johnforbes wrote:Atlantic City had a bad economy, then casinos came in, did well for a while, then less well.
If Elkin understood economic cycles, he would be better off in this discussion.
It is simplistic, at best, to aver that Trump ran 4 casinos into the ground.
What really happened is that he made business decisions through a situation in Atlantic City.
If AC had a bad economy then why did Trump go in? He should have went to Vegas.
The problem was not with economic cycles. You don't know business Johnnie. When a business is in terminal decline you get out. Steve Wynn was in AC and he got out. That's why Wynn Resorts is a multibillion dollar operation and Trump casinos are worth zero.
Have you ever been to AC? It's a dump. The city has no infrastructure. There's the boardwalk, then the casinos on the boardwalk, and the strip joints/pawn shops on the street behind the casinos. That's it. I went with my wife to Vegas. The place is really amazing. They not only have the casinos, they have high end entertainment, nightclubs, restaurants, shopping, Lake Mead, etc...
If Trump was a superior capital allocator then he would have been able to foresee what could go wrong.Since AC didn't have any infrastructure then businesses couldn't expand into the area. That's why casino operators went to neighboring PA and CT and got licences to operate. So it all gets diluted, especially in the North East, it's a HUGE population center. Compare it to Vegas. Vegas is in the middle of a desert. Where else can people go? Vegas is the place to go.
Come one Johnnie, get a clue about business...then we can talk.