Las Vegas offers many opportunities to grapple with the term "negative capability." One of these moments comes with the current economy. Things are bad. Gambling stocks have tanked. The construction of many major projects in Vegas has fallen through, and others seem in danger. The entire condo/hotel merger concept (Trump and Palms Place -- and they are the buildings lucky enough to be completed and open) has yet to demonstrate much visible success. One classic resort on the Strip (Tropicana) is owned by a bankrupt company, and one of the major resorts being built (Cosmopolitan) has the bank now overseeing the project after the developer defaulted on the loan.

Yet undeniably Vegas continues to grow in a display of incredible foresight or foolishness. The Palazzo with more than 3,000 rooms opened last year attached to the Venetian. And soon next door Steve Wynn brings online an additional 2,000-plus rooms when he opens Encore connected to his Wynn.

Long before Hollywood applied the idea to a baseball field, the Strip has bet billions believing if you build it, they will come. And once built, undeniably the jobs created by all these resorts are real, many union and almost all with great benefits.

For Encore, Steve Wynn has begun the process of hiring more than 5,000 people for his new property. My guess is that this number is slightly larger than how things will work out in terms of new jobs. Casinos tend to hire too many employees at opening to assure fantastic service for overflow crowds and to let attrition fix the issue over time. But also Steve Wynn has the ability to temporarily shift employees from Wynn to Encore and thus help himself keep his promise of having no layoffs during the current economic mess (unlike some of his competitors, including far larger gaming companies Harrah's and MGM-Mirage, which have both had cuts). Still, math games aside, Encore is going to be hiring thousands of people with living-wage jobs in Vegas. That was true of Palazzo (minus the union jobs) too.

Yet the economy does have an impact; Wynn tells the Review-Journal today that he is expecting 12 applications for every position. I seem to remember getting a similar statistic on an Ivy League college admission rejection letter in the '80s. So if you have service industry skills and experience and are looking to come to Vegas and change your life, you can apply to work at Encore.

One other detail: The Review-Journal article also quotes Wynn being more specific about Encore's opening date than I have seen before, though he offers himself wiggle room: "He plans on opening Encore Dec. 21, but knows the construction process could move the date." That probably means the date is going to move. (Photo by Sarah Gerke)