and advertise their expertise, it would be fun to call them out and share the truth!
Let’s call it “Sinner of the Week.” And let’s send a copy of the post to the RGJ in the hopes they will publicize these sins.
I say repost the Lateral Move blog and let’s make the example Mike cites as Exhibit “A.”
mescalito
Mike
Go with open office http://why.openoffice.org/
I have it on all my machines and it works really well. Tried to cloud compute through google but it may be too far outside my old comfort zone.
bob_c
But you still have to pay for your defense even
though you are ‘protected’ by the law. Who wants
a lawsuit or threat of. The weasels win again.
This is America.
Vigalantism, anyone???
skeptical
Keep with the spirit of the title of Mike’s thread, pls see the following:
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2010/02/school-crisis-in-nevada-governor-seeks.html
“Dan Klaich, Nevada’s higher education chancellor, told the system’s governing Board of Regents the state is facing the worst economic shortfall in anyone’s memory, nearly $1 billion. This will mean either massive cuts to every aspect of government, or woefully unpopular tax increases. Or both.
Klaich outlined three scenarios that would cut that much from the system:
1. Close Nevada State College and the College of Southern Nevada.
2. Close Great Basin College, Truckee Meadows Community College, Desert Research Institute, UNLV’s law and dental schools, and the system’s medical school.
3. Close the state college, Great Basin, Truckee Meadows, Western Nevada College, all athletics at the two universities and the agricultural experiment station at UNR.
Don’t like those options? Klaich laid out a few others.
The system could implement 20 percent salary cuts across the board.
It could lay off 1,290 faculty and staff.
It could implement tuition and fee hikes of 48 percent.”
Increased taxes, more layoffs of state employees, and salary reductions are a certainty, and no matter your political bent, they are necessary.
Not a great time to be buying a place in Nevada….
RB
To Skeptical…the same could be said for dozens of states facing even worse budget deficits, cough cough CALIFORNIA cough cough. The only states who seem to be doing OK are the Flyover States where unemployment is still hovering around 5%.
BanteringBear
Thanks for the link, skeptical. I found some of those quotes to be absolutely hysterical. Shutting down the higher education system in Nevada would be the death knell for the state. Those proposals lead me to but one conclusion: fire Dan Klaich.
smarten
Speaking of we don’t have enought money for education…
Just happened to take a trip over Mt. Rose Highway late this morning. There’s a section before you reach the summit which attracts recreational users such as kids on sleds.
So what do I see but three school buses parked at the side of the road. And up on the slopes are how don’t know how many [elementary] school age kids and their chaperones sledding and playing in the snow. Sure when I went to school we would occasionally have field trips away from school – like the La Brea Tar Pits [in Los Angeles] and museums. But the snow?
I’m sorry people; the problem is not a lack of money for our schools. It’s what administrators do or don’t do with it. Like $1/4M annual salaries for administrators; no long term capital reserve funding; and field trips to the snow.
Martin
Well, Smarten, have at it. It seems you know the names of the offenders at IV. So please tell us. Since IV is in Washoe County, the data miners on this blog can no doubt have the whole stories up and running in no time. So tell us, Smarten, who are the ones “who played the game and got burned” and “continue to hack their wares” in the world of IV real estate?
skeptical
If I may chime in. It seems to me Guy has no interest in “outing” people on this blog. Whether I agree or disagree, I respect his views. This blog has been an invaluable source of information and commentary to me, and I’d prefer that it remain that way.
May I suggest that those wishing to “name names” set up their own website? I’ll certainly be glad to visit your new blog. Meanwhile, I hope we can all respect what the major contributors behind this blog (Guy and Mike) have communicated to us minions.
FWIW.
Reno Ignoramus
No kidding. If the people voluntarily defaulting on their mortgages and then buying another house for cash on the courthouse steps are “brokers, agents, bankers, developers and title and mortgage folks”, then those are the very people Guy has to work with every day. Come on folks. Guy sponsors this blog to assist in his business, not to impede it.
I share the same disgust as many others here about what is going on. But this blog is not the place for the public outings being called for.
GrandWazoo
“Shutting down the higher education system in Nevada would be the death knell for the state. Those proposals lead me to but one conclusion: fire Dan Klaich.”
Bear, don’t fire Dan Klaich, whose presentation was only meant to be illustrative of the dire straights NSHE is in – none of these egregious suggestions were meant to be acted on and he stated that explicitly – fire the governor and the legislature, who repeatedly refuse to create a workable funding model for the financial demands of the state. Nevada is at the bottom of every list for K-12 and higher ed, be it funding per student, graduation rates, you name it. How much lower can we go?
Official Self Interest Disclaimer – I am a faculty member at UNR.
Tom
The notion of addressing a budget deficit by imposing big cuts on educational facilities is very-short sighted, in my view.
Closing down community colleges and cutting back on the university would be the worst thing Nevada could do. It would essentially encourage the college-bound segment of Nevada’s best and brightest young people to leave the state to find better educational options elsewhere. It seems to me that Nevada needs more educated young workers, not fewer, in order to show business management teams that there is a capable work force available in the state.
Diversifying the region’s business base is probably something Reno needs to do. But without a consistently refreshed local pool of educated young workers, this would become very difficult. Does Nevada want to see a significant share of its brightest high school graduates encouraged to leave the State? That couldn’t be helpful, in the long run.
Cornell
Tom,
Nevada’s “best and brightest” young people already do leave the state to find better educational options elsewhere.
No offense to Wazoo, but the best and the brightest of Nevada’s high school graduates go elsewhere. UNR and UNLV have well developed, and deserved, reputations for mediocrity. They are not unlike a lot of other 3rd tier state institutions across the country. Mediocre. The 3.75 and up GPA students at RHS and MHS and RHS and Manogue go out of state.
Carleton
I think UNR strives for mediocrity. These coming budgetary cuts might make attaining that goal difficult.
BanteringBear
You’re right, GrandWazoo. I misunderstood the context of Klaich’s statements. It seems he was trying to illustrate the magnitude of the budget crisis. Nevada needs to do ANYTHING but hollow out its education system.
Corine
My nephew was one of those nerdy kids who hung out at Reno HS with all the other nerdy kids. Socially inept, but academically top notch. In his group of 5, one went to Brown, one went to Middlebury, one went to Stanford, one went to Princeton, and one went to Caltech (spread out over two years).
Not one of them ever even considered UNR. These were the best and brightest.
GrandWazoo
There is a reason why some Nevada students go out of state, and some out of state students come to UNR and UNLV:
There is a reciprocal agreement between the Pacific Northwest states that residents can go out of state to another state in the agreeement at in-state resident fees. I am not up on the latest participants (not my line of work at the U), but I believe it includes California, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. Someone in the know please correct me.
So, while certainly some of our best and brightest Nevada high school students attend elsewhere, so do similar students attend here in Reno (and LV), for the same reasons – reasonable tuition, change of scenery, something different.
Our enrollment is up this year, as is typical for universities during difficult financial times.
Cornell – if you have some metrics to share with us, I’m all ears.
GrandWazoo
Corine – those students were very lucky to be able to attend such fantastic private institutions – I hope their financial burden at graduation will be manageable.
UNR is currently charging around $150 a credit hour for undergraduate classes. Would you be so kind as to tell us what Brown, Middlebury, Stanford, Princeton, and Caltech charge per credit hour?
BanteringBear
Call me crazy, but I see the University system in Nevada as part of the solution to the long term economic woes, not part of the problem. If Nevada, specifically northern NV, would invest heavily in higher education, and become known as a state which provides a multitude of great education opportunities at reasonable rates, more students would come, as well as businesses which supported such an environment.
With the myriad outdoor activities available, I can picture Reno as a premier college town. Even little old Spokane, WA has two great colleges in Gonzaga and EWU, with WSU only an hour away.
BanteringBear
This is way off thread, but the cost per credit hour is of little consequence when colleges are gouging students for several hundred dollars per book. I saw a soft bound workbook half the thickness of Cosmopolitan magazine, and of the same material, for $80. Tell me that’s not criminal.
Corine
Wazoo…you get what you pay for.
DonC
I’m still puzzled by all the fuss about the diners and dashers. Businesses do things like this all the time. Plus the stuff they do in or right before bankruptcy makes this look positively innocent. No one calls those guys out at all. Seems that if a business does it then it’s OK; if an individual does it we should tar and feather them. I’m not condoning dine and dashers, but let’s keep some perspective.
FWIW I second mescalito’s recommendation of Open Office. Great program at a great price. Should work for you so long as you don’t need Powerpoint.
StringTrio
UNR is a third tier state institution. Not awful, but certainly in no way distinguished. It is essentially interchangeable with North Dakota State University, and Idaho State University, and Utah State University, and on and on…….
I assume Carleton’s comment was a bit tounge in cheek. Unfortunately, it may closer to the truth than he intended.
booster
Wazoo,
Stanford tuition is ~$37k per year, flat rate.
Considering Sage Ridge (private, 5-12) in Reno charges ~$20k, it doesn’t seem like a bad deal.
That said, I think UNR is a fine school, and don’t understand the insults. The Mining School is among the best of breed. Have the critics of UNR actually ever visited the school? It’s pretty impressive.
I agree with BB, Reno could be an amazing college town. It’s a shame the city’s leaders don’t leverage off the university to create a virtuous circle of smart growth and cooperation.
Could it be that the casino interests just have too much influence to allow for the organic growth of other industries? Reno has so many natural treasures (Tahoe, the Truckee, great weather, fantastic outdoor rec) it’s a shame it has such a one dimensional economy (casinos).
If diversified industries were fostered and allowed to develope, this town would be in much better economic condition.
Conlin
I think you do get what you pay for in higher education. It is sometimes more about the connections you make at the top ranked schools. My son goes to Princeton. Two weeks ago, in a seminar in which he is one of 11 students, Ben Bernanke was present to talk to the kids. (Please no Bernanke jokes…you get my point). Last summer, my son’s best friend did an internship at the Bank of Tokyo because the the program director there is a Princeton graduate. His other friend did an internship with the Fed’s open market committee, because of the well-known Princeton link there.
Sorry Wazoo, UNR’s cheap tuition cannot make up for these kinds of career opportunities. When was the last time a UNR student had the Chairman of the Fed come in and talk? When was the last time a UNR student interned with the office of the President of the bank of Japan?
tallguy
Reading the comments on higher education in the state and its link the future in this state, I am struck by the strong support for higher education here, in contrast with many comments posted on the RGJ page, where many posters seem content to eviscerate the Nevada higher education system, and are happy to see it go. To all of the education supporters here, please be sure to speak up at every opportunity you get, and spread the word that higher education is important in a 21st century economy where knowledge is the most valuable asset for an employee to possess.
Like Bantering Bear, I strongly believe higher education is vital to the economic future of this area. Full disclosure: I teach at UNR too, and while I agree with the fact that many attributes of UNR resemble those of third tier institutions, it IS getting better, and not just a little. Reno could be a great college town because of its location, if only UNR could do a little better job of attracting and graduating strong students. I myself came here because of the location, though I have an academic pedigree that could have landed me a job at Stanford, Brown, Princeton etc.. Many other faculty, especially the younger faculty, have similar qualifications, and came for the location. That is a strong resource that could really be an educational foundation to build on if UNR can stay on the right track.
tallguy
And to Conlin.. nobody is suggesting the UNR is some sort of competitor to Princeton, I agree that there are opportunities unique to truly top tier institutions like Princeton, and truly gifted students should rightfully go to the best school that accepts them. But, with a few years of investment, strong performance and strong graduating classes, UNR could be a viable alternative to UC Boulder, some of the Pac-10 Washington and Oregon schools, UC San Diego, UC Santa Cruz, and other respected institutions that compete on the basis of location. That would go a LONG way to improving the quality of UNR applicants and result in a much stronger and respected institution.
I also think UNR should charge higher tuition.. students don’t take their education as seriously as they would if they had to pay more for it. It is essentially free for many Millenium students, and consequently, they place little value on how they do in the classroom.
BanteringBear
“I think you do get what you pay for in higher education. It is sometimes more about the connections you make at the top ranked schools. My son goes to Princeton. Two weeks ago, in a seminar in which he is one of 11 students, Ben Bernanke was present to talk to the kids.”
I think, by accident, you’ve actually made the argument that you DON’T get what you pay for when it comes to college. Ben Bernanke? Pleeeease. All you’ve done is illustrate that this country is nothing but a good ol’ boys network, and it’s not what you know, but who you know. Students get into those expensive schools most times because their parents are loaded, not because they are the best students. I also think it’s impossible to fail, as the Universities wouldn’t want to embarrass themselves.
GrandWazoo
“Stanford tuition is ~$37k per year”
Assuming a Stanford student takes 15 credits for two semesters per academic year, that is over $1000 per credit hour – quite a bit more than UNR or UNLV charges, by slightly less than a factor of 10.
Corine – with all due respect, what are those institutions charging per credit hour? I missed that bit of info in your last response, no doubt it must be me, your local public university hack.
Martin
Wazoo. Seems like we we have hit a sensitive spot with you. Your defensiveness is showing.
The comment above about the son who attends Princeton really says it all. Economics students at UNR talk about the Chairman of the Fed. Economics students at Princeton talk to the Chairman of the Fed.
Your implication that UNR provides an equivalent education as the top ranked schools in the country for less money is absurd. And everybody knows it is absurd. You have generally been an insightful contributor to the blog. However, on this topic which is obviosuly too close to home for you to be objective, you are losing credibility by the minute.
Reno Ignoramus
Well, at least we have moved away from the suggestion that the blog ought to disclose the identities of Guy’s colleagues.
Walter
I don’t think Wazoo is suggesting that UNR provides an equivalent education to that of the country’s top schools for less money. I think he is saying that UNR provides a lesser education for less money. At least I hope that is what he is saying.
DownButNotOut
GrandW – it’s called the WUE system – Western Undergraduate Echange Program – of which many NW states belong to.As a parent of a first year Freshman at UNR, I am ecstatic at the education he is receiving.And he had his choice of any CA university.
DownButNotOut
BTW – take a poll of the contributors here – how many are working in the field you’re college degree was obtained?
In ”80 mine was Aerospace Engineering. Haven’t used that in a while.
GrandWazoo
Martin:
I appreciate your comment.
I have not taken the position that UNR is Stanford, Yale, Harvard, or any of those kinds of institutions. No way, all of us here are smarter than that.
My comments are about cost – what are these private ivy league institutions charging vs public institutions here in Nevada? If you have a bright kid and can afford to send them to a great school that is charging $1K per credit hour plus room and board, good for you – you and your child deserve it.
The public university system is not about that – we have very strict controls on what we can charge and the state (hopefully) makes up the difference. If not, it all hits the fan.
Like right now. The bright kids with parents with money will always have a home somewhere. The rest of the mob, not the brightest but not dumb either, with parents already under great financial pressure, may be just flat out lost. That is failure of the public university system, pure and simple, and if you don’t understand that – well, maybe you didn’t attend Stanford!
🙂
Kenna
Number of Nobel winners that have been on faculty at Princeton…….20
Number of Nobel winners who have been on faculty at UNR……….0
Number of Princeton graduates who are Nobel winners……..14
Number of UNR graduates who are Nobel winners…… 0
Sorry, Wazoo, you do get what you pay for.
GrandWazoo
So Kenna, where did you get your degree(s), and what drove you to that/those decisions?
DownButNotOut
Kenna – those statistics mean NOTHING to me when it comes to our kids education. Princeton is no doubt a great school. So are others, but the matrix isn’t how many Nobel winners by any means. Using your analogy to send your child to Princeton – WORTHLESS.
The fact that Obama to received the Nobel Prize – well, that sums it up to me.
Oh did you go there?
Hillside
You going to lose your job, Wazoo??
This state is now undergoing a fundamental systemic change in the role of government, including higher education. It is about time. There are positions at every level of government, state, county, city, that will be eliminated and will NEVER be again filled. It is about time. Property values will NEVER again return to the bubble highs and neither will property tax revenues. Sales tax revenues will NEVER again return to the heady days of 2004 and 2005 when a Lexus was only another cash-out refi away. Las Vegas, which drives the whole state’s revenues, will NEVER again be what it was in the bubble years, and neither will the gamimg tax revenues. Nevada will NEVER have a state income tax, unless the legislature votes for one and then the people vote, twice, to impose one on themselves. Uh huh.
I love Dan Klaich’s hyperbole about the catastrophic fanatsies. It makes good press. However, make no mistake about it. NSHE is going to take a major, major hit. How nice. It will survive, in some form. Anybody who thinks UNR will ever again return to 2005-07 funding levels is going to be seriously disappointed. Not in this lifetime, Wazoo. UNR has never been much more than mediocre, as others have said. Take mediocre, subtract 15%, you still have mediocre. Not that many in Nevada will really care.
Kandle
Oh my God, they may have to close the law shcool at UNLV? I can’t imagine what life would be like with a lawyer shortage.
Surely we all would be willing to pay more taxes to insure that Nevada has a sufficient supply of new lawyers.
Sandman
“Close Nevada State College and the College of Southern Nevada.”
How did Nevada ever manage to exist without these institutions? You know, for the first 150 years of its existence? How did people manage to get up and go to work every day, and pay the bills, and go out to dinner on Friday night? How did Nevadans sustain even a civilized existence without Nevada State College and the College of Southern Nevada?
Who knows? But for surely we cannot as a civilized people contemplate a future Nevada without the Nevada State College and the College of Southern Nevada. I truly hope the Governor calls a special session of the legislature to raise taxes to maintain these essential institutions.
Tom
I have enjoyed reading the interesting viewpoints above on the fine opportunities offered top high school graduates when they attend some of the most prestigious universities in the country. That is a fact nobody would probably want to debate, because it is a truism that such institutions offer great opportunity to their students.
But the existence of such prime institutions doesn’t mean that Nevada should strive to meet such a high standard of comparison, or that because it cannot do so, its educational system is not worthy of financial support in hard times. Can anyone disagree with the proposition that it
is not realistic to try to compare UNR to a Princeton, Stanford or Yale? Of course not, so why do so? The fact that a particular institution is not among the nation’s elite doesn’t mean it should be castigated or cut back. Also, those small state colleges referenced in a comment above have a valued role, too, just like a lesser-known Cal State campus does.
No, I am not a teacher or a UNR graduate. I am just one of the nation’s small business owners who has been making a payroll for many years. I can tell you that closing local community colleges and cutting back on a regional university–the only in the region–would make it less likely I would ever want to relocate my business to such an area. I suppose some might respond with a parochial remark like “Good, who needs him anyway, or other outsiders like him.” But before making that kind of reponse, consider that adding diversified small businesses creates new jobs in new fields. That helps the economy, and a healthier economy with people employed in jobs paying better wages, supports real estate values.
Should the niece of a long-time Reno family, who is bright but not necessarily a Princeton-bound type person, not have other options locally? Is there truly a desire to diversify the economy, or is that just a politically correct comment? I repeat my propostion that the goal of economic diversification, which necessarily involves attracting new employers, requires a consistently refreshed pool of young people who are educated–and I don’t mean at a card dealer’s trade school.
I submit that joining in the defense of your educational institutions is important to the long term economy of the region. Further that making the argument against doing so that the institutions are not among the nation’s best is not a well-founded rebuttal. We don’t necessarily need a Harvard MBA to apply for every job opening that may come along, but having a pool of bright local young people with associate of arts degrees as potential applicants would certainly be attractive to us.
The politicians who advocate closing campuses and cutting back on the university are not helping the long-term economic situation in the region.
Hillside
Do tell us, Tom, where the money is going to come from? Nevada faces an almost $1 billion shortfall for fiscal year 2010-2011. Nevada has this pesky constitutional provision that it cannot deficit spend, that the budget must be balanced. Cut elsewhere, Tom? Where? Cut K-12? Together K-12 and NSHE comprise a HUGE portion of the state’s budget. Tom, there is NO WAY to balance the budget without cuts there.
You going to send in a check Tom? Or pontificate from Los Angeles about what ought to happen?