CityCenter: Las Vegas' $8.5B Stimulus Bet

Casino company abandoning costly project

(NEWSER) - Hotel implosions aren’t exactly unheard of in Las Vegas, but it’s not every day the condemned is a brand-new, never-opened luxury tower. MGM on Monday submitted a request to the county office to implode Harmon Tower, a luxury hotel that was supposed to be the crown jewel in the Strip’s $9 billion CityCenter project, the Wall Street Journal reports. It’s been derailed because of multiple construction problems; engineers say it couldn’t withstand an earthquake. More»

Don't make the same mistakes as Nicolas Cage and Annie Leibovitz

(NEWSER) - Celebrities really are just like us: During these financially stressful times, they’re suffering, too. On Huffington Post, Manisha Thakor points out the takeaway from four high-profile meltdowns.

• NBA Player Antoine Walker: Squandered away his $110 million fortune by age 33. The lesson? If you have a variable income, don’t spend based on peak earnings—spend based on average earnings.

Slumping profits are 'payback' from Main Street whipped by bad practices

(NEWSER) - Those concerned about the nation’s banks should forget about the “softly, softly policy” of the Obama administration that has allowed Goldman Sachs to go back to business as usual in spectacular fashion. The real problem, Paul Krugman writes, is banks like Citi and Bank of America that are still floundering despite taxpayer largess. And the calculus remains the same: “Heads they win, tails the rest of us lose.” More»

(NEWSER) - Casinos are making big bank off the tiniest—and oft-most derided—denomination, USA Today reports. Gambling outfits have added penny slots at an amazing rate—in the last 2 years, Nevada has removed 12,000 more costly machines to make room for 7,000 penny slots—and the move has paid off. In Missouri, for example, penny bets make up 42% of the total and a whopping 63% of casino profits. More»

(NEWSER) - Just a year ago, 25% of the country's highest-grossing restaurants were in Las Vegas—where diners ran up $15,000 checks and tipped waiters with wads of C-notes. But now restaurants are closing, new construction languishes half-finished, and more than 5,000 food industry workers have lost their jobs. "It was gold, and suddenly it became fool’s gold," one restaurateur tells the New York Times. More»