I do not gamble.
For me, the choices and consequences inherent in life are enough of a gamble that it seems redundant to go to a casino. Besides if I wanted to play a game where the odds were consistently not in my favor and the house always wins, whether I win or lose, I could just open up an Ameritrade account and skip the plane fare to Vegas.
That being said, the gambling business clearly does not need me because it appears to be a very lucrative business without my chump change.
Two men in that business, casino mogul Steve Wynn and Sheldon Adelson, are both on the Forbes richest list.
Forbes estimated Wynn's net worth at $2.5 billion as of March 2012. Wynn, 70, is the chief executive officer and chairman of Wynn Resorts, which has developed such luxury Las Vegas hotels as the Bellagio and the Mirage.
Wynn is the 164th richest person in the United States, according to Forbes.
http://gma.yahoo.com/...
As good as the casino business has been to Steve Wynn, it has been much, much, much, much better to Sheldon Adelson.
Just three years ago Adelson’s empire was facing default, and FORBES estimated that his net worth plunged from $28 billion to about $3 billion. Since then he’s made almost all of it back—Sands’ stock is up 3,700%, and Adelson’s net worth has rebounded to $25 billion, again making him one of the ten richest people in America. The 78-year-old who seemed destined to be a case study on the self-inflicted pitfalls of overleveraging just might have pulled off the greatest turnaround in the postmeltdown era, accumulating more wealth since 2009 than any other American—Mark Zuckerberg included. “I’m too old to be a kid,” says Adelson. “So you can call me the comeback adolescent.”
http://www.forbes.com/...
So in an economy that has devastated the lives and livelihoods of millions of Americans these two men have not only survived, but prospered.
When you are in that rarefied position, where everyone around you seems to be suffering ins some way, while you're doing more than okay, what do you do with all that money?
The two paths chosen by these one percenters follows after the squiggle.
While there are green shoots sprouting in the economy here and there, Nevada has yet to fully recover from the Great Recession.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The Great Recession has dealt Nevada a losing hand.
The Silver State, which will hold the Republican caucus on Saturday, has the dubious distinction of leading the nation in unemployment, foreclosure filings and share of homes worth less than the mortgages on them.
The collapse of the housing market wreaked havoc on homeowners, but also caused the once-prospering construction industry to fold, sending the unemployment rate skyrocketing.
Adding to the state's woes, the national economic downturn hurt Nevada's lifeblood of tourism and gambling, costing even more jobs.
Nevada's unemployment rate soared to an all-time high of 14.9% in December 2010. While it's since fallen to 12.6%, that's still more than four percentage points higher than the national rate. And more than half of those out of work have been jobless for at least six months.
A staggering 1 in 16 homes have been hit with a foreclosure filing, versus the national rate of 1 in 69 homes. And more than half of borrowers owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth, compared to just over a fifth nationwide.
http://money.cnn.com/...
In short, many Nevadans could use all the help they can get, from anywhere they can get it. Every little bit helps.
Somewhere around Christmastime in 2011, somebody well aware of the despair of their fellow Nevadans decided to help.
A secret Santa Claus gave a $1 million donation to United Way of Southern Nevada. The funds will be disbursed among some 2000 unsuspecting and needy local families on Thursday this week.
The anonymous Santa is an influential community member who elected to remain behind the scenes to focus on the gift rather than the giver. The individual's guidelines for distribution of the money was "just give a nice holiday for struggling Nevada families."
The million bucks will be split up into gift cards and given to families selected by United Way based on financial need. The donations will be distributed from one of five regional United Way locations in the Las Vegas area.
The secret Santa encouraged other local community members to consider additional donations benefitting needy families during the holiday season in Las Vegas.
http://www.examiner.com/...
This week it was revealed that the anonymous donor was Steve Wynn.
An additional 2,000 families received gift cards last Saturday in Las Vegas, making the $2 million donation to the local United Way its biggest yet.
Cass Palmer, president and CEO of United Way of Southern Nevada, said the latest gift-card distribution program had been planned two months ago.
"We wanted it to hit in the middle of summer to give relief to families from the summer doldrums," he said. "We know times are troubling here in Las Vegas, but we wanted to say, 'We're just thinking of you'."
The families who received the gifts might not have known who they came from, but that didn't make them any less appreciated. Many can use the money.
http://gma.yahoo.com/...
Giving away money is a good way to jeapordize your ranking on the Forbes list.
Steve Wynn might plummet to the 165th richest person in American if he keeps this up. Why do this?
"Last year I gave away 125 percent of my salary," Wynn told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "I gave away $20 million. You know that Secret Santa Claus program for 1,000 people? Well, that's us. And I don't want to say this, but I did it again in April. Another million bucks. The United Way gives me the name of the families in the toughest shape."
About 40 of the local United Way's partner agencies vetted thousands of families who were at the poverty level or below, which in Nevada would mean a family of four with a household income of $16,000 or less.
"The immediate result is that we infused $1 million into the local economy. The utilization of $500 was beyond belief," he said....
"That was really nice of him," Shinoa Owens told the Associated Press. "I don't care how much he spent elsewhere. I am glad he shared some of it with me. Even if it was just $25. I am not a greedy grubber."
Many can do well, when one does right.
That's the lesson we learn from the path taken by one casino mogul. But what about the other one? The wealthier one percenter.
No American is dedicating as much of his money to defeat President Obama as Sheldon Adelson, the casino magnate who also happens to have made more money in the last three years than any other American. He is the perfect illustration of the squalid state of political money, spending sums greater than any political donation in history to advance his personal, ideological and financial agenda, which is wildly at odds with the nation’s needs....
He rails against the president’s “socialist-style economy” and redistribution of wealth, but what he really fears is Mr. Obama’s proposal to raise taxes on companies like his that make a huge amount of money overseas. Ninety percent of the earnings of his company, the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, come from hotel and casino properties in Singapore and Macau. (The latter is located, by the way, in China, a socialist country the last time we checked.)
Because of the lower tax rate in those countries (currently zero in Macau), the company now has a United States corporate tax rate of 9.8 percent, compared with the statutory rate of 35 percent. President Obama has repeatedly proposed ending the deductions and credits that allow corporations like Las Vegas Sands to shelter billions in income overseas, but has been blocked by Republicans.
Mr. Obama’s Justice Department is also investigating whether Mr. Adelson’s Macau operations violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, an inquiry that Mr. Adelson undoubtedly hopes will go away in a Romney administration. For such a man, at a time when there are no legal or moral limits to the purchase of influence, spending tens of millions is a pittance to elect Republicans who promise to keep his billions intact.
http://www.nytimes.com/...
If 4000 families can find some relief in despair, for $2 million, imagine what $100 million could do.
Mr. Adelson has imagined what $100 million can do.
Adelson, who has built Las Vegas Sands into an global casino empire, will do “whatever it takes” to defeat Obama, this source says. And given that Adelson is worth $24.9 billion–and told Forbes in a recent rare interview about his political giving that he had been willing to donate as much as $100 million to his initial presidential preference, Newt Gingrich–that “limitless” description telegraphs potential nine-digit support of Romney.
Adelson, this source continues, believes that “no price is too high” to protect the U.S. from what he sees as Obama’s “socialization” of America.
http://www.forbes.com/...
Forbes points out that he could go up to $1 billion and still not feel it. Why is he so eager to be the guy spent more money than anybody to defeat one guy, rather than being the guy who helped thousands with philanthropy?
Unless he spends this money to defeat President Barack Obama, Adelson says that the philanthropy is in jeopardy, which would no doubt come as a surprise Steve Wynn, Bill and Melinda Gates and others who have managed to give under this President.
The man whose net worth, by Forbes’ calculations, has jumped more ($21.6 billion) during the Obama administration than any other American — Mark Zuckerberg included — wants to take the president out for economic reasons.“What scares me is the continuation of the socialist-style economy we’ve been experiencing for almost four years. That scares me because the redistribution of wealth is the path to more socialism, and to more of the government controlling people’s lives. What scares me is the lack of accountability that people would prefer to experience, just let the government take care of everything and I’ll go fish or I won’t work, etc.”
“U.S. domestic politics is very important to me because I see that the things that made this country great are now being relegated into duplicating that which is making other countries less great. … I’m afraid of the trend where more and more people have the tendency to want to be given instead of wanting to give. People are less willing to share. There are fewer philanthropists being grown and there are greater expectations of the government. I believe that people will come to their senses and not extend the current Administration’s quest to socialize this country. It won’t be a socialist democracy because it won’t be a democracy.”
http://www.forbes.com/...
Got it.
A man worth $21 billion (most of which he acquired under a "socialist" President) who doesn't want to be taxed further stays up nights worrying that "people are less willing to share."
A man who presumably has adequate health insurance for himself and his family, worries about 30 million Americans getting healthcare they can pay for leading to a country where "more and more people have the tendency to want to be given instead of wanting to give."
Any other reasons?
“I’m against very wealthy people attempting to or influencing elections,” he shrugs. “But as long as it’s doable I’m going to do it. Because I know that guys like Soros have been doing it for years, if not decades.
http://www.forbes.com/...
And because George Soros.
Two one percenters. Two paths. The interests of 4000 families vs. 400 families. Tax shelters vs. shoes and actual shelter.
The past month has been hard on Laureene Furnari.
She had to move out of her home and put her stuff in storage.
She had to split her family apart. The 50-year-old mother of two is now staying with a friend. Her 11-year-old daughter is living with a family member, and her 20-year-old son is sleeping at a buddy's house while trying to find a job.
Money is tight, which made Saturday amazing.
She was among 2,000 Las Vegas families given $500 U.S. Bank gift cards in a gymnasium at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Las Vegas....
Tyler Griffin, 10, said a worker from his school told him he would get a gift card when they got to the gym. That gave him some time to think about what he wanted to buy.
"Video games!" he said after jumping up and throwing his hands above his head.
"Shoes," his dad corrected him.
For others, like Furnari, the card remained a surprise until she tore back the flap of a white envelope.
In a parking lot outside the gym, she expressed gratitude for a stranger's generosity.
"God bless him," she said. "Whoever he is."
Then tears started building behind her glasses as she explained how the gift card will help her find another place - the first step in putting her family back together.
"We can feel like a normal family again," Furnari said.
http://www.lvrj.com/...