Some news stories are too far-out crazy to ignore. This week, it’s XinhauNet‘s prognostication that Uncle Sam will go into the casino business any day now. Or, as the over-imaginative reporter puts it, “some people are talking about the possibility that the U.S. government will bail out, own and operate the casinos to get huge revenues the government badly needs.”
The rationale is: The guvmint is about to nationalize the banks; the banks own the casinos; ergo, Washington will own the casinos. Even as a syllogism that fails, since you’d have to have a lot more casino defaults for its premise to be even half-true. Undeterred by reality, XinhauNet dredges up a “Washington economist” who suggests that the feds skip the intermediate step and just take over the casinos themselves, thereby reaping a predictable supply of cash flow.
If nothing else, this bizarro take on the current economy gives an excellent idea of how screwed up our worldview would be if we all grew up in Communist China.
Speaking of which … massive and overwhelming federal economic intervention is a good thing, quoth Sheldon Adelson (at least when China does it), who also disses the democratic process in his latest serenade to the ChiComms.
Earth to MGM Mirage … last week’s Las Vegas Weekly carried a junior-page ad (p. 18) for CityCenterCareers.com. Its affect is somewhat disassociative, as the accompanying picture shows The Harmon at its intended full height, not the 27-story stump for which MGM will have to settle, thanks to inept construction work. If this ad keeps running as is, MGM is going to look like it’s severely in denial, promoting a version of CityCenter that will exist only on VegasTodayAndTomorrow.com‘s “Dreams” page.
