More ideas for pushing Nevada forward

The “Getting Nevada running again” op-ed by former senatorial candidate Danny Tarkanian (Sunday Review-Journal) didn’t impress me much. I will give Mr. Tarkanian credit for trying, though.

His ideas for Yucca Mountain make sense, except for one thing: If anything bad happens, it will be the citizens doing the dying, so why should the state get the direct benefit of the revenues that the project would generate? Give it to the people and let them spend, save, invest or gamble it away. Private-sector jobs are created, and the state gets the taxes. A much better idea, in my opinion, at least.

Additionally, someone needs to explore why so many companies have relocated overseas, and then once that has been solved, make the necessary changes to get them back to America. One idea would be to curtail the power of the unions.

Next, identify manufacturing processes that require a dry climate — like pharmaceuticals and others — and pull out all the stops to get these companies to relocate to Nevada.

To make our state attractive, you need a good educational system, and Nevada does not have one. Once again, I point to unions. The teacher unions are more interested in pay and benefits for their members than getting kids a good education. If teachers were actually allowed to teach instead of following some centralized plan and wasting time filling out forms, things would be better, too.

Finally, if the state is really serious about getting Nevada running again, then lawmakers need to cut down or repeal all the thousands of rules, regulations, statutes, ordinances and other assorted bureaucratic nonsense that stifles entrepreneurship.

Make it easy to do business in Nevada and business will come — and so will jobs.

Bruce Feher

Las Vegas