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To: Johnny Canuck who wrote (48288)	7/15/2012 2:38:21 AM
From: Johnny Canuck	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70769

..Consumers Leaving Less in Vegas: Casino President By Justin Menza \| CNBC – 3 hours ago....@cnbc on Twitter. More people are visiting the Las Vegas strip, but they're not spending as much as they used to, Michael Leven, Las Vegas Sands president & COO, told CNBC's "Squawk Box" Friday. "In May, we had lousy numbers in terms of gross gaming revenue but visitation was up," he said. "We're getting less spend per person and that's what statistically is happening." He continued, "People don't have as much money in their pocket and don't spend as much as they used to and that has a downward spiral to profits." That won't change, Leven said, unless job growth picks up. "If we can't create more jobs, we can't get more spending," he said. "We're a consumer-driven society and Las Vegas is basically a consumer-driven place." He also said it's becoming more challenging for Las Vegas Sands (LVS) to develop gaming properties in the U.S. "We're not looking enough in the United States, and we can't, because the difficulty of doing business here is getting more and more difficult every day," he said. Instead, much of the gaming company's development has focused on Asia, including Vietnam, Korea, Japan and Taiwan, Leven said. (Related: World's Biggest Gambling Nations). Las Vegas Sands is also looking in areas like Spain which are counter-cyclical, Leven said. "No one can make a prediction as to what Europe is going to look like five years from now and if we do anything in Spain we're making a long-term bet on the European population and the European economy," he stated. He also sees China as an opportunity and not a problem. "I think we ought to look at the great China consumer that's growing," he said. "It's going to be the largest consumer market in the world and we need to manufacture and spend our money and time and research building business to sell to China." For Las Vegas Sands, Leven said Chinese consumers are "the highest level gamblers and buyers of consumer goods that we have." Questions? Comments? Email us at consumernation@cnbc.com. [Johnny: We have talked about the shift that is coming to the American dollar as a fiat currency and of the US as an economic power. When it happened to the UK it took about a decade and it was a lost decade for them. I would expect that to be the case of the US also. The settling of the out of control growth of the debt is yet to be addrressed for the USA and other countries. The shift in gambling to overseas areas is less to do with regulation as the gaming community would have you think and more about the lack of disposal income of the middle and low income classes. It proves the reasoning that a dollar in the hands of the middle class is worth more than a tax break that give the top 1% an additional $100,000. The 1% is just not consuming enough to make up for the difference and they aren't investing enough risk capital be a driver of the economy either.]

To: Johnny Canuck who wrote (48288)	7/15/2012 8:37:14 PM
From: Cogito Ergo Sum	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70769

A move back to old style .. save for it and then buy it ? This could certainly help in eliminating consumption as the b all and end all of GDP .. ?? I know I dumped my amex cards as too pricey if I did not pay off.. besides that so many small independent gas stations have dropped them all together. I just lightened my wallet.. Main reason for Amex was Costco, They only take Amex and promote cash back.. now I just use cash or debit.. mostly cash.. as debit at Costco in Toronto at least is a pain.. no chip.. and that strip wears out faster than the chip... Clerk told me that chip transactions cost merchants more (I have not verified this)