(In light of this latest round of navel gazing, we figure now's a good time to revisit this piece from March 2012 analyzing the truth behind the "Reno is the new Silicon Valley!!!" hype. And by the way, we'll have more on Tesla later.)
“The number one choice of why we're in Northern Nevada is quality of life,” says co-founder of Noble Studios, Season Lopiccolo.
For the diverse group of tech-savvy professionals at Noble Studios, Reno has something for everyone.
“Some snowboard, some like to dress up and pretend to be someone else, we have musicians, people with their own bands, all different walks of life,” says Lopiccolo.
Downtown Reno is in the midst of an image makeover, shifting from a place known for its bright lights and casinos to a world-renowned high tech hub.
And the supportive and entrepreneurial friendly environment within the biggest little city is making a big difference.
“One of the main reasons why we moved to Northern Nevada is that a handshake means something here,” says Lopiccolo.
I'll do my best to answer.
Is it possible? Sure. Is it probable? Perhaps when we get serious about investing in public infrastructure.
And to their credit, folks at UNR have been doing a great job in partnering with the greater communities around the Reno-Carson metropolitan area to work on economic diversification. This at least partially explains why Northern Nevada's economy hasn't been as devastated by continuing weakness in the gaming & tourism sector as Southern Nevada was when "The Great Recession" first hit.
And again, we in Southern Nevada can't depend on fickle gamblers for our future, either. We also have to face the reality staring us down as Macau continues to grow, online gaming goes live, and new casino projects are being proposed everywhere from South Florida to Baja California (Mexico). While gaming will likely always be in our blood, there's no reason why we shouldn't look beyond physical casinos to start attracting new gaming technology companies, online gaming innovators, as well as infrastructure support and consulting services.
But as long as our schools suck and as long as the rest of our public infrastructure continues to lag, Southern Nevada will continue to suffer our addiction to the extreme highs and extreme lows of "the bubble based economy". I'm sure I sound like a broken record sometimes, but I nonetheless feel the need to continue talking about this until we finally see some real action and real solutions. We really do have the potential to bring more high tech jobs into this state, especially in sectors like gaming and renewable energy where we have natural strength, but we'll never realize that potential if we don't invest in our "human capital".
Reno is already seeing some success in bringing in new high tech jobs. They just need to finish the job in diversifying the economy up there. And Las Vegas still has plenty of catching up to do in that department. And ultimately, both ends of the state need more investment in public education to ultimately be successful.
Once again, we're reminded of the immense potential of renewable energy here in Nevada. Up north, Reno is poised to become a global leader in geothermal research, development, and power generation. The seeds have already been planted...
“Reno has the highest concentration of geothermal companies probably in the world,” said Steve Hirsch, director of the East Africa Geothermal Partnership, part of the U.S. Energy Association.
Karl Gawell of the national Geothermal Energy Association said, “What’s happening around the world is you’re seeing a strong core of development in Indonesia and the Philippines, but in the U.S. there’s not a city that would come close to Reno.”
Regarding our geothermal stature, there’s good news and bad news.
The good news is that world geothermal energy development is exploding, and Reno people and companies will be tapped for their expertise in exploration, training, design, equipment and maintenance, bringing much needed money back into the community.
But are they being properly watered?
On one hand, we have groundbreaking geothermal programs at UNR and Truckee Meadows. We've also seen geothermal start-up's grow into strong businesses. As the global geothermal market continues to explode, Northern Nevada is poised to be a global leader.
But there's a catch. Even as overall global geothermal demand grows, we're not seeing as much of that right here in Nevada. And a major reason for this lies in what Harry Reid told legislators in Carson City last week. It's difficult to grow the renewable energy sector here when the state's electric monopoly is going out of its way not to invest in local, home-grown renewable energy.
“We want to fix that and a lot of legislators are looking at how do we spur development and projects,” said [Paul Thomsen, director of policy and business development for Reno based geothermal firm Ormat Technologies] . “These are gold mines for Nevada’s rural counties. Development in this state will come to a complete stop because developers can’t invest large amounts of capital to do exploration work if they don’t see power purchase agreements on the horizon.”
It's ridiculous. It's inefficient. It's counterproductive. And it's just plain stupid. Why aren't we using the power we have right here in Nevada?
Oh, and by the way, the climate crisis is still here. We can't ignore the real threat at our doorstep. And that's why it's even more imperative that we develop more renewable energy capacity that can easily be attained here in Nevada.
So what are we waiting for? What is NV Energy waiting for? And what are Nevada legislators waiting for? This needs to be fixed. Both our state economy and our planet's well-being depend on switching from dirty fossil fuels to clean renewables. It's time to start doing that. (And we can start by closing the loopholes in Nevada's renewable portfolio.)
Yet even with this, there's still conflict. Yesterday, a Twitter war erupted between Assembly Majority Leader William Horne (D-Las Vegas) and Nevada System of Higher Education Regent Jason Geddes over the new funding formula. While both seemed resigned to "Gov Rec" (Sandoval's proposed budget), they were arguing over how quickly to implement the $12.8 million annual funding shift from Northern colleges (UNR, Truckee Meadows, Western NV, & Great Basin) to Southern colleges (UNLV, NV State, & the CSNs). Geddes prefers Sandoval's approach of slowly phase in this change over 3 years, while Horne and other legislators want to start the transfer immediately while giving Northern schools a one-time $12.8 million payout to smooth over the transition.
What was so sad about this Twitter war was seeing 2 highly esteemed legislators (Jason Geddes served 1 term in the Legislature from 2002-04) bickering over fiscal crumbs. This is exactly what I feared last month when certain Southern power players were demanding "fair share" without progressive tax reform. We're reduced to this sorry fiscal tug-of-war when we should be restoring funding for the North and the South.
We know we don't properly support our colleges & universities. And because we chronically underfund them, our economy & society suffer as a result. And now that "The Sequester" has become a real possibility, Nevada colleges & universities stand to lose millions in federal funding. Simply put, the status quo is failing us.
And Governor Sandoval & Legislature leaders are just arguing over how to start a $12.8 million shift from there to here. It's just a little tweaking of the status quo. Why can't we talk about restoring our schools instead of choosing who to shortchange worse? When will Carson City start to get it? When will they finally notice that 900 pound gorilla in the room?
One would think this is obvious. When an economy is just starting to recover from a gruesome recession and high unemployment persists, the economy needs more investment. And if the private sector isn't investing enough, the public sector should step in and help. I mean, that's just common sense!
But apparently, there's little of that on Capitol Hill. Instead, some in Congress are actually cheering on the arrival of "The Sequester", another "Fiscal Cliff" that's loaded with budget cuts that will slow economic growth at the worst possible time.
Don't believe me? Believe Europe. The Eurozone (where the Euro is used as currency) has aggressively pursued fiscal austerity policies for nearly four years. And thanks to that, Eurozone economies are STILL mired in "The Great Recession".
[2012] marked the currency bloc’s first full year in which no quarter produced growth, extending back to 1995. For the year as a whole, gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 0.5 percent.
Economic output in the 17-country region fell by 0.6 percent in the fourth quarter,EU statistics office Eurostat said on Thursday, following a 0.1 percent output drop in the third.
The quarter-on-quarter drop was the steepest since the first quarter of 2009 and more severe than the average forecast of a 0.4 percent drop in a Reuters poll of 61 economists.
And this is where America is headed if Congress allows "The Sequester" to fully kick in. The Bipartisan Policy Center recently released a study showing how "The Sequester" will cost America 1,000,000 jobs (!!!) if implemented. What's so idiotic about this is that it means 1,000,000 more people who need unemployment aid. And this means 1,000,000 people who can't fully participate in the consumer marketplace. And of course, that means a major lost opportunity for economic activity & growth.
One of the most potentially devastating facets of "The Sequester" is the planned cuts to research & development (R&D) in our higher education institutions. Just take a look at what's at stake if we take "The Sequester".
National investments in R&D as a percentage of discretionary public spending are down to around 9 percent today from a high of 17 percent in 1962, and the automatic cuts looming in the sequester threaten an 8.4 percent reduction to discretionary spending programs across the board. When you take into account non-discretionary and discretionary spending, total R&D cuts from sequestration over the nine year period will amount to $95 billion.
These cuts will hit universities especially hard because academic institutions perform a huge amount of the research that drives our economy, doing 53 percent of total basic research and 36 percent of all research funded by the U.S. government in 2009. But the $95 billion figure doesn’t reflect the true damage the cuts will have to the U.S. economy because of the exponential impact innovation has in driving our economic growth. A report released last September by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation estimates the sequester’s R&D cuts will reduce GDP by between $203 billion and $860 billion over nine years, and result in 200,000 job losses in 2013 alone.
While the economic impacts could be devastating, looking beyond the numbers, it’s almost impossible to calculate the value add of innovations fueled by federal R&D funding in the U.S. and how many of them —such as medical treatments, the internet, or cell phones —have fundamentally improved or saved the lives of millions.
These "Sequester" cuts will especially be felt here in Nevada, as UNLV, UNR, and other public colleges here have already endured painful state budget cuts. With the loss of federal funds, they will have to cut even more R&D. At that means even more of a gut punch to our still weak economy here. And not only that, but it also means much less of the kind of critical investment in our people that saves lives and improves the quality of our lives.
This is what Nevada and the nation stand to lose if "The Sequester" is carried out. Perhaps Mark Amodei wants to inflict this kind of painfully unnecessary "drama" on his own constituents, but do Dean Heller and Joe Heck? Do they really want more out-of-work Nevadans and less of the very R&D that our state so badly needs?
Do they really want to take their queues from Paul Ryan, the "tea party", and the architects of The Eurozone's disastrous austerity program? Or will they listen to Nevada working families expecting better from Congress? Can't they just reach out to Harry Reid and recognize that he and other Congressional Democrats are ready and willing to strike a deal ASAP to stave off this counterproductive "Sequester"? It's time to stop this EPIC FAIL of a fiscal fiasco before it wreaks any more havoc on our economy.
The New York Times on Sunday outlined legal methods used by Cupertino, California-based Apple to avoid paying billions of dollars in federal and state taxes.
One approach highlighted in the report: Even though the company is based in California, Apple has set up a small office in Reno, Nevada, to collect and invest its profits. The corporate tax rate in Nevada is zero. In California, it’s 8.84 percent.
While many major corporations try to reduce their tax bills, technology companies like Apple, Google Inc., Microsoft Corp. and others have more options to do so.
And what have we seen as a result of Apple using us as a lame excuse not to pay California corporate income tax opening a Nevada office? Well, there's one fewer vacant office in Washoe County. And we have another cool Reno factoid.
Otherwise, we have nothing. And that's the problem here. Big corporations come here to Nevada to avoid paying taxes, and we have nothing to gain from it.
Yet as Apple hides its corporate profits in Reno, it actually hires people in Cupertino. And there's a reason for that. It's because Silicon Valley is full of top notch schools that are full of inquisitive students, tech companies there always have a rich pool of highly skilled workers to dip into and hire.
Perhaps Silicon Valley tech giants like to hide their corporate profits here in Nevada, but we're not really reaping any rewards from their tax evasion. Rather, we continue to deny ourselves a chance to create our own version of Silicon Valley by denying our state the revenue we need to properly fund public education. While it's nice to know Apple has an office in Northern Nevada, it would be nicer if we had the kinds of well paying high tech jobs that continue to go elsewhere.
Last week, former Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) Chancellor Jim Rogers called out the 800 pound gorilla that always seems to be in the room when critical higher ed budgets are decided. Last Wednesday, Rogers pointed out what should be glaring inequities.
When UNLV was growing from 20,856 students to 28,317 students in about a decade (1998-2008), instead of building UNLV's infrastructure at twice the rate as UNR's to make up for some of this inequity, UNR received roughly 800k gross square feet of new state funded space while UNLV received approximately the same. The other new buildings UNLV acquired during that period were paid for with institution-based funding, some generated by student fees. Even when the state came up with funding, UNLV provided much more in matching funds than UNR did. For example, 40% of the cost of the Greenspun building at UNLV was donated by the Greenspun family to the tune of $37 million. UNR committed nothing like this amount in either private or institutional funds.
Honestly, I've never been a fan of privatizing public education, so I'm not advocating forcing UNR to rely on more private funds. However, I have wondered why "the political and educational powers that be" in this state have forced UNLV to do this. Thankfully, Rogers and I no longer look to be alone. The Sun penned this editorial yesterday that really highlighted what's at stake.
The current funding formula was created by the Legislature under the leadership of the late Sen. Bill Raggio, R-Reno, who was masterful at shuttling resources to Northern Nevada. And, as a result, Southern Nevada schools have been short-changed by a formula weighted to the north.
That can’t continue. UNLV has grown significantly, yet the state funding hasn’t kept pace because of the formula. The state has to address the needs of Southern Nevada’s schools, especially considering their vital role in educating the state’s workforce. The bulk of the students in Nevada’s colleges and universities resides in Clark County, so under-funding the schools here is unfair and makes no sense. That’s especially true considering the role higher education can play in the economy.
A study of the Intermountain West has shown that regions with higher education levels have fared better than others during the nation’s economic doldrums. As we have said before, colleges and universities can help drive an economy, but they have to be given the chance.
The funding formula by itself isn’t the answer. Lawmakers should consider the overall funding of higher education. Klaich has made a point of keeping the discussion about the funding formula separate from that discussion. He told the Sun that he didn’t want it to look like he was using the funding formula to try to get more money out of the state. That’s fair, and lawmakers shouldn’t confuse the two. Nor should they think that by fixing the funding formula, the problem will be solved. No matter how perfect the funding formula is, it won’t matter if the Legislature doesn’t fund it sufficiently.
Of course, this isn’t a matter of simply throwing money at the problem. Any spending has to be strategic and directed toward meeting the state’s goals, and there has to be results. However, at the same point, the state’s spending on education simply hasn’t been adequate.
Certainly, the late Bill Raggio left behind a legacy of reaching across the aisle to find reasonable budget solutions and continuing investment in higher education. However we can't ignore the entirety of his legacy, which also included "finding" additional funding for Northern Nevada colleges no matter the situation. During the "good times", UNR was receiving the same amount of construction funding as UNLV despite UNLV desperately needing more capacity for its expanding student population. And during the hard times, Great Basin College hasn't had to experience the kinds of fears (of losing classes, faculty, and so much more) that Nevada State College and the CSN system have had to face.
Again, I do NOT want to see UNR or Great Basin or any other Northern Nevada college cut down to Southern Nevada colleges' present level. All that would do is ruin what's left of higher education for the entire state. UNR has certainly played a valuable role in diversifying the Reno area economy. We need to see more of that, NOT the emerging threat of essentially selling parts of UNR and/or UNLV to the Koch empire so they can turn our schools into their "tea party" ideological training grounds.
Instead, I would love to see UNLV, Nevada State, and the CSN system brought up to the level of funding, and essentially the level of respect, that Northern Nevada colleges now enjoy. Back in January, Dr. Robert Lang from UNLV Brookings Mountain West took to KNPR's "State of Nevada" to explain how Southern Nevada has suffered due to the lack of proper investment in our public infrastructure. While the likes of UNR and Western Nevada College have played a vital role in diversifying Northern Nevada's economy, Southern Nevada has remained captive to the whims of tourists and real estate speculators because we don't have enough classrooms for Clark County students and enough opportunities for Clark County's diverse communities. As we've discussed many times before, our economy will never really be sustainable if we keep unrealistic expectations of surviving on "exotic" stripping, bar tending, and valet parking alone.
So it's long past due for NSHE to finally do something about the longstanding inequities in the higher education funding formula. Again, hardly anyone wants to see Northern Nevada suffer from cruel cuts. However, we need to stop asking Southern Nevada colleges to suffer the worst of budget cuts while being spared the best of growth opportunities. It's time to start properly investing in Southern Nevada's future for a change. We will soon have over two million people here in Clark County, so it's time for our burgeoning metropolis to finally get the respect we deserve.
“The number one choice of why we're in Northern Nevada is quality of life,” says co-founder of Noble Studios, Season Lopiccolo.
For the diverse group of tech-savvy professionals at Noble Studios, Reno has something for everyone.
“Some snowboard, some like to dress up and pretend to be someone else, we have musicians, people with their own bands, all different walks of life,” says Lopiccolo.
Downtown Reno is in the midst of an image makeover, shifting from a place known for its bright lights and casinos to a world-renowned high tech hub.
And the supportive and entrepreneurial friendly environment within the biggest little city is making a big difference.
“One of the main reasons why we moved to Northern Nevada is that a handshake means something here,” says Lopiccolo.
I'll do my best to answer.
Is it possible? Sure. Is it probable? Perhaps when we get serious about investing in public infrastructure.
And to their credit, folks at UNR have been doing a great job in partnering with the greater communities around the Reno-Carson metropolitan area to work on economic diversification. This at least partially explains why Northern Nevada's economy hasn't been as devastated by continuing weakness in the gaming & tourism sector as Southern Nevada was when "The Great Recession" first hit.
And again, we in Southern Nevada can't depend on fickle gamblers for our future, either. We also have to face the reality staring us down as Macau continues to grow, online gaming goes live, and new casino projects are being proposed everywhere from South Florida to Baja California (Mexico). While gaming will likely always be in our blood, there's no reason why we shouldn't look beyond physical casinos to start attracting new gaming technology companies, online gaming innovators, as well as infrastructure support and consulting services.
But as long as our schools suck and as long as the rest of our public infrastructure continues to lag, Southern Nevada will continue to suffer our addiction to the extreme highs and extreme lows of "the bubble based economy". I'm sure I sound like a broken record sometimes, but I nonetheless feel the need to continue talking about this until we finally see some real action and real solutions. We really do have the potential to bring more high tech jobs into this state, especially in sectors like gaming and renewable energy where we have natural strength, but we'll never realize that potential if we don't invest in our "human capital".
Reno is already seeing some success in bringing in new high tech jobs. They just need to finish the job in diversifying the economy up there. And Las Vegas still has plenty of catching up to do in that department. And ultimately, both ends of the state need more investment in public education to ultimately be successful.
First off, the lecturer from Boston is a "libertarian" who doesn't seem to like granting liberty to LGBTQ folk. Seriously, how can one be "libertarian" and oppose marriage equality? I know the "tea party" set is making "libertarian" cool again, but last I checked, Rick Santorum is not "libertarian".
OK, so Professor Susan Meld Shell isn't consistent in her "libertarian" beliefs. What's the big deal? Honestly, this is the even bigger deal: This lecture is being bankrolled by the Koch family.
What’s happening to academia in Florida demands national attention. Billionaires Charles and David Koch are infringing on intellectual freedom and independence in colleges and universities. It’s an old fashioned quid pro quo where the Koch brothers get allied professors who’ll preach Ayn Rand, supply side economic policies and the values of the 19th century Guilded Age to students and the college gets some funding.
Every year, thousands of individuals move through the Koch-supported classes, lectures and fields of study, which in their totality amount to an ideological assembly line bought and paid for by the Koch brothers. There are Koch-funded agreements at more than 150 American colleges and universities.
“The Koch brothers have paid tens of millions of dollars to get their point of view instilled in classrooms, amongst faculty members and in students,” said Cary Nelson, President of the American Association of University Professors. “Programs they start tend to be one point of view only.”
The Koch brothers’ business has annual revenue that are about 200 times the size ($100 billion) in one year than the entirety of Florida State University’s endowment ($423 million). At a time when governors like Florida Gov. Rick Scott are slashing spending on education, colleges and universities are virtually forced into restrictive and ideological funding agreements with questionable sources to meet students’ demands. Instead, they’re meeting the Koch brothers needs and the students are paying the intellectual price.
Enter the Charles Koch Charitable Foundation, which has given more than $14.39 million in grants to universities like Florida State, Auburn, Clemson, West Virginia and Utah State. All five campuses are in financial agreements with Koch-supported groups requiring the university to hire candidates who adhere to defined ideological guidelines. In some cases, the Koch-supported groups recommend candidates to the faculty or have sway over the college’s hiring committee.
OK, so now this s**t is starting to look scary... But why should we worry? After all, we're Nevada. Do we even have higher education?
Well, that's actually the point. We DO have higher education... And we need to strengthen it, not sell it to Koch Industries for mere pennies on the dollar. Just last October, alarm bells went off at UNR as it looked like the Kochs were about to set up their own teabagger indoctrination camp "center" in Reno.
Earlier this month, a news release went out from a Center for Public Policy Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno. The wording of the release made it appear that the Center already exists: “The Great Recession, fiscal distress, and respective policy responses have rekindled intense debates about the appropriate roles of government and the private sector in fashioning economic outcomes, at both the macro and micro levels. Political rhetoric about the causes and consequences of government intervention has been fierce, yet our academic institutions have been largely mute in these debates due to an absence of a central, recognized forum for policy research and development. To fill this void, a center for Public Policy Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno will be a nexus for rational public policy debate on critical issues facing Nevada, our region and our nation.”
The release also reported that “the Koch Foundation has recognized the commitment we are seeking and has agreed to increase the impact of your support by offering to match the first $1 million (subject to Regents’ approval and satisfactory agreement on final terms).”
This set off alarm bells. There are several Koch Foundations, but this one is the Charles G. Koch Foundation, which has a history.
Charles and David Koch are the sons of Fred Koch, a founder of a gargantuan industrial conglomerate in oil, gas and chemicals. The two sons have provided funding to a wide variety of libertarian and private enterprise political organizations, and David was the Libertarian Party vice presidential candidate in 1980. Among the organizations funded by Koch money are FreedomWorks, the Federalist Society, the Heritage Foundation, Patients United Now (which opposes a single-payer health care system) and the anti-environment group Citizens for the Environment. [...]
The Reno news release named faculty for the Center for Public Policy Studies: Economists Brad Schiller, Mark Pringle, John Dobra, Thomas Cargill and Gerald O’Driscoll. The first four are among Nevada’s top economists (O’Driscoll is with the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C.). All are conservatives.
The news release referred inquiries to UNR College of Business development director Kristen Kennedy, but she knew little about the proposed Center and referred calls to Dean Gregory Mosier.
Mosier said the Center did not yet exist and its creation depended on several things that have yet to unfold. He said the project is in a very early stage: “We don’t have a single piece of paper other than that [news release] … We don’t have a single thing in writing.”
Fortunately, it turned out that the proposal for a "Center for Public Policy Studies" that only seems interested in "studying" radical right policies of privatized everything was just that: a proposal, and a proposal that doesn't seem to be going anywhere at the moment. Thanks to the early outcry and righteous outrage over allowing the Kochs to stomp on academic freedom at UNR, the project to install the Koch's new Northern Nevada outpost seems stalled at the moment. However, don't discount the Koch family's ability to revive the project and tempt UNR with grant money (with plenty of ideological strings attached) some time soon.
But for now, it looks like the Kochs have turned south and turned their focus to UNLV. First, we see UNLV College Republicans chief and local Koch/"tea party" darling Mark Ciavola running for UNLV Student Body President. And now, we're seeing this Koch funded lecture pop onto the schedule. What's going on?
Now before I hear any accusations of "CENSORSHIP!!!", let me say this. I'm not out to censor anyone, not even some "Tea Party, Inc." backed "libertarian" Boston College professor who's not really a "libertarian" and not into recognizing civil rights for queer folk. Sure, she and other Koch allies can have their platform. However, the Kochs have no right to buy their way into power at UNLV and UNR and force their platform to become the only acceptable platform in Nevada higher education. We at Nevada Progressive will be keeping a close eye on both UNLV and UNR to ensure the Kochs and "Tea Party, Inc." don't attempt to shut out free speech and academic integrity and/or shove their radical right "tea party" agenda down any throats at any of Nevada's colleges.
So if you still plan to attend tonight's lecture, go ahead and do it... Then come here and let us know how it went. And if you're concerned about "Tea Party, Inc." injecting its ideology into Nevada higher education, join our friends at MoveOn for a rally outside the lecture tonight to demand that UNLV maintains its commitment to providing a free exchange of ideas and points of view from across the ideological spectrum. Hopefully starting today, we can protect Nevada's institutions of higher learning from "Tea Party, Inc." corruption.
