Much ado over a billion

Dear Mr. Swami!

On behalf of the Lake County Rah-Rah/Yay-Yay Booster Society, we would like to gloat about the recent announcement that the county's tourism revenue topped $1 billion in 2007! We feel this is great and super! Please respond with an observation about how awesome this news is!

Sincerely,
The LCRRYYBS

Dear Boost:

It certainly isn't bad news. To paraphrase Bobbi Fleckman (Fran Drescher) in the classic motion picture "This Is Spinal Tap," money talks and baloney sausage walks.

But let's keep this in perspective: the only reason anything new tops anything old these days is because stuff costs more. Hotel rooms, restaurant meals, Gurnee Mills toys and clothes, tickets at the Genesee Theatre and the Marriott Lincolnshire Theatre, admission (and parking, and food) at Six Flags Great America ... all of these things cost more in 2007 than they did in 2006. And just wait until we see the tourism spending in 2008, when the trickle-down/avalanche from the higher energy prices will really kick in.

To stick with the movie theme, consider this: officially, the No. 1 film at the box-office all time is "Titanic," which has grossed $1.8 billion since it was released 11 years ago. But, adjusted for inflation, the No. 1 film is still "Gone With the Wind," which came out in 1939, when people paid, oh, a shiny dime for admission to the Oriental and the State-Lake. More people have paid to see Rhett and Scarlett, but people paid more to see Leo and Kate.

In other words, enjoy the moment, Lake County, but save the real excitement for when we catch and pass DuPage, which doesn't even have a theme park.