(ZeroHedge) One quarter after going on an epic anti-Obama monologue at the end of his Q2 earnings call, Steve Wynn comes back with a sequel, confirming that when it comes to completely justified anti-presidential rants, he is truly second to none. Topics touched upon include massive government deficits, the business climate, the administration’s horrendous handling of the economy, and of course, Occupy Wall Street (starting around 45 minutes in).
Full transcript of Anti-Business Rant:
Question: “Hey, Steve, you know, the topic, at least here in New York is occupy Wall Street, and I was going to ask a wise as question about whether or not you’re going to contribute to that cause, but I do think that it — it raises an interesting political question, and which is, the — how do you see the landscape of politically now? Is there any reason for optimism given the current slate of candidates to give you hope for the regulatory environment improving for your business?”
Steve Wynn: “We had — we had the debate here last night. We have a focus group that actually took place last night. You know, it’s very interesting about the folks who are occupying Wall Street. That group is quite diverse. There are people in there that think the government should give them more, just because they are alive, regardless. There are people there who are opposing government spending. There are people there that are opposing bailouts. That group is not homogeneous by any means. What you do have on Wall Street is a reflection of the anxiety, insecurity and the fear that is endemic in the United States of America about the way government a has gotten into the business of people’s life and the validity of the government, unintelligently, seeing these deficits, and government spending professionally to the point that everybody’s financial security. I am watching my employees standard of living drop off because of deficits. I think that the American public is beginning to make the connection between deficits and their own loss of the standard.
People are being paid in dollars on the way to 7 cent dollars, and answer though I have given two cost of living increase toss my employees, I’m upgrading losses in America, plus I’ve been able to get some money from the cap. I have not been able to keep up with the effect of deficits on the living standard of my employees. The net result of all of this is frustration, anxiety, and anger. You’re seeing that on Occupy Wall Street. You can see it taken to the next level in Greece where people are trying to break into a parliament, primarily controlled by the unions. There comes a moment when the population realizes that it has to stop and sometimes it takes a form of tax the rich people which is, you know, a reflection more of a lack of understanding of how the economy works.
Rich people are now being defined by the administration as people who make a million dollars. Well, most of the businesses in America, other than giant corporations, are paying taxes under chapter S, partnerships or individual proprietorships. So somebody shows that they make $3 million or $2 million this year and they pay personal taxes on that money. They subtract their cost of living and then what’s left, and that does not show that probably 25 or 30% of their profits are tied up in accounts receivable or inventory, stuff that they can’t spend or get their hands on, but to support their business and their employment, and then they take whatever is left, these so-called millionaires, and they open up another shop or another office and that, that is the only known engine of growth of the United States of America, and we have an administration that is fanning the fires that this is somehow undeserved, profligate millionaires, and it is worse than hypocrisy. It is totally dishonest.
It represents by young people who don’t know the difference, simple misunderstanding and lack of understanding of how the economy works for what’s going on in America, but if it’s politician that does it, or a union leader, then it represents something much more pernicious. It represents a deliberate misleading of the public. And I think that Americans are waking up to this. And it’s taking the form of anger and dissatisfaction with the government. And I think that’s probably just right because until there is a change, until this all stops, it’s only going to get worse, no matter what anybody says in some fancy speech, even if it’s the president, it is going to get worse. People say we’re angry at the government for not compromising both sides. Well, we don’t really have a situation that lends itself to what reasonable people would call compromise. We’ve got a situation that requires a change. That is to say one side is right here and the other side is wrong.
You cannot sustain these deficits, you cannot undercut the people that form the jobs and create the employment in this country.
I’ll give you an example of Las Vegas in my own industry. Across the street from me is an piece of property that’s 34 acres. It’s owned by two Israeli gents that are friends of mine that bought it at a very high price and are sort of in a difficult position now. They even own money against that property. They have come to me on a monthly basis to say, go ahead, Steve, you take it, build something, connect it to Wynn and Encore, your golf courses and convention facilities and help us get out of this, we’re willing to take a very long-term approach and we’ll turn the property over to you, even if we have to pay off the loan. Well, that’s a very attractive offer, especially since they are willing to pay us for management, design and supervision, as well as inviting us to invest. But I have to tell both of these men’s who are friends of mine, look, I can’t give you a reasonable projection of what this return on investment will be even if we spent 2 billion and create 10 thousand direct jobs and another 30 thousand indirect jobs for a total of 40 thousand jobs, that’s how many jobs I could create if I broke ground on the Frontier property in the next six months or a year. But I can’t tell the men who are willing to sacrifice any short-term benefit in exchange for a long-term opportunity, because I cannot predict what healthcare costs are going to be, what regulatory load they are going to heap on us, what new taxes or other burdens this insatiable governmental appetite for money from the citizens will take us to.
Now, that is simply a statement of fact. It isn’t a partisan political pitch.
It’s simply a statement of fact from a businessman who has supported probably more Democrats than Republicans. But I say right now that the Democratic agenda of spend and bribe the public has bankrupt this country, and until it stops, the citizens of this country are in for more hard times.
And fancy speeches aren’t going to change that.
Only a fundamental realization that citizens are going to have to take real, sophisticated responsibility for how we allocate the resources of this country.”
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