{"id":7212,"date":"2011-08-02T14:11:31","date_gmt":"2011-08-02T22:11:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=7212"},"modified":"2022-10-19T06:30:23","modified_gmt":"2022-10-19T14:30:23","slug":"vegas-recovery-d-o-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/vegas-recovery-d-o-a\/","title":{"rendered":"Vegas’ recovery? D.O.A."},"content":{"rendered":"

In the wake of last weekend’s Grand Capitulation on the banks of Foggy Bottom (I’ll let you decide who capitulated to whom), the incipient Las Vegas<\/strong> recovery that was materializing in late 2011 is probably as good as dead. Even before Congress and the administration decided to do a rerun of 1937<\/a>, consumer confidence was beginning to ebb<\/a>. And if consumer spending continues to slump, the inevitable reaction in Washington, D.C.<\/strong>, will be to impose still further austerity measures, reinforcing the downward spiral<\/a>. An industry that used to look askance at conventioneers and corporate meetings (seen as poor sources of gaming revenue) will be clinging to them as a drowning man would a lifeline. They’re now our last bastion of refuge.<\/p>\n

For those who oppose federal budget deficits per se<\/em>, I will simply note that our biggest ones (by far<\/a>) coincided with a slight unpleasantness called World War II<\/strong>. Had there been an ironclad constitutional requirement to balance the budget<\/a> in place on Dec. 7, 1941<\/strong>, most of the Pacific Ocean<\/strong> would now be under Japanese rule … and God only knows what would have become of Europe<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"\"In the grand scheme of things<\/strong>, government is the last “whale” at the table<\/a> in times of economic woe. D.C.’s austerity craze means an important pocketbook<\/a> has just snapped shut. Consumer demand being weak, if not absent, private businesses have little incentive to invest, regardless of government policy. One need only look at the casino industry, where a gluttonous appetite for risk in 2005-08 left it holding an oversized bag. Even the Chamber of Commerce<\/strong>‘s chief economist foresees stunted growth<\/a> in the aftermath of what will forever be known as a “Satan sandwich,” a supersized meal that act as an emetic for the national economy.<\/p>\n

Yet all we hear is that plutocrats like Steve Wynn<\/strong> need more money in their wallets — and to hell with the people whose spending keeps the slots spinning, the beds filled, the buffet eaten and who are seeing precious little “trickle down” from the private sector<\/a>, despite the latter’s being awash in cash. Not only are they not hiring, they’re further squeezing their employees<\/a>, as those notorious bolshies at Bloomberg<\/em> point out.<\/p>\n

\"\"In gaming, much of that wealth is derived from overseas<\/a>, where markets like Macao<\/strong> are going gangbusters. (The save-more\/spend-less dynamic at home is another throwback to 1937, incidentally.) With all this newfound wealth being hoarded at the top<\/a>, not only is the rising tide going to lift but a few yachts<\/a>, it will perpetuate anemic demand currently plaguing the marketplace. Wall Street<\/strong> analysts constantly brandish the shibboleth of “pent-up demand.” It’s supposed to materialize any minute now … like, around the corner … I mean, imminently … oh, just hurry up and materialize, damn you!<\/p>\n

Is there a solution?<\/p>\n

In the midst of this<\/strong>, Steve Wynn, the tycoon who claimed he could create 10,000 Strip jobs were it not for being oppressed by The Evil Black Man In The White House, evidently still thinks he needs to confiscate from his nightclub employees to pay large dividends<\/span> make ends meet. Unfortunately for them, the nightlife worker bees made a very bad deal for themselves<\/a>, resulting in a Wynn-win situation, as it were.<\/p>\n

\"\"Sheldon Adelson, still petty<\/strong>. If you thought unimaginable levels of financial success for the Las Vegas Sands CEO<\/strong> would help him mellow with age, think again. As a “fuck you” to five members of his highly expensive private army who’d had to temerity to sue for overtime, Adelson reassigned them to Paul Blarth<\/strong> duty at Sands Expo Center<\/strong>. Fortunately, a federal judge thwarted Adelson’s revenge<\/a>, at least temporarily.<\/p>\n

In a lovely, karmic coincidence, Adelson’s Macanese casinos have been afflicted with terrible hold at the tables this month. As punters clean Adelson’s clock, Venetian Macao<\/strong> and its brethren have fallen to fifth place in market share (13%), according to a J.P. Morgan<\/strong> analyst report. Among those leaving Adelson in their wake is Galaxy Entertainment<\/strong>, buoyed by the novelty factor of its new, $2 billion Galaxy Cotai<\/strong>, on pace to generate a 17% ROI. Karma’s a bitch, isn’t it, Sheldon?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the wake of last weekend’s Grand Capitulation on the banks of Foggy Bottom (I’ll let you decide who capitulated to whom), the incipient Las Vegas recovery that was materializing in late 2011 is probably as good as dead. Even … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[28,42,14,140,22,62,12,32,31,9,19,38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7212"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7212"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7212\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31759,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7212\/revisions\/31759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}