Good old tough fat guy – Chris Christie – proving to be just another standard politician who thinks government is the answer to our problems. He does a good job going to war with government unions and then turns around and pisses toxpayer dollars down a rathole by investing in a fucking mall in swamp that couldn’t get completed for a decade because everyone knows it will be a disaster. Who the fuck would open a massive mall as the American consumer is about to enter a decade of deleveraging? Chris Christie.
Who would commit taxpayer dollars for decades to build an ultra-high end casino in Atlantic City when no one in their right mind in the private sector would do so? The Revel Casino will be the fastest bankruptcy in history. Have you been to Atlantic City? It is the armpit of NJ. Atlantic City is dying, as PA has siphoned off their business. There are only so many senior citizens to suck dry.
Chris Christie is just like every politician. He thinks government is smarter than the free market and he can pick winners and losers. Sorry fatso. You lose, and so do the taxpayers of NJ. Go order three pizzas to drown your sorrow about not getting picked as Romney’s VP.
Chris Christie’s Failed State Capitalism
In a case study showing that not all bipartisanship is good, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a Republican, has worked with his Democratic legislature to get his state invested in not one but two troubled real-estate megaprojects.
One is American Dream Meadowlands, a partly-built mega-mall just outside New York City that boasts an indoor ski slope. American Dream is more widely known by its former name, “Xanadu,” but that name became so tainted by the project’s troubles that rebranding was needed.
Construction on American Dream has been off and on since 2004, and in 2011, New Jersey put up $200 million to allow the $3 billion project to be completed. If and when the mall opens in 2014, we’ll see whether Christie is right that state’s investment will lead to job creation and robust sales.
We’ll also see, before then, whether the property becomes any more visually appealing. In 2011, Christie called the unfinished mall “by far the ugliest damn building in New Jersey, and maybe America.” Christie promised that de-uglificatgion would be a component of any restructuring deal. Having driven past it last month, I can attest that that hasn’t happened yet.
Christie’s other real estate venture, Revel Casino in Atlantic City, is already open — and early returns are not favorable. Like Xanadu, Revel is a project that was conceived of at a time when the real estate market was strong and that stopped mid-construction when money ran out. And as with Xanadu, New Jersey re-started Revel’s construction by agreeing to make a public investment in the project on favorable terms.
Technically, the state didn’t invest any money in Revel. Instead, it agreed to reimburse $261 million in sales, hotel and corporate taxes that Revel might collect over the next 20 years. In exchange, the state will get 20 percent of any profits received by Revel’s owners. This structure mimicks an equity investment without requiring the state to put up any cash.
Revel opened in April and needs to bring in about $25 million to $30 million a month in gaming revenue to service its bonds. Last month, it brought in $17.5 million. Andrew Zarnett, an analyst at Deustche Bank, tells the Philadelphia Inquirer that “time is running out,” and Revel may be unable to make its debt service payments, which would likely lead to bankruptcy.
If Revel goes bankrupt, there won’t be any profits to Revel’s owners and therefore no kickback to the state. But the tax forgiveness will remain, costing the state tax revenues for years to come.
I can understand why Christie (and the Democrats who run New Jersey’s legislature) felt the urge to invest in Revel. When construction on Revel stopped in 2010, it was already the tallest building in Atlantic City, even though it had no interior buildout and no fire sprinklers. Left unfinished, it would have sat as a monument of the city’s decline, and Christie could have become known as The Governor Who Let Atlantic City Die.
Now Atlantic City is dying anyway — gambling revenue this July was down 9.5 percent from a year earlier, even as tourism is improving nationally. The city is getting battered by new casinos located closer to Philadelphia and New York, a trend which Revel has failed to reverse.
The private markets knew that Revel was a bad investment, which is why the project stalled. Unfortunately, New Jersey lawmakers couldn’t bring themselves to admit as much, and they ended up throwing taxpayers’ good money after bad. New Jersey would be better off if its Republicans and Democrats had found themselves at odds.
harry p. says:
So i guess that makes AC the armpit of an armpit because NJ is the armpit of the US. No wonder every route out of NJ requires a toll. They know people will gladly pay it.
Christie is just another GOP politician who has disapointed me over the past few years. Throw him on the pile with Paul Ryan, Sen Lee, and Ran Paul.
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11th August 2012 at 8:36 am
Administrator says:
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11th August 2012 at 9:01 am
FT says:
Christie proved he was just another status quo politician almost a year ago by endorsing Baritt Obamney as quickly as he did.
That said, I can understand voting for him when Jon Corzine was the other choice.
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11th August 2012 at 11:01 am
FBD says:
They renamed it to ……….. American Dream Meadowlands???
bwaahahahahahaha!!!!
One thing remains a constant. HOWEVER the government name something; — a bill (i.e. The Patriot Act), a department (i.e, Homeland Security) ……. the just take the opposite to get the true meaning of it.
Think about it. Works every time.
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11th August 2012 at 11:02 am
FBD says:
I find it INCREDIBLE that Revel makes $17.5 million per month.
Who the fuck are these people pissing away their money in this economy??????
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11th August 2012 at 11:05 am
Administrator says:
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11th August 2012 at 11:11 am
Administrator says:
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11th August 2012 at 11:13 am
Administrator says:
American Dream Meadowlands??? YIKES!!!
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11th August 2012 at 11:21 am
Ron says:
AAAH,a smoke a drink and gambling.Sounds like a good time.A lot of the elderly actually have money,if they retired before 08.
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11th August 2012 at 12:32 pm
Colma Rising says:
Ahhhh…. the comments show some fire in the belly.
We need a follow up to IOUSA. We’re seeing business as usual from the hopes of two years ago.
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11th August 2012 at 1:50 pm
Mary Malone says:
Admin: “Sorry fatso. You lose, and so do the taxpayers of NJ. Go order three pizzas to drown your sorrow about not getting picked as Romney’s VP.”
Hysterical!
Christie is a big fat bully. Major, major disappointment.
But if we didn’t give Christie the gig, we woulda been stuck with Corzine.
The “Best of a bad lot”, as the Irish would say…
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11th August 2012 at 2:23 pm
Colma Rising says:
Mary: That is a good point. An easy “lesser of two” decision by a mile…
It’s in your state so keep up the pressure.
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11th August 2012 at 2:33 pm
Muck About says:
I’m proud to be a suthrinur so I don’t have to pay attention to those northrinurs dip wads.
‘Tis a pity that Christi didn’t stay the course. He had the chance to do some real good things and blew it.
Ah well, back to shelling fresh peas from the garden. A disgustingly wholesome activity that will result in lower grocery bills, fresh/frozen peas for my sweetie and I when Summer burns everything else up down here..
MA
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11th August 2012 at 2:36 pm
Zarathustra says:
The worst part about these boondoggles is that they won’t even make interesting ruins.
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11th August 2012 at 4:25 pm
Chris Christie says:
Go Eat A Philly Cheese Steak Admin. Then BLOW ME.
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11th August 2012 at 5:12 pm
Chris Christie says:
See, Youse dont gets it. I pay my friends to build this POS Dream thing, they buy munis, I dont care ifin it fails. You sheople will be on the hook and taking old peoples pensions will pay the bonds. Its called privatization. Yes, it is wealth destruction. Dummehs.
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11th August 2012 at 5:14 pm
TeresaE says:
Ah, more proof they are all the same.
Back and forth, today we threaten unions, tomorrow corporations, today school kids, tomorrow cops.
Power corrupts. How few ever seem to rise about that one, small, truism.
Michigan’s “pro-business” governor (another major corporate guy, whom was successful thanks to government contracts, favors and the loopholes that bankrupt the competition), has little deals like this. Snyder’s deal is a new bridge to Canada. The current ones, and tunnel, apparently aren’t enough.
The only bottlenecks at the border are due to customs, another bridge won’t solve that.
Why are we building another bridge multimillion dollar bridge, with annual continuous increases from here to eternity, with peak oil barreling down on us?
Oh yeah, that’s right, the car makers and unions.
They are all crooks once elected. We have proven we don’t care and will rarely do anything to change it.
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11th August 2012 at 6:42 pm
FT says:
If Christie was ever really serious about balancing budgets and cutting spending, he should have endorsed Ron Paul from the get-go. The fact that he didn’t, and instead championed Romney long before Iowa told you all you need to know. Campaign against the status quo—then beg the oligarchs to let you in on it once you’re in office. “Can I be V.P.? Huh, huh, can i please?”
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11th August 2012 at 7:52 pm
Anonymous says:
The political corruption in NJ is so thick you can cut it with a knife.
While Christie rails against teachers and public pensions, state law enforcement “retire” from six figure gig, start the clock on collecting enormous pension, then THE NEXT DAY, go back to work for same or other NJ agency WITH THE SAME JOB but different title for six-figures. This time, they don’t have to contribute to the pension fund, cause they are collecting their pensions at the same time they are getting a six-figure salary. Sweet, huh?
You can drive a MAC truck thru this loop-hole, that costs NJ taxpayers a fortune. Does the gov even attempt to end the abuse?
No, cause these are his cronies. Better to hit the road and shill for Romney than stay home and do the hard work to fix NJ problems. But then again, NJ is at the top of the list:
#1 Unemployment
#2 Foreclosures
#3 Property Taxes
Whoo Hoo, we win!
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11th August 2012 at 5:12 am