Golden goose

Speaking of our economic plight, consider that gaming revenues in the Chinese Special Administrative Region of Macau grew by 58 percent in 2010. The 30-odd large and small casinos in the former Portuguese colony collected gaming revenues of 188 billion patacas -- about $23.4 billion in U.S. dollars based on current conversion rates.

That's nearly twice the all-time record of $12.8 billion in revenues raked in by Nevada casinos in the final pre-recession year of 2007 -- an indicator of just how big the Chinese market is.

Several Las Vegas-based casino operators control sizable shares of the Macau market. With one exception, investors rewarded them last week by bidding up their shares.

Shares of Wynn Resorts, which operates Wynn Macau and the Encore at Wynn Macau, jumped 4.96 percent to close at $108.99. Shares of MGM Resorts International, which owns 50 percent of the MGM Grand Macau, grew 3.57 percent on the New York Stock Exchange to close at $15.38.

On the other hand, Las Vegas Sands Corp., which operates three Chinese resorts including the Venetian Macau and Sands Macau, saw its stock price drop by 36 cents, to $45.59.

And Macau continues to expand: Hong Kong-based Galaxy Entertainment is building a $1.9 billion resort expected to open this year on the Cotai Strip, while Las Vegas Sands plans to add 6,400 hotel rooms and increase casino capacity through five different properties over the next two years.

On balance, it's a good thing Nevada firms enjoy a share of Macau's revenues. Straddling multiple markets enhances stability -- providing political forces don't indulge in too much greed and stupidity, crippling the golden goose.

It's something proponents of massive tax hikes in Nevada must remember: The casino, tourist and entertainment businesses can generate plenty of wealth to go around, but only so long as politicians curb their instinct to grab and spend what isn't theirs.

It's been 250 years since the French champion of free trade, René de Voyer, Marquis d'Argenson, wrote of the fabled 1680 meeting between the powerful mercantilist French finance minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert and a group of French businessmen led by a certain M. Le Gendre, at which Colbert asked how the French state could be of service to the merchants, helping to promote their commerce.

One suspects M. Colbert expected some kind of wish list of ways the central government could provide a "stimulus." Instead, Le Gendre replied, famously and simply, "Laissez-nous faire" -- "Leave us be."

Obviously, money can and will flow where it can do the most good for its owners. Nevada is no longer the only table in town. Overseas investment is fine. Far better, though, to make Nevada such an attractive investment opportunity that more capital continues to flow in than out.