Steve Wynn preaches austerity

On the subject of debt, Steve Wynn speaks with some moral authority, having been one of the very few casino moguls who didn’t snort credit like cocaine during the bubble years. However, his professed solicitude for the working man has to be tempered with the knowledge that his employees’ financial hardships were scarcely eased when Wynn Resorts turned them from FTEs to 32-hour-a-week part-timers (a decision later rescinded, thankfully) or stuck a covetous hand into tip pools, using the class-warfare argument that it was existentially wrong for a “uniform” to make more than a “suit.” I’ve never met any of those mythical $100K/year casino dealers but some of the five-figure ones freely admit they found themselves underwater on their lifestyle — a submergence that was accelerated by Wynn’s robbery of Peter to pay Paul.

Trumpdate: Perhaps wishfully, Fox News‘ Chris Wallace thinks that Donald Trump‘s Treasure Island standup gig is a ‘jump the shark’ moment. Phil Ruffin, make haste! This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance: Your casino will never receive this much free, viral publicity again!