Pinnacle Entertainment , operating casinos in regional U.S. markets, posted a wider fourth-quarter loss, due mainly to costs related to opening a new casino, while Harrah's, which operates Las Vegas Strip resorts like Caesars Palace and the Flamingo, posted a fourth-quarter loss, burdened by impairment charges and losses at its properties in Illinois and Indiana.

Gary Loveman, Harrah's chief executive, said on a conference call that results at regional casinos were "mixed," while in Las Vegas "the gaming business has held up well, but room rates are off a bit."

Boyd Gaming Corp , which owns and operates 17 casinos in seven states, posted a 45 percent drop in fourth-quarter profit.

Boyd, which is building Echelon on the Las Vegas Strip, said net income fell to $31.2 million, or 35 cents per share, from $56.3 million, or 64 cents per share, a year earlier.
From All Bets Are Off: Casinos Feel Economic Pain

Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co., Suzhou Textiles, Silk, Light Industrial Products, Arts and Crafts I/E Co., and Las Vegas-based ChemNutra Inc. were charged in two separate but related indictments. The U.S. attorney's office in Kansas City said the tainted food led to the death and serious illness of pets in the U.S. last year.

For more see 3 Companies Indicted.

Jerome Kerviel, the rogue trader blamed by Société Générale for massive fraud, was taken into custody in France.

If he had really been a supercriminal, I would have thought he would have a couple new identities and left for some fun in St. Kitts.

The French bank Société Générale said Thursday that it had uncovered "an exceptional fraud" by a trader that would cost it 4.9 billion euros, or $7.1 billion, and that it was raising about 5.5 billion euros in fresh capital to shore up its finances.

The company, one of the biggest banks in France, said in a statement that the fraud had been committed by a trader in charge of "plain vanilla" hedging on European index futures.
During a conference call, Société Générale's chairman and chief executive, Daniel Bouton, said the bank had started legal proceedings against the rogue trader, whom he did not identify; he also said the trader's whereabouts was unknown. The trader is "on the run," officials said.
A banker close to the situation identified the trader as Jé&ociec;me Kerviel, a Frenchman in his 30s who joined the bank in 2000.
...
Speaking at an afternoon press conference, Christian Noyer, governor of the French central bank, the Bank of France, described the trader as a computer "genius."
"I am totally serene," Mr. Noyer said. "I wouldn't be if the bank wasn't in a very solid situation. There's no problem of confidence for consumers for depositors, for clients." Fraud Costs French Bank $7.1 Billion

First, I wouldn't call a $7 billion dollar fraud simply "exceptional" and secondly, I certainly wouldn't be "serene" about its effects. Serene is how our politicians, bankers, and former Fed Chairman, Alan Greenspan (who left just before the crisis began), seemed to handle the housing bubble two years ago. Now they are scrambling to convince the country we can avoid a recession, while we head into a depression.

Harrah's said Monday that the National Indian Gaming Commission has approved the company's $17.7 billionpurchase by private equity buyers Apollo Management and Texas Pacific Group, pending final commission review. That conditional approval means Harrah's can go forward with the deal, which is expected to close in early 2008.

On the heels of Goldman Sachs posting its fist ever quarterly loss, Bear Stearns Cos. said Thursday a bigger-than-expected writedown in its mortgage portfolio caused the nation's fifth-largest U.S. investment bank to post the first loss in its 84-year history.

It took a $1.9 billion writedown in the quarter ended Nov. 30 as its mortgage-backed securities continued to lose value amid the global credit crisis. That was much larger than the $1.2 billion it expected in November.

Bear Stearns' fiscal fourth-quarter loss, and collapse of two hedge funds it managed during the summer, prompted Chief Executive Jimmy Cayne to pass on his 2007 bonus. Members of the company's executive committee also will not receive year-end bonuses.

For more go to Yahoo News.

Last year Bear Stearns paid Chief Executive Jimmy Cayne $40 million, a 32 percent raise, after the firm reported its fifth straight year of record profit. (but built on poor lending practices and soon to be record losses...Don't you just love Wall Street "wizards?")

So as I see it, even giving up his cash bonus this year, the man has been paid obscene amounts of money in the past and still makes obscene amounts of money to screw up this year. It's no wonder that candidates such as Edwards, Obama, Clinton, Paul point fingers at the corporations for the ills of the world. Nobody on my block is going to have any sympathy if corporations get hit with taxes, penalties, what have you when most of us simply lose our jobs if we screw up or when the corporate heads screw up for us.

In the Las Vegas Sun:
Two years ago, after learning that each of 23 tennis courts at the new Washington Buffalo Park was cracked even before it opened, city staff did not want the city to work again with Asphalt Paving Corp., the courts' general contractor.

The City Council ignored that recommendation, however, and allowed APCO to bid for $19.1 million worth of work on the Centennial Hills Community Center. APCO did not win that contract. But shortly after, APCO filed a $7 million claim against the city over the $29.7 million Washington Buffalo Park job.

During the past year, APCO has bid twice on city projects and both times the City Council awarded the contracts - worth a total of $13.2 million - to the company, unanimously and without question.
...
Mayor Oscar Goodman holds a 4 percent stake in Apex Business Park, which is partly owned by APCO employees.

'm sure readers can do the math.

As reported by the press of Atlantic City: "In a stunning move, New Jersey gaming regulators refused to renew the operating license of Tropicana Casino and Resort and turned over control to a trustee who will oversee the troubled property until it is sold.

By a 4-1 vote Wednesday, the Casino Control Commission ruled that Tropicana's owner, Columbia Sussex Corp., lacked the good character, business ability and financial responsibility required under New Jersey's licensing standards."

The casino will remain open while a buyer sought.

A citywide survey was conducted in Oct. of 2006 at a cost $16,000 and while the results were released internally they were never made public until posted on LasVegasNow.

Among some of the anonymous comments from Las Vegas Fire & Rescue employees are:

"The promotional process is definitely biased."

"Management bases decisions upon 'who is a friend."

"Equal opportunity applies only if you are black, Mormon or female."

Zounds to me as if the fire department is run just like every other business or government office in the valley. There has never been a climate of fair play in southern Nevada from the days of mob run casinos and corrupt politicians to today's corporate run casinos and corrupt politicians. Period!

And speaking of corruption...

LasVegasNow is also reporting new developments in the public corruption investigation of former University Medical Center chief Lacy Thomas.

Bank records from out-of-state may be the final piece of evidence needed in the case.

At the center of the probe are the relationships between Thomas and his cronies from his tenure at Cook County Hospital in Chicago.

Texas-based developer Christopher Milam's plan to build the tallest building west of the Mississippi River on the old Wet 'n Wild site on the Strip took a big hit Monday after federal officials lopped nearly 500 feet off the project's proposed height.

The Federal Aviation Administration said Crown Las Vegas's planned hotel tower could be 1,064 feet high, the agency said in a letter to the developer.

Milam had originally hoped to build a 1,888-foot-high tower but lowered his sights to 1,550 feet in a letter to the FAA dated Sept. 14.

The Stratosphere, less than a mile north of the Wet 'n Wild site and the tallest structure in the West, is 1,149 feet tall.

But just like for Regent Sisolak, perhaps the Nevada Supreme Court could find a taking by authorities and award millions of dollars to Milan.

For more go to Rolling Good Times.

Nevada's largest teachers' union has launched its initiative targeting the state's gaming industry in an effort to get more funding for public schools.

The Nevada State Education Association submitted its petition to the secretary of state Monday. The proposal would raise the gaming tax on Nevada's largest casinos to 9.75 percent, from 6.75 percent. The union estimates that an additional $250 million per year, although others contend $400 million is more accurate, could be used for public schools and teacher raises.

The higher tax would apply only to casinos that make more than $1 million a month in gaming revenue.
...
The union's next step is to gather 58,628 signatures by May. 20.

How much would you like to bet that the initiative will be rejected just hours before the deadline to place on a ballot leaving no time for a re-write?

Since 2000, according to published reports noted by Newsweek, the former veep has transformed himself from a public servant with around $1 million in the bank to a sparkling private consultant with a net worth estimated to be north of $100 million. He's a senior adviser to Google, a board member at Apple and now a newly minted general partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, the Silicon Valley venture-capital firm that made billions investing early in Netscape, Amazon and Google.
...
Gore's relationship with KP is perhaps the strongest signal yet that his days in politics are over. The firm is notoriously secretive about its finances, and it's unlikely that KP would strike a deal with Gore if the association could subject the firm to public scrutiny.

And you thought Al was just a concerned humanitarian. Being green today is about as tough as John Edwards suing the tobacco industry. Some things the public is ready for and politicians and attorneys are always ready to capitalize on them.

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Las Vegas Sands Corp. has announced that The Palazzo Las Vegas will soft-open on December 20 followed by a series of spectacular grand opening celebratory events from January 17 to 19, 2008.

According to President of The Palazzo Las Vegas Rob Goldstein, the property will become a new resort-hotel-casino of unparalleled luxury, sophistication, and contemporary chic on the Las Vegas Strip.

That's code for Z. O. can't afford it.

In the Las Vegas Sun:

Several chief executives of the state's largest casino companies called on Republican Gov. Jim Gibbons to drop his no-new-taxes pledge and balance the budget as they faced a ballot initiative that would raise the taxes on gambling revenues.

MGM Mirage Inc. chief executive Terry Lanni said casino companies have been targeted unjustly. The company operates 10 resorts on the Strip and is building the massive $7.8 billion CityCenter development.

"Any economist will tell you that it's bad government to rely on one industry," Lanni said. "My view is simple; all businesses that we have here -- bankers, retailers, auto dealers -- have to participate. Whether we're ranked 47th in education, 48th or 49th, whatever the number is, that's not a good rate and something needs to be done about it."

The Nevada State Education Association has put forth a ballot initiative that would add another 3 percentage points to the tax on gambling revenues collected by Nevada's biggest casinos, those that gross more than $1 million a month.

It would raise the taxes for such companies to 9.75 percent, and generate more than $200 million a year to fund the state's schools.

The 6.75 percent rate is the lowest rate in the world and a rise of 3 percent would still be the lowest tax rate in the world. Higher rates haven't deterred these casino corporations from flocking to Macau where the tax rate on gaming is 50 percent. Rather, casinos want others to take a hit, and while casinos blame a reliance on a one industry economy for them being a target of taxes, they are the ones who have bought the goverenors and legislators who have promoted their one industry economy. As long as they make obscene profit on "taking money for nothing" in a service industry, casinos actually have no interest in the fact that Nevada has managed to fall behind perennial education "powerhouses" such as Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi.

Business Press reports southern Nevada office vacancies reached 12.24 percent in the third quarter amid a housing market downturn, acording to Applied Analysis, a Las Vegas-based economic research firm. The Las Vegas valley had 44.1 million square feet of office space at the end of September, and despite two million square feet worth of absorption for the year-to-date, vacancies still increased by 2.2 percent in the third quarter over last year.

Oh well...we have gotten used to seeing buildings implode here in the valley; now we get to see a whole market give it a try. And while we have these big casino projects being built, the gambling money is now going to Macau, which is using sports stars like tennis' Roger Federer and basketball's LeBron James to outstrip the Vegas Strip. Once the fire starts, we won't even have the water to put it out, but nothing is "wrong" in the valley except prostitution isn't legal according to Oscar.

A barrel of crude oil hit a new all-time high of $85.92, the energy sector now up 0.9 percent, while the Dow is sinking like an anchor.

What I wonder is how much the billions of dollars donated by the Federal Reserve to "poor" companies like Bear Stearns, Goldman Sachs, etc., which resulted in a devaluation of the dollar and saving the big boys while smaller mortgage companies folded and lost jobs, have contributed to the rise in oil prices.

We are under assault by a few corporations bent on world domination--there are only approximately eight oil companies really pumping and buying the oil, four or five pharmaceutical companies, four of five major financial institutions, four or five communication companies, the U.S. Supreme Court has recently struck down a long standing anti-trust ruling precedent, our politicians stuff their pockets with kickbacks and bribes, and the general population watches American Idol, Entertainment Tonight, and ESPN. Compare the fall of the Roman Empire concurrent with Colliseum events and the hiring of mercenaries to hold the empire together and the correlations with our own society are eerie and depressing.

The Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS) is gearing up for the 6th Annual International Money Laundering Conference, September 24-26th in Las Vegas, NV.

According to an announcement yesterday from ACAMS, the conference will open with a "rare, inside look at a regulatory exam" with a walk-though by Lisa Arquette (FDIC), John H. Atkinson (Federal Reserve Bank), and Kimberly Hebb (OCC).

Isn't having a money laundering conference in Las Vegas like having an anti-terrorist conference in the middle of an Al-Qaeda camp or an anti-prostitution conference in certain Las Vegas massage parlors?

Forbes is reporting on a quarterly report out of the University of California says the US economy, while not technically in a recession, is having a 'near recession experience.'

The UCLA study released today predicts real US economic growth will be just above 1 pct in the last quarter of this year and the first quarter of 2008, and says the deterioration of the housing market is to blame.
....
The forecast predicts the US economy will return to a 3 pct growth rate by 2009, and that the Fed will cut the federal funds rate to 4 pct by the end of this year, more than a full percentage point lower than the current 5.25 pct.

But in other news today the dollar fell to an all-time low against the euro today and oil prices surged to a record, suggesting that a weaker American economy will be accompanied by higher prices for energy and other imported goods.

Early this afternoon one euro was trading at $1.391, up from $1.384 on Tuesday evening; the euro is up 5.4 percent against the dollar so far this year and about 1 percent so far this week. Crude oil prices were up 2.2 percent, to $79.91 a barrel

Home market crash, credit crash, rising oil prices, rising product prices, and poisoned toys from China. If we don't see a recession, it's still going to be tough Christmas season.

Monster Worldwide Inc. recently discovered that contact information from resumes for 1.3 million people were taken using software known as Infostealer.Monstres. Files were also taken from USAJobs.gov, the federal-government site run by Monster Inc.

Although the information isn't as sensitive as bank accounts, etc., most do contain e-mail addresses--plus names, addresses, and telephone numbers--which can be sold to spammers or used for phishing e-mails to find account information..

November of last year, the attorney general in the state of Washington reached a settlement with two companies, including LA Weight Loss Franchise Company (LA Weight Loss), which agreed to pay settlements to consumers of up to $50,000.

Last month Oregon Attorney General Hardy Myers filed a lawsuit against LA Weight Loss Franchise Company (LA Weight Loss) and an Oregon franchisee alleging false and misleading representations about the costs, fees, products, and benefits associated with the program. Named in a complaint filed in Marion County Circuit Court is LA Weight Loss Franchise Company, a Delaware corporation operating out of Horsham, Pennsylvania, and an Oregon franchisee, NWM, Inc., of Lake Oswego.

Wednesday Channel 8 News reported that all valley locations of LA Weight Loss are closed with the following sign:
"Due to circumstances beyond our control, we are no longer able to conduct business."

Isn't it nice that it is all about circumstances beyond their control, that apparent fraud isn't a circumstance they could control. My suggestion is grab the old lady and pack up the babies, I mean get your spouse, or friends, or children, turn off the TV and get to a park and walk, play, do something, do anything but stop at a fast food restuarant on the way back. Also, there are several day trips that can be planned; go to Lake Mead, Red Rock Canyon, Valley of Fire, Mt. Charleston and the Toiyabe National Forest, and check out trails, rock formations, big horn sheep. Just some (free) weight loss advice from Zounds Off.

Just a few excerpts I found interesting from Robert Massi's article "A Call to Change: Why the U.S. Legal System Harms Americans, and How We Can Reclaim Our Rights:"

The president of the American Bar Association noted in an interview in June that almost half of the nation's 900,000 lawyers will be retiring over the next 10 to 15 years.

Karen J. Mathis told the Third Branch newsletter, published by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts Office of Public Affairs, that up to 400,000 attorneys will be retiring, and she called upon those baby boomers to make a positive impact on their communities and professions.

"Boomer lawyers," as they're called, came to the practice of law with the energy, enthusiasm, work ethic and democratic and liberal ideals of the '60s. We held the law in reverence and believed in a justice system that was created to protect the rights of all citizens.

And while the ABA president's call to retiring lawyers to continue to contribute through "active retirement" is critical, we cannot wait for these educated volunteers to create a positive impact on our flawed civil court system. The work must begin now.

...

By the time [these] clients arrive in a lawyer's office they have formed a poor opinion of our current overburdened legal system. It has let them down, cost them money, impeded solutions and delayed resolutions to their problems.

I propose that a lawyer's role today is not to "bail out" their clients but to educate them and help them find a solution without kicking them back into the legal system's vicious cycle of expense, delay and frustration.

People are right to look to the legal system for resolution of a dispute. But as it exists now, the cost, the complexity and the slowness of the system can be intimidating. However, there are ways to settle legal problems outside of the court system. These methods include mediation, arbitration (both binding and nonbinding) and other, more specialized forms of alternative dispute resolution (ADR). These methods are generally less contentious, less costly and less time-consuming than traditional civil litigation.

A radical shift in how lawyers, judges, courts and legislatures view the forum for dispute resolution is a critical step in restoring the legal system as a viable option for settling disagreements. Our legal system must return to the ideals it is rooted in and offer equal access and justice for all -- not only for those with the means to afford counsel, but also for those without financial means who need impartial advice.

The legal system was meant to promote equality and provide a fair venue in which to resolve disputes. But the erosion of access for those without financial means, the cynical and calloused attitudes of some of those who do legal work and the dehumanizing processes of an overburdened system have contributed to the erosion of our reverence for the law.

I agree 200 percent that the legal system is broke--many people file frivolous law suits hoping to retire on their "reward," some people are constantly contentious litigators, some just know that they can get away with a lot within our legal system because of a regular network of payoffs and courting of political and legal "juice," and millions can't afford legal representation.

Your generation is the one that found the "golden goose" and is the reason that law schools have to spend more and more time teaching ethics in the practice of law. But that doesn't seem to have much effect on the "real" practice of law. Just write a few more delaying motions, review a few more case files, and pile up those billable hours at $350 per hour. If you want to do something, you might consider why the court system and the bar association are so adamant in policing themselves. Seems to me it's so the system can remain exactly the same. Certainly your generation of attorneys hasn't stepped forward on this until millions have been made. You are the generation which has spawned thousands of lawyer jokes. Be proud of yourselves for that; you have earned it.

Some interesting excerpts of a Tony Cook colunm in Las Vegas Sun Politics:

Clark County hired Josh Griffin and Tim Crowley in February 2006 at a rate of $5,000 a month until the session began, when the monthly rate jumped to $10,000. Overall, the county paid the pair $105,000. Griffin and Crowley also represent gaming giant MGM Mirage.

The county stood to lose hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue because of the tax breaks and wanted them reduced as much as possible. MGM Mirage, on the other hand, had expected to save about $395 million on its $7.4 billion CityCenter thanks to the tax breaks and wanted to keep as much as possible.

The issue pitted the interests of one Griffin-Crowley client against another.

"They couldn't forcefully advocate for the county because in doing so they would have been forcefully arguing against another client," one county official complained privately. "They weren't able to help us."

The issue highlights a common problem.

The state's most talented lobbyists often boast more than a dozen clients. Indeed, 67 lobbyists in Carson City this year each represented more than 10 clients, making occasional conflicts inevitable.

The client lists of some lobbyists include local governments and special interests that they regulate. When it comes to which client will bear the burden of a tax shift, lobbyists can suddenly find themselves in sticky situations.

Sometimes, the ironies are rich. For example, R&R Partners, one of the state's lobbying powerhouses, represents the Indoor Tanning Association and the Nevada Cancer Institute.

Conflict of interest means disclosure and withdrawal in most places...in Nevada it just means that you get paid for not being able to do the job. Great work if you can get it, but you have to be part of the corrupt network of politicians, developers, attorneys, courts, and corporations to have a chance.

Hedge funds are a trillion dollar a year player in today's commodity, real estate, and stock markets.

Democrats seek to collect more in campaign donations than the traditionally money rich Republicans.

Hedge funds are vast pools of capital that operate secretively and with little government supervision and can use techniques such as short-selling, or betting on falling stocks or markets to make a profit from downturns.

Hedge funds want to continue making money for their wealthy investors without further government restrictions; recognizing that Democrats have Congress and a good chance of gaining the White House in 2008, hedge funds are pouring money into Democrat's pockets.

Democrats like money as much as Republicans and want to win elections, so their pockets are open.

Hedge fund managers make obscene amounts of money--James Simons of Renaissance Technologies Corp., made $1.7 billion--and want to make sure it continues.

How will Democrats explain to the constituency they supposedly represent that taking vast sums on money from Republican-like, "robber baron" devils is a good thing? For more go to Hedge Funds Take On Emerging Political Role.

Two Canadian billionaires, David and Eskander Ghermezian, and one of the biggest developers in the Las Vegas area could be among the witnesses called to testify in the federal corruption trial of real estate consultant, Donald Davidson, accused of paying $200,000 for a favorable vote from former Clark County Commissioner Erin Kenny and of trying to buy votes from other elected officials including former Las Vegas City Councilman Michael McDonald, who just got his own sweetheart land deal from the Las Vegas City Council this week.

Among the Ghermezian clan, they are managers and officers of over 300 corporations listed on the secretary of state website for corporate entities