#42 | Dr. Barry Flinchbaugh: Ag Economist to the presidents; Kansas State University

About this episode

In a follow-up conversation one month after their first talk, Vance checks back in with Kevin Edwards, a laid-off Las Vegas bartender and former blackjack dealer, to document what unemployment looks like 30 days into the pandemic shutdown in a city built entirely around hospitality and gambling. Kevin paints a vivid picture of a "ghost town" Las Vegas: casinos dark, the Strip empty, nightlife dead, but hiking and biking trails jammed because there's simply nothing else for hundreds of thousands of unemployed locals to do. He details the mechanics of Nevada's unemployment system (weekly re-applications, phone-line backlogs reaching 300+ call attempts), the precariousness of a paycheck-to-paycheck local economy with essentially no savings culture, and the coming reopening plans (thermal scanners, spaced-out slot machines, mandatory masks) that he believes will strip Vegas of the very spontaneity and "forget your responsibilities" atmosphere that made it a destination in the first place. He shares a personal anecdote of having just completed an 18-year dream of transitioning to RV living right before the world locked down, leaving him with time and mobility but nowhere to actually go (even the Grand Canyon closed for his girlfriend's birthday trip). The conversation also touches briefly on the meatpacking supply chain (Kevin relays secondhand reports of plant closures and dumped strawberry crops) and on rising domestic-violence reports amid falling general crime. Kevin closes by predicting Vegas will remain a "ghost town" for well over a year, and that he's become a permanent gun owner after watching how quickly a hospitality-dependent society can fall apart.

Key moments

• **[00:00:37–00:03:11]** Opening description of a Las Vegas where literally almost no one — apart from one doctor Kevin knows — is currently working; outdoor recreation areas jammed as the only outlet.
• **[00:05:10–00:07:23]** Detailed casino reopening plan preview: thermal imaging sensors, mandatory masks, isolation protocols for anyone reading over 100°F — comically undermined by Las Vegas's 110°F summer heat.
• **[00:12:24–00:14:18]** Mechanics of Nevada's unemployment system and its bottlenecks; explicit "paycheck to paycheck," no-savings-culture description of the local economy.
• **[00:17:22–00:22:08]** Extended discussion of planned social-distancing casino protocols (fewer gambling seats, spaced slot machines) gutting the industry's core appeal, plus real-estate/Airbnb "trophic cascade" analogy for what happens when a tourism-dependent city stops attracting visitors.
• **[00:33:43–00:36:38]** Real-time reporting of major-casino financial distress: MGM losing $3M/day, mass May layoffs announced across the Strip.
• **[00:44:00–00:46:00]** Secondhand, unverified reporting of rising domestic abuse alongside falling general crime, and a brief, sobering aside about children trapped at home with volatile caretakers.
• **[00:48:17–00:49:41]** Kevin's admission that watching societal fragility unfold has made him decide to remain a lifelong gun owner.

Notable quotes

“When you take gambling outta Las Vegas, there's just nothing here to do. It's literally half a million people living on unemployment now.”

“MGM resorts is losing $3 million a day... one of the other casinos just announced yesterday that on May 11th they're gonna lay off a majority of their workforce.”

“To see through this pandemic how quickly society can collapse... I think I will definitely be a gun owner for the rest of my life now.”