Posted on 07/23/2014 2:28:38 PM PDT by AngelesCrestHighway
Moody's Investors Service downgraded the general obligation bonds of Atlantic City, New Jersey to "junk" status on Wednesday, citing the struggling casino town's declining tax base.
The credit rating service cut the city's underlying rating to "Ba1" from "Baa2." It affects $245 million in outstanding debt.
I guess the city is finally going to have to consider taxing revenue from prostitution and drug sales. That would provide the revenue stream to pull them out of their mess.
Maybe that is why Trump pulled out.
Any state profits by being “in early” on new revenue generating stuff.
Indiana was one of the first in the great lakes to allow casinos, made a lot of dough, now it’s fallen way off because all the other states have it.
NJ should legalize grass, would be a big short term boost.
Destiny of every community who relies on slots to balance their budgets:
Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it. Proverbs 13:11
Trump knew this was coming.
5.56mm
If you want a prime example of how badly a state can screw up gambling and turn a potential money maker into a net negative — a cesspool of crime and corruption — look at how the State of New Jersey handled Atlantic City. In the 70s, when no one else had gambling, the state raked in the revenue and put zero dollars back into the city. Sure, there were drug deals and prostitution a couple blocks from the casinos but who cares? If people from NJ, NY and PA wanted to gamble, they had to deal with it and where else were they going to go? Now, all the states in the area have gambling and no one needs to go to Atlantic City. The infrastructure and surroundings in the other states are nicer than AC too. So now the AC casinos are starting to go bankrupt and all you are left with is the crime.
The next “Ghost town” behind Detroit
Atlantic City really is a one-industry town isn’t it?
For years after many of the casinos were built, we’d say:
“Gee, we haven’t been to Atlantic City in a long time, let’s go down there.”
Then we’d go, and before or by the time we left, we’d say:
“Why’d we forget how much the experience was not so good last time? Let’s not do this again.”
And we’d vow not to go again.
It took a few times of forgetting and breaking our vow before we quit going altogether.
Atlantic City is now just another government planned and overseen “economic development” project gone bad, as most do.
What the heck took them so long—this was known months ago. Revenue in Atlantic City is down 46% since 2006. This is not a sudden revelation.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.