Traffic at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas (c) Russell Johnson

When will it end? Why as our salaries shrink, our expectations dwindle, our house values plummet, our IRAs squeal like piggies being led to slaughter, does that supersize-me oasis of bare buns, aged sirloin and greedy motives called Las Vegas keep on getting bigger. Last week the strip got its latest boob job called the Palazzo, a 1.9 billion hotel implant that would dwarf the crumbling palaces on the Grand Canal and make a Doge weep. Outside of Las Vegas, what else could 1.3 billion get you? According to the UN, you could immunize every child in the world against deadly disease for 1.3 billion a year. But then, what happens in Bangladesh stays in Bangladesh...Las Vegas is a different reality.

As a Midwesterner with a lifetime pass on the turnip truck, I have never understood the economies of "big," the challenge of filling 3 thousand rooms (the Venetian next door has 4 thousand), how anybody in his or her right mind would expect to turn a profit on a $2 billion dollar investment. Or is it the egos of bigger-than-life guys, the Sheldon Adelsons (who built the Palazzo and the Venetians of Las Vegas and Macau) or the Steve Winns. Adelson is a smart guy. He made his fortune when he sold the big COMDEX electronics show, cashing in a few years before the show died in a perfect storm of greed and ennui. The computer industry changed and the show became too big and too expensive as hoteliers gouged attendees.

Now the Consumer Electronics Show is the monster event. A couple of weeks ago, with 160 thousand attendees scrambling for $400 a night rooms, I stayed across Bridge of Sighs in a $200 two-star off the strip, a dogeared old hotel that would normally go for half that. A few years ago, we had a suite at Ceasars for $100. And now, the owners of CES are threatening to take their giant gadget show elsewhere if the hoteliers don't give in a little.

So, what happens when the new sites go up: Donald Trump's place, which will open this spring; a new 2 thousand room Wynn; a new MGM Mirage with 4 thousand rooms, etc., etc. Will prices go down? Probably not. Will Adelson and Wynn sell out to some corporate doofises while the going is good, or will Las Vegas just keep on growing? I could be tempted to bet on the latter, of a future when signs in Las Vegas are in English and Chinese, with slot machines labeled "Feed the Tiger." Both Wynn and Adelson have a big time presence in Chinese Macau, which has already surpassed Las Vegas in gambling revenues. As China's middle class grows, so will its outbound travel and so will Wynn's and Adelson's brands. Soon Sigfried and Roy's won't be the only tigers on the strip.