Give me a pliers and 5 minutes with this animal... he won't harm anyone ever again.

My sincerest thoughts and prayers to the family of the deceased. Another innocent victim. While it doesn't help any, I'm sure your loved one is truly in a better place.

If I were a betting man, I would wager that if there were legalized and regulated online sports betting allowed through brick and mortar licensed businesses based in Las Vegas, that you would see that 1% jump several percent, maybe quite a bit more. If I have $500 extra money lying around, that's not enough for a trip to Vegas to play, but I could open an online account and wager with it. And how many other people are in the same boat? I would think that every legal gambling joint owner would be wasting no time whatsoever in trying to make it happen. Of course, I also thought the latest batch of expansion was a really bad idea at the time... and smarter minds than mine went ahead with it all anyway, so what do I know.

Regarding Stations, I really don't think the Fertittas have done anything other than make bad business decisions. Given the scrutiny they went under when they went private, and the audits they went through for these latest proceedings, I would have a hard time believing that they're that dumb. A touch greedy, maybe overly egocentric yes, but not enough to try to pull anything illegal. But remember, in business in a capitalistic society... there are all kinds of things that are just this side of illegal that people do every day. I'm sure the Fertittas are no different than most of the guys on Wall Street who got away with all kinds of stuff that's acceptable in business.

And regarding the other companies you named... none of them are in very good shape. LVS is only still around as we know it because Sheldon dipped into his own pocket to keep things running. He's still talking expansion worldwide, so I really don't think he's quite learned yet... so I wouldn't trust that company just yet. MGM has been in a financial decline for the last few years and may not make it through. Don't forget, they managed to lose $212 million in the second quarter this year. Not many companys have that just laying around. We'll see how their management "rearrangement" goes over the short term. Harrah's is in probably the best shape, but they have their own challenges. If you take away the huge one-time gain they were able to take in the second quarter this year, their numbers are right in line with everyone else.

All the companies in town are in the same boat. Losses are starting to pile up. I don't care who you are... you can only endure losses for so many quarters before they become real.

neiman... Glad to see that in this world of ever changing things, we can count on at least one constant. The good news for you is that if you keep saying the same thing long enough you increase your chances of it being relevant and making sense.

chazbean... I'm sure that makes sense in your head, but how on earth is Boris not coming here helping our economy? The whole Vegas thing revolves around people coming here, and face it... they're not. You cemented Boris' point perfectly about not knowing how to treat the out-of-town guests.

The writing on the wall has been around for quite some time. Stations fell right in line with everyone else who thought everything would be up, up, up forever. I'd love to see if there was even one bean counter over the last ten years in this entire town who had the actual thought... "Hmmmm, maybe we should put some of this obscene profit away for slower times instead of continuing to spend like it's burning a hole in our account."

Bottom line is, this town is in trouble. It's worse than people want to believe, and it will likely last longer than people want. But it's no different than most other metropolitan areas in the country. Sure, unemployment is higher, but that's consistent with the industry that drives this place. Nevada is and will be for quite some time one of the leaders in foreclosures. But what do you expect when 4 out of every 5 homes sold from 2001 to 2006 were sold to people who couldn't afford it or were speculators with no vested interest?

Las Vegas is a product of it's environment. It's transient, it's superficial, it's low on natural resources, and it's based on recreation and luxury that most people can live without. Vegas had it's chance to keep people coming, but chose to rape them instead with tight slots and low payouts, reduced middle class amenities, and exhorbitant prices for the privelege of staying here.

Sadly, Stations is reaping the negative rewards of what it's sown for the last few years. Used to be cool, but then it tried to be something it's not and shot for a larger piece of an industry segement it has no business being in. The decisions made by the Fertitta's are directly responsible for the position that they're in. In my humble opinion, the lenders that forced this latest development are due some blame too. Instead of taking a relatively small piece of something, they're probably going to end up with a smaller piece of something smaller, if much at all. It really tells you all you need to know about this organization when instead of hiring local attorneys to represent them here, they hire out-of-towners to represent them. And they're hoping this whole thing happens in Reno! The friggin nerve of these guys!

Stations should have taken Boyd up on the offer they made. You watch... Stations as we know it will not look anything like it does now in 3 years. And that may be the only chance the good people at Stations have at righting the ship.

Even an Applebee's is dicey right now...

Best wishes to all these guys. Someone has to make it!

What do you expect from a guy who teaches... <wait for it.....> Beer and Wine!

Seriously? That's a credited course? Even at a party school? How do you take someone seriously that has that gig?

Encore is doing ok, but nothing like anticipated. Been there a couple of times now and it's been so-so. But, given the economic climate and where Vegas is nowadays, it could be worse. I'm sure it will pick up.

Love him or hate him, the camera loves Steve Wynn and he has a definite presence. Las Vegas could do alot worse than have Steve as its face. I know they've had some work done, but both he and Elaine look great. It's nice to see him gain some humility too. All credit due, he's finally recognized that he doesn't need quite all of the attitude he's famous for. Dare I say mellowing with age? :-)

I wouldn't be surprised to see Wynn make a play for a few of the upcoming properties. Once MGM-Mirage figures out what it can and can't keep, I would bet a weeks salary that Steve takes a few properties off their hands.

Regardless of what happens with ownership though, I hope all of Vegas pulls through. I know it will... I just hope it's as painless as possible.

It continues to mystify me why the powers that be in Vegas have this "everything" mentality. Instead of everything in town being either upscale or economy-based, why not have a mix? Have your $299 a night rooms, but set aside a floor or two for $79 a night rooms. Continue to have your $500 a bottle nightclubs for the high-end clientele, but have a second nightclub that's more affordable for the masses. Have your $120 a plate restaurants, but keep your $8.99 buffets too. Have your $130 a ticket headliner... but keep your secondary theater with $15 entertainment going too. It's not like these huge joints don't have the space or the workforce.

Am I wrong on this? I'm sure there are a thousand bean counters in town that would state that it just wouldn't work, especially within a single property. But Vegas has done crazier things. And how are their business plans working out with the staus quo?

I've never been a fan of a race teams conversations being open to the public. I think the team should be able to converse in private and not have to worry about language or content. Having said that, every team has to abide by the rules... and the current rule is that a teams' radio transmissions are open. Every driver is aware of this, and only has himself to blame if they sound like a jerk to their team.

Which brings me to Kyle Busch. Personally, aside from Tony Stewart, I think he's the only driver that races right now with the passion that Darrell Waltrip refers to. He doesn't care what he's driving, he just wants to win. But his attitude makes it really tough to get behind the kid. When he calls his pit crew "ladies" (prior to a pitstop!) and parks his car in disgust and jogs away from it, it really looks bad. As soon as he grows up just a little bit more, the guy could be silly good. But in the meantime, I would just once love to hear Steve Addington publicly rip into him for getting on his team on the radio or for an incident on the track. Until Kyle has the crap he spits out at people fired back at him he's going to continue to do it. Someone needs to stand up to him and put him in his place a little bit. He'll be better off for it. With his talent, he could be the next big thing in NASCAR. Would be shame if he didn't have any fans to share it with.

As long as teams have to worry about keeping up with the Hendrick's, the Gibbs', and the Roush's... they will always have to cater to corporate sponsors, which means minding your p's and q's. Back in the day (80's and 90's), Dale, Rusty, Mark, Alan, and even Darrell used to work on their own cars. Now with so much money involved and drivers being just drivers, it's made the face of the sport very plain-vanilla. Put a spending cap on it and even out the playing field, loosen up the rules to allow ingenuity back into it, and you'll have better racing and more colorful drivers. NASCAR is going the way of F1... he who has the money wins the races and has the most well-behaved drivers. Hardly what we want here.

Tough for me to feel bad for these guys. They've had it way too good for far too long. When you look at how the game is played (being a CEO of a major corporation), these people had it really, really good compared to alot of other people. It didn't take much talent to be a figure head in an industry that was going up, up, up for a long period of time. The real talent value comes in what these guys do when times are tough. Like right now. Most of these guys are showing their real worth right now, and I say let these people go. They're obviously out of touch and in way over their heads. A half-trained chimp could do what some of these people have done lately.

One more point...

"A rich compensation package is enough reason to endure a difficult boss, economy or workweek. Without it, the motivation to toil at a demanding job isn't as strong."

I suppose it's all relative, but do you really think that the bottom 90% of the workforce that makes under 100k a year really think that these people are having to "toil"? Please. Short-order cooks toil. Policemen and firemen toil. Landscapers and house cleaners toil. These guys? I doubt they know what hard work feels like.

Let them all go. I can't possibly see how they'll be missed. Promote people from within the industry who have been in the business for a long time. And for God's sake, reintroduce some common sense into the equation. If someone gets a bonus it should be tied to performance and be awarded after the fact. Quit allowing these big companies to award "cronie" bonuses. Things won't truly improve until someone comes in and runs things sensibly for a sensible paycheck.