 settlement in the 19th century are now under federal control as the FDIC takes over banks whose assets include failing developments.
So Las Vegas finds itself at a remarkable historical juncture. Long touted as recession-proof, the city is struggling not only with plunging real estate values but also with double-digit unemployment, record deficits and loss of self-confidence. In 2007 tourism, a mainstay of the economy, boasted a record 39.2 million visitors. 40 Since then McCarran International Airport has seen 19 consecutive months of passenger decline. 41 Michelin will not be producing a 2010 guide for Las Vegas. Even more striking is that after ten consecutive years of annual population gains, averaging more than 60,000, Clark County declined last year by 10,000. 42 Since 2008, more than 4,000 adults leave the Las Vegas Valley every month. 43
And all the while the water level of Lake Mead continues to drop. Currently it is at its lowest level since 1965, when water from the Colorado was held upstream to fill the new reservoir of Lake Powell. In the 19th century the great explorer John Wesley Powell judged the “arid region” of the American West as incapable of supporting large populations. History might finally be catching up with this city always focused on the new. The urbanization of the Mojave Desert seems to be leading inexorably to the desertification of Las Vegas.