Such is the price of socialization in AmeriKa.
"Economic gloom lingers over US gambling capital; Las Vegas sees no signs its luck will soon change" by Adam Nagourney, New York Times | October 3, 2010
LAS VEGAS — There are many cities across the country that are beginning to see the first glimpses of the end of the recession.
This is not one of them.
The nation’s gambling capital is staggering under a confluence of economic forces that has sent Las Vegas into what officials describe as its deepest economic rut since casinos first began rising in the desert here in the 1940s.
How ironic that my friend plans to take his son in December as a present. I guess Vegas is the thing to see in AmeriKa. That must be why I want no part of it.
Even as city leaders remain hopeful that gambling revenues will rebound with the nation’s economy, analysts project that it will not be enough to make up for an even deeper realignment that has taken place in the course of this recession: the collapse of the construction industry, which was the other economic pillar of the city and the state.
That thing with city (and state) leaders has been happening for decades.
Promises, promises, now make the interest payments to lenders, creditors, investors, whatever, with the taxes. Now!
As for the construction bit, what you find reading further is that all that activity was wasted in building extravagant places no one will be filling.. Whatever economic activity it generated was all false numbers to cover complete collapse.
Unemployment in Nevada is now 14.4 percent, the highest in the nation and a stark contrast to the 3.8 percent unemployment rate here just 10 years ago; in Las Vegas, it is 14.7 percent.
Which means it is at least 10 points higher than corporate media reports. That's just the way you need to read this stuff these days.
August was the 44th consecutive month in which Nevada led the nation in housing foreclosures....
And that gives a CERTAIN "insurgent" Senate challenger an ANGLE, if you know what I mean.
Mayor Oscar B. Goodman said in a recent interview that he was “very bullish on our future,’’ offering as evidence the packed airplanes he encountered both ways on a recent trip East to appear on “The Colbert Report.’’
Related:
Globe Editorial Colbert: A little earnestness goes a long way
When they start endorsing the guy....
Also see: Politics All a Joke to Boston Globe
Yup, yeah.
You see me laughin'?
But, he added: “Our daily room rate average is not what it was. Our hotel room rates are bargains now. People aren’t spending on gambling as they have in the past. Ordinarily Las Vegas was the last to go into a recession and the first to come out. This one is different. As soon as they feel secure in their financial position, then Las Vegas will come back stronger than ever.’’
What if we NEVER FEEL SECURE AGAIN because I NEVER WILL!!!?
Ever notice it is OKAY to be TOTALLY DELUSIONAL if you are a STATE OFFICIAL or LOOTER of some kind -- or worse, MASS-MURDERING WAR-CRIMINAL LEADERS of NATIONS?
Other than them your life pretty much ends up like a night at the gaming tables if you live life in that state of insanity.
The good old days are over.
Wall Street was the BIG CASINO and they CLEANED OUT the American people.
We HAVE NOTHING LEFT with which to GAMBLE!
The drop in the city’s gambling revenues, at first glance, tracks historical trends: Americans cut back on recreational travel and gambling during a recession. There are some signs that gambling revenues, which are down to 2004 levels, have at least stabilized. After months of precipitous decline, revenues increased 3 percent in the first quarter of 2010, but then dropped 5 percent in the second quarter, according to the Center for Gaming Research.
I get sick of the card-shuffling, bells-and-whistles, mixed messages from the propaganda paper, people.
Sorry, dealer wins again, sigh.
What is worrisome now is the nature of this economic downturn, when many people saw the value of their retirement funds or homes collapse.
This as we are BEING TOLD we have been in RECOVERY for a YEAR NOW!!
Economists say people are less likely to gamble as freely as they have in the past, particularly baby boomers, who may now be rattled about their retirement years.
Ya think?
You know, the LOOTERS like to HANG OUT THERE though!
They have to GET RID of that CASH THEY STOLE SOMEHOW, right?
In one sign of this, while there were more people coming to Las Vegas in recent months, gambling receipts have remained stagnant.
There is ONLY SO MUCH MONEY out there -- and MOST OF US in the U.S. do NOT HAVE IT in pocket! You need WALL STREET and the WEALTHY STRATA to BLOW WADS!
Sorry, Vegas, but JUST CAN'T HELP YOU OUT HERE!
And by the way, SOMEONE MUST be LYING about that "economic recovery."
And in the midst of all of this, standing as a prime symbol of Las Vegas’s taste for extravagant risk — or perhaps of a fateful misreading of a changing landscape — is a huge new “urban community’’ called CityCenter, which opened next to the Bellagio on the Strip.
Built by MGM Resorts and the government of Dubai, CityCenter is the largest privately financed construction project in US history. It is an $8.5 billion labyrinth of hotels, casinos, retail malls, meeting rooms, auditoriums, and spas spread across 76 acres with 16 million square feet of floor space.
CityCenter? It's its own f***ing city!
So THIS is for what DUBAI went into a DEBT CRISIS?
Steel and glass, a crush of buildings often rising at discordant angles — it is an arresting display of a new style of architecture and urban planning that has not been seen in Las Vegas.
Steel, glass, crush, buildings, 9/11, new architecture (somehow not really needed and no focus on all buildings built previously or since), blah, blah, blah. I'm tired of coded images and crap coming from my newspaper. Just tired of it.
Maybe the charge for the web version is a good thing. This relationship has become hell after decades.
CityCenter was conceived before the economic downtown and did not open until last December, an unfortunate turn of timing that dropped 5,000 new hotel rooms into the city when some of the older properties had been struggling to bring people in. Another 2,500 rooms are due to be added when another new hotel and casino on the Strip, the Cosmopolitan, opens in mid-December.
Oh, maybe my friend and his boy can beam at the new monstrosity as more Americans are booted from their hovels, I mean, homes every month.
At the same time, officials here are watching another potentially disruptive storm on the horizon: legislation in Congress that would legalize Internet gambling.
That damn Internet!
Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Senate majority leader who is in the middle of a tough reelection fight, said he would oppose such a move because it would hurt the state’s tourism industry and cost jobs.
With the unemployment and foreclosure figures from above that won't be enough.
Related: Tea Party Takes Angle on Harry Reid
Yeah, in a FAIR ELECTION it is GOODBYE and GOOD RIDDANCE!
Look, I DON'T LIKE IT ANYMORE than YOU DO, dear readers.
I HATE TO SAY IT, but it simply IS the WAY IT IS here in AmeriKa right now.
The DEMOCRATS FAILED and REID was an INTEGRAL PART of LEADERSHIP!!!!!
--more--"
So where can we place the bet, Globe?
Owners of the Mohegan Sun Hotel and Casino in Connecticut are grappling with a fourth year of declining earnings. (Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff/File 2002)
Wow, nice place.
"Mohegan’s credit rating may be cut" by Bloomberg News | September 22, 2010
NEW YORK — Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority, owner of the Mohegan Sun casinos in Connecticut and Pennsylvania, may have its credit rating cut by Moody’s Investors Service as refinancing deadlines approach.
Uh-oh.
The tribe needs to refinance by March its $675 million revolving loan, from which it has borrowed $527 million, as well as $250 million of 8 percent bonds by April to avoid both debts becoming current, Moody’s said, placing the ratings on review for possible downgrade.
Kinda like the roulette wheel. Well, everyone has to play against the house.
“We remain concerned that without some type of deleveraging event, MTGA may find it difficult to reduce its high leverage in time to refinance outstanding maturities on less-than-onerous terms,’’ Keith Foley, a Moody’s analyst, said in a statement....
The casino group is grappling with its fourth year of declining earnings....
And the politicians and papers sooooo want casinos somewhere near you, citizens!
Foxwoods Resort Casino, 10 miles from Mohegan Sun and owned by the Mashantucket Western Pequot Tribe, has not made debt payments since late 2009 and has gone silent on its negotiations with creditors....
Also see: Casino Comparisons: Connecticut's Foxwoods Failure
Wanna make a bet, readers?
Mohegan said Sept. 15 that its Connecticut resort cut 475 jobs.
Wasn't good enough for the "investment" houses the agenda-pushing paper calls creditors (they are enslavers with debt as their chains)?
--more--"
Let's see if we can find a window to place these bets:
"Mohegan Sun to lay off 355 workers" by Associated Press | September 15, 2010
HARTFORD — The president and chief executive of Mohegan Sun says the casino will be laying off more than 300 employees due to revenue declines during the recession....
355 employees will be let go permanently....
That isn't a lay-off; lay-off means they might call you back.
Despite overall revenue decline, the casino has reported monthly increases in slot machine revenue over the past couple of months."
You can always count on the agenda-pushing paper to find... awww, forget it.
As my history lessons and books told me, there is always a Native American savior around the corner:
"Mohegans induct 1st female chief in 300-plus years
Wow, who knew Native Americans were way behind on the gender rights, huh?
HARTFORD, Conn. --Connecticut's Mohegan tribe is inducting its first female tribal chief in almost 300 years.
In a Sunday ceremony, Lynn Malerba becomes chief of the Mohegans, whose Mohegan Sun casino complex in southeastern Connecticut is one of the world's largest gaming and hotel facilities and employs nearly 10,000 people.
Now maybe Lady Luck will remove the eclipse from the Mohegan Sun, 'eh?
Malerba is the Mohegans' first female chief since 1723....
Oh, they HAD THEM BACK THEN, huh?
Kinda went out when the "settlers" got here, huh?
Brought slavery with them, too.
Malerba currently is chairwoman of the Mohegan Tribal Council, the governing body that runs the casino and the tribe's business interests.
Translation: She has a front-row seat at the gaming table.
--more--"
Okay, Globe and I got your here; want to place any bets, readers?
Also see: Yes, there’s life after football
Globe Editorial 16 games a year is enough
Globe always kicks in its two cents on the most incisive issues of our times, doesn't it?
Here is your halftime show, readers.
Related: American, Dane die in balloon crash
