Economy The Capitalism Crumble

I know that, for instance, things like sports betting have become more prevalent LEGALLY in other states now. I am not sure how much that plays a role in the downfall of Vegas, but I am sure some of the allure was taken away when you could just legally do it from your couch.

I personally like Vegas when I visit and found it fun, but I totally could see how it is starting to fade.

Yes, which is also part of the problem.

There is another really cool Netflix series called "The Toys That Made Us." This covered origins and development of a lot of toys I grew up with. It ends the same way, greed and a lack of foresight. Toy companies thinking they could dictate the market rather than listening to it, and failing to anticipate the video game era. They were just CONVINCED kids would never want to stay inside. Much like the lack of foresight of Blockbuster video in not anticipating the Netflix market.

 
I disagree with you on a lot of stuff you post but you're pretty spot on here. The only difference is I don't think don't think capitalism is a great evil but unchecked capitalism is.

I've been preaching this for a long time but I think that the decline of the middle class is the biggest threat to the nation right now and no party seems to want to tackle it. My personal opinion is that empowering labor laws and strengthening/encouraging unions is the best way to give a voice to the working class as the odds are currently stacking against them.

According to the Libertarians and now even more so the corporatist Republicans, checking capitalism means you're a full-on Commie.

Of course that's absurd, but it's a flaw baked into the idea of what capitalism IS. At its foundation, the notion of one person or entity owning resources like oil and water is pretty dumb. It mandates heirarchy. Capitalists have always just eliminated working class people who wanted that voice, one way or another. I mean, they paid a Court to declare that money is speech and a corporation is a human being lol
 
This has been on my mind for a long time. As indoctrinees into the religion of capitalism we are always assured this is THE most efficient and most prosperous economic model. When I was a kid and the US still had some pride in our manufacturing, we were even assured that the great American Corporation was the Savior of our well-being, so much so that a President based his entire economic policy on giving them tax breaks, massive subsidies, the ability to pursue cheap labor overseas, we were told to just give these people all our money and they would be generous enough to trickle-down enough of it to make us whole (but not TOO whole, we dont want to spoil ourselves).

I moved to Vegas about a year after joining this forum. In pursuing my career I ended up in a lot of places that were inaccessible to the version of myself that was in Florida. One of my favorite early experiences was being backstage with my stablemate and former 130lb Title Holder Sharif Bogere as he fought on an ESPN card. The event was poppin', we got comped at the buffet, staff was great. This was held at the Buffalo Bill's Star Arena in Primm, Nevada:



This is Primm now:



Since moving here Ive always heard that Vegas is a good barometer for what's going on in ths Country economically over all, because we depend largely on people.having disposable income. We depend on consumer confidence. When I got here cost of living was low and pay was high, because the Casinos catered to locals and middle-class families. Deals were a-plenty. Locals got half off show prices, and NEVER charged for parking. Now it seems cost of living is higher and pay has stagnated, so what's going on with the corporations, with the Casinos who can essentially do whatever they want here?



Like every great American corporation, combinations of greed, stupidity, and stubbornness are contributing to their downfalls on real time. They aimed at the rich, neglected the people who built the town and kept it alive through multiple economic crashes, and are now suffering the consequences. Not to mention a Government not-so-friendly to international business (I'm experiencing this in my own industry, many international fighters are going to train in Mexico as opposed to coming here) because its both easier AND cheaper.

Here it's going like this:

- rooms are more expensive AND smaller
- service is colder
- food and drinks are triple-priced
- little to no comps
- payouts are less frequent
- layoffs are high, and nonsensical layoffs like long-term executive chefs
- one of the highest unemployment rates in the US
- homelessness increasing
- grosheries (as per JD Vance) high
- gas trended up recently

All that said yes we are more fortunate than say, a different Country currently under economic embargo. However give the amount of economic decimation that is now more highly visible because of YouTube, there is no denying that there is something inherently wrong with capitalism. And its not "crony capitalism"...if you didnt account for cronyism in a system where money has always influenced elections then guy failed to understand capitalism from the beginning.



You wanna live here?


I can’t believe how expensive the city is getting every time I go. I used to be able to catch a round trip flight for 60-100 bucks and a room at circus circus during the off season for 30-40.
 
I disagree with you on a lot of stuff you post but you're pretty spot on here. The only difference is I don't think don't think capitalism is a great evil but unchecked capitalism is.

I've been preaching this for a long time but I think that the decline of the middle class is the biggest threat to the nation right now and no party seems to want to tackle it. My personal opinion is that empowering labor laws and strengthening/encouraging unions is the best way to give a voice to the working class as the odds are currently stacking against them.

The problem with Capitalism, as I understand it, is that most industries in a Capitalistic system have to require a profit and in order to check it more than labor laws and unions are needed. Labor laws and unions are great but companies will just go to where ever the cheapest form of labor is and then import from there. We've seen it in the auto industry, the IT industry and the cruise industry among others. I'm not saying get rid of them but there needs to be more than just those two things.

I think most Americans need to admit at this point we need more Socialism to take hold across the country in two industries specifically: Healthcare and Insurance. In addition I think part of the job problem in America is we need to get rid of these terrible job board and social media job sites, and to your labor laws point, there should be a cap on the amount of job interviews for a position and a cap on the amount of time a position is posted to the amount of time it is filled. My argument initially says a 3 interview cap and 2 months from post to filling a position.
 
Our country is a failed capitalist society is why. Croney capitalism and oligopolies have run out of control.

Capitalism is not a perfect model and anyone who’s taken a course in macroeconomics should know that. There are known problems that the invisible hand can’t fix. I do think that it is the best model but the idea that it can work without regulation and that society won’t need some socialist policies is childishly naive
 
I know that, for instance, things like sports betting have become more prevalent LEGALLY in other states now. I am not sure how much that plays a role in the downfall of Vegas, but I am sure some of the allure was taken away when you could just legally do it from your couch.

I personally like Vegas when I visit and found it fun, but I totally could see how it is starting to fade.
It's mostly that. Seems as usual, TS started with a conclusion then tried to reverse engineer an essay without giving it much thought. It's the opposite of a "failure of capitalism" when 1 city no longer has a monopoly on gambling. Dude acts like gambling overall is declining just because people have more options instead of having to travel to Vegas.

The last year Vegas had a monopoly on sports betting was 2017, and the total for wagers was $248 million. Last year alone, there was 142.5 BILLION worth of sports bets placed. Now add igaming and people buying short term options on stock apps, and the amount of gambling done in the country has increased by orders of magnitude, but somehow it's a "failure of capitalism" that they don't have to fly into the desert to do it?


This is like saying "damn you, capitalism" because your pot dealer doesn't make as much money after weed was legalized.
 
The rise of legalized sports betting on the heels of casino gambling being legalized practically everywhere has to have had an impact on Vegas.

I know it has on Atlantic City.
 
It's mostly that. Seems as usual, TS started with a conclusion then tried to reverse engineer an essay without giving it much thought. It's the opposite of a "failure of capitalism" when 1 city no longer has a monopoly on gambling. Dude acts like gambling overall is declining just because people have more options instead of having to travel to Vegas.

The last year Vegas had a monopoly on sports betting was 2017, and the total for wagers was $248 million. Last year alone, there was 142.5 BILLION worth of sports bets placed. Now add igaming and people buying short term options on stock apps, and the amount of gambling done in the country has increased by orders of magnitude, but somehow it's a "failure of capitalism" that they don't have to fly into the desert to do it?


This is like saying "damn you, capitalism" because your pot dealer doesn't make as much money after weed was legalized.

Yeah, nah. That's not what I was saying at all and you're probably aware of that.

If I was criticizing options this thread would be about Atlantic City and not Vegas, because that City failed almost entirely due to options and your beloved President was one of the many blinded capitalists engulfed in the sinking of that ship. I'm not criticizing a thing that happened that's allowing people to gamble in their own States, or on their own sofas. What I'm criticizing, is how many times this has happened in multiple industries because of common American practices of economics which milk a specific area for all it's worth and then leaves it in ruins, and how the people we trust with our economic development fail to foresee these trends, or even just dont care because they have the means to endure them and have no regard for the people left in the wake of the abandonment.

Gambling is part of why Vegas was popular, which if you took the time to look at the videos I linked youd understand that wider available gambling is only part of the problem. But I could see how someone like you could come into this thread and declare economic decimation of entire cities, increased poverty, and places becoming ghost towns a success of capitalism just because you think it will make me look dumb. Its par for the course for your brand. You probably think Faith Healers arent actually scamming people with their claims they can cure ailments with their divine powers as well.
 
The rise of legalized sports betting on the heels of casino gambling being legalized practically everywhere has to have had an impact on Vegas.

I know it has on Atlantic City.

Yes that's definitely part of it. But the underlying question, as indicated in my reply above, is why does this sort of thing keep catching corporations (whose CEO's are the most politically connected class of people) by surprise? And when it does, why do they immediately try to pad their profit margins by doing things that are really really stupid? Are we to believe they had no clue this was coming? Did every Casino executive in Vegas look at Atlantic City and go: "Yeah but, we built different!!" Or are we dealing with a class of people we shouldn't depend on?

That's where I'm leaning.
 
The rise of legalized sports betting on the heels of casino gambling being legalized practically everywhere has to have had an impact on Vegas.

I know it has on Atlantic City.

Vegas should still be a popular place to go though as it used to have big events, popular shows, cheap buffets and other stuff that you could enjoy even if you did not gamble. All that stuff is overpriced now as well. Plus, where are all the staple shows that Vegas used to be known for? I don't hear about that at all anymore. Wayne Newton, Siegfried and Roy and consistent names like that don't exist anymore or have the name recognition they used to in previous decades.
 
I think there are all sorts of factors at play. I remember being in Vegas pre-credit crunch, then as the global fianancial crisis was happening (among other times I've gone). And holy shit, the stark contrast was incredible LOL. I remember massive lines to get into clubs, bouncers laughing if you didn't offer big bucks to jump the line etc. Then going where there was no line up, and a bunch of promoters and hucksters were nowhere to be found.

I feel I kind of went enough times that I did all I wanted to, and just haven't gotten the itch to go in ages. Last time I went was to play in World Series of Poker event, and it really wasn't fun. But folks have told me the prices have gotten outrageous, like just having an orange juice is a lot of money, let alone getting comped drinks.

I think reality is where we are with cost of living crunch, the vast vast majority of folks can't justify these kinds of prices. Hence, staying at home with alternative forms of entertainment like streaming services, online poker, or video games just makes much more sense. It's really in my mind no different than theatre -- there isn't enough of a middle class to support the artists any more.

There's a % of folks out there that are in the asset owner class, and generally they can afford price hikes since investment returns are dramatically outpacing wage increases. They are the shrinking people that can still afford increased prices without much hassle. So they can maintain the Strip's visits and revenue, but the other tailwind for Vegas is conspicuous consumption for social media purposes tend to have people more willing to shell out money for live events or travel, even if they can hardly afford it. So that I'm sure definitely helps the strip out a ton, but not second tier locations in the state.

So while overall population increase happens, the "stay at home" population grows much more than the "Go out" crowd.

I find pretty much everyone in the hospitality industry anywhere is giving the same message. As alluded to earlier in this thread, the shrunken baseball ballpark will sell out, but all the bars and restaurants beside the ballpark that use to capture the "every day fan" that use to have lineups to get into on game day are operating at like half the customers that it used to.
 
Gambling revenue is holding steady or increasing. What's getting hit is consumer spending at restaurants, bars, bars, apparel etc.

This is how business is set up in Macau. Macau has casinos, and some malls with boutique stores. Very little in terms of bars, restaurants, night clubs, and shows. Basically casinos and places to buy luxury items if you win. Honestly, I didn't care for the place and would never want to go back.
 
Yes that's definitely part of it. But the underlying question, as indicated in my reply above, is why does this sort of thing keep catching corporations (whose CEO's are the most politically connected class of people) by surprise? And when it does, why do they immediately try to pad their profit margins by doing things that are really really stupid? Are we to believe they had no clue this was coming? Did every Casino executive in Vegas look at Atlantic City and go: "Yeah but, we built different!!" Or are we dealing with a class of people we shouldn't depend on?

That's where I'm leaning.

I would argue that many of the guys at the very top have fuck it money and once they get that they don't really care what happens to the rest. The best example of this in recent history are venture capitalists. It does not catch them off guard. They know it's coming but many of them likely think like hedge funds when they buy corporations they know are failing and losing business, but they buy in anyway to take what profit is left and move on.

I'm not sure if this is a feasible solution but would one way to prevent things like this be to have a law on the books that states that if you are a business or a subsidiary of a business that has at least $1 million in profit each of the past 2 years you are not eligible for any government funds, support or taxes.
 
I can’t believe how expensive the city is getting every time I go. I used to be able to catch a round trip flight for 60-100 bucks and a room at circus circus during the off season for 30-40.
The funny thing is.. if you go last minute you can find killer deals on rooms there. But they won't get rid of the resort fees for anything. They won't lower the price of anything else. But they'll try to convince you to show up because you can get 50-80 percent off the price of the room.
 
I would argue that many of the guys at the very top have fuck it money and once they get that they don't really care what happens to the rest. The best example of this in recent history are venture capitalists. It does not catch them off guard. They know it's coming but many of them likely think like hedge funds when they buy corporations they know are failing and losing business, but they buy in anyway to take what profit is left and move on.

I'm not sure if this is a feasible solution but would one way to prevent things like this be to have a law on the books that states that if you are a business or a subsidiary of a business that has at least $1 million in profit each of the past 2 years you are not eligible for any government funds, support or taxes.
Agreed. Perhaps also taking away tax exemption from organizations designated as religion-based non profits who are clearly profiting in the millions.
 
I know that, for instance, things like sports betting have become more prevalent LEGALLY in other states now. I am not sure how much that plays a role in the downfall of Vegas, but I am sure some of the allure was taken away when you could just legally do it from your couch.

I personally like Vegas when I visit and found it fun, but I totally could see how it is starting to fade.
Slightly tangential, but speaking of couches and credit cards, it’s amazing how much money is spent on video game loot boxes, cosmetics, and other paywall content.
 
The funny thing is.. if you go last minute you can find killer deals on rooms there. But they won't get rid of the resort fees for anything. They won't lower the price of anything else. But they'll try to convince you to show up because you can get 50-80 percent off the price of the room.
Luckily one of the fighters I train bought a place so I have a guest room when I’m there
 
We do it to keep the riff raff out

We never had so many problems since after the pandemic when we reopened
We're pricing out all the ghetto from California from coming over here

Fucking graffiti all over the place now, not just North Las Vegas

Smash and grabs, E bikes everywhere in the streets

Fuck off back to California
 
Vegas should still be a popular place to go though as it used to have big events, popular shows, cheap buffets and other stuff that you could enjoy even if you did not gamble. All that stuff is overpriced now as well. Plus, where are all the staple shows that Vegas used to be known for? I don't hear about that at all anymore. Wayne Newton, Siegfried and Roy and consistent names like that don't exist anymore or have the name recognition they used to in previous decades.

Anyone will reduces Vegas down to a single metric is missing the point entirely. It's not merely about sports gambling. The Corporations made a distinct effort to fleece regulars and locals, as well as cut the things that made Vegas Vegas in every facet. My wife was telling me about a French restaurant in a Casino who laid off their 30-year executive Chef. The entire Health Department was shocked because this Chef was very very good and pleasant to deal with. So what's the implication? They hired a lesser experienced Chef who will work more hours for less pay. Their food quality and even regulatory compliance is about to tank.

@TeTe will appreciate this, an AI voice edplaining to us how Vegas became too cold and robotic:



The greed and gouging are calculated decisions that permeated every aspect of what Vegas was. They thought they could fool people, it didnt work. Because it never does:

 
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