Talk about the fox guarding the hen house ...

“For the 62 percent of Americans who have attended an out-of-town meeting or convention for work, 87 percent say it is important to running a strong business.”

So, of all the people who went away on a convention, the vast majority agree that ... well, the convention was worth going to. How about that!

And the results were released by ... the American Gaming Association (AGA).

The release says the findings "indicate that the vast majority of America’s business travelers think such trips are crucial to the health of their employers."

Clearly, Las Vegas is being hit by business belt-tightening, and fewer conventions. (Local casinos, like we have, are hurt less because they are not "destination" casinos.) But with people being laid off, stocks dropping and those who are still employed facing pay freezes -- if they're lucky -- it doesn't exactly strike me as the right time to argue (and so blatantly) for conventions to hit Vegas.