Although Resorts Atlantic City, the Atlantic City Hilton and Trump Marina continue to circle the drain, they may have company. To wit ...

The fourth time's the charm. After three stints in Chapter 11, what's one more for Trump Entertainment Resorts? Something a journalist friend said six years ago remains as true as ever: "All Trump ever does is restructure his debt because that's all he can do!" Even if an(other) extension is granted, this company's obstacles look insuperable. And, pardon my saying so, but predicating your future in Atlantic City on building a casino in your primary feeder market (Philadelphia) makes almost as little sense as a cat chasing its own tail. Harrah's Entertainment tried something very much like that and it didn't work.

Layoffs return to Trop. This time it's dealers who'll feel the brunt. In Tropicana Atlantic City management's defense, it's wielding the cost-cutting knife far more judiciously than did its predecessor. Employee matching contributions to the health plan may be going up, but the lower-paid workers can still expect a salary increase. The more stringent belt-tightening is reserved for the top of the Trop food chain, with senior execs suspending their own 401(k) matching contributions. That's leadership by example, something a few other companies (coughStation Casinoscough) ought to have considered.

Bader Field -- to sell or not to sell? He may act crazy as a loon sometimes but Mayor Lorenzo Langford isn't wrong to want to take Bader Field off the market at a juncture when interest in the site has evaporated. Dangling it out there another six months is hardly likely to entice better offers.

Besides -- and much to Langford's vexation -- the State of New Jersey can nix any sale for which it doesn't care. That already happened when Penn National had an $800 million offer on the table. Penn thought there was enough Bader acreage to carve out four or five casino sites, keeping one for itself and making a tidy profit from the transaction.

Unlike the days of Steve Wynn's abortive Marina District venture, nobody's in the mood to give away land in Atlantic City anymore. At least Wynn -- presuming he's even still interested -- wasn't looking at it as a blatant 'flip' (an indiscreet admission by Penn that probably cost them the deal). And he can make a persuasive case, if he so chooses, that the economic benefits of a Wynn Resorts property in Atlantic City considerably outweigh the immediate gratification of an $800 million-$1 billion upfront payment.

Heck, given the farce that has befallen Pinnacle Entertainment's Boardwalk project, it'd be worth calling Dan Lee's bluff to see if he'd really take his ball and go home. Like Macbeth, Pinnacle is in so deep right now that it doesn't have much choice but to keep going forward. As for Wynn, he hasn't evinced much interest in Atlantic City lately. If he's gone cold on it since August of '07, he's got lots of company.

In retrospect, should the state have held its nose and signed off on the Penn National/Bader deal? The way history is trending, it's now looking like New Jersey cut off aforesaid nose to spite civic face. But it seemed like a good idea at the time: If Penn thought it could recoup $800 million-plus from reselling 75%-80% of Bader Field, legislators had reason to believe Atlantic City was getting lowballed.