On Sun, 09 Aug 2015 10:12:44 -0500, Califbill billnews wrote:

wrote:
On Sat, 08 Aug 2015 20:23:31 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

Have to admit though, Trump's places in Atlantic City were impressive
when they were in their prime. One of my stops on the way to Florida
with the boat was the Trump Marina/Casino. I don't particularly care for
those places though. Gives me a creepy feeling watching all the retired
people blowing their money trying to hit it big.

I was in AC real early in the gambling game. The guys spent a night at
Ballys and moved enough chips to get a couple of rooms comped.
Although I broke about even Bally lost money on us.

We also decided to see what was outside the casino.
I knew then that this was a doomed "rejuvenation" of that slum city.
As soon as you walked out of the casino, the place was a **** hole and
there were not many people even adventuring outside.

I was in AC in the early 80's. You were definitely correct about built in
failure. Growing up and visiting Reno often as a kid. Dad liked to
gamble, mom watched shows, the overall town was clean, not a nasty,
dangerous slum looking area next to the casinos.

I think the main reason why New Jersey could not duplicate the success
of Nevada was because gambling was suddenly everywhere and they
started with a large built in population of welfare addicted poor
people.
In the late 40s and early 50s, Nevada was sparsely populated and the
people who came , came there for the casino business. If they couldn't
make it, they moved back where they came from.
The slums in AC were already there and they had more low skill people
than they had jobs for. The senior management came in with the casino
companies and sent most of the money back out of state.

I see it as being similar to the "spring training baseball" scam the
northern clubs have foisted off on southern towns. The promised jobs
bonanza and economic stimulus never seems to bear fruit. A few rich
people get a little richer but little of it trickles down to the
community.

Trump was just a metaphor for the rest of the carpet baggers who
swooped into AC, made a lot of money and left scorched earth behind
when they bailed out.
If the world was fair, the lenders could have clawed back some of
those profits in the bankruptcy but the accountants and lawyers
managed to isolate the money he took away from the assets he left
behind.