Atlantic City

Atlantic City has appeared in trouble since the Pennsylvania casino's have opened. Increased competition drives down what economists call 'economic profit' (unusually large profits). What we should (and have) witnessed is the industry moving from one more monopolistic toward more competitive (look in your text for more on those types of industries). This article outlines the past few years in the industry and gives the general pessimistic tone for those who remember AC in its glory years. Should the government do anything about it? (like maybe legalize sports betting to give AC back its competitive edge... an issue more complicated than it appears... and a good one for a position paper in this class) Maybe a more relevant question is CAN New Jersey actually do anything about it. The money quote:

"Atlantic City is not a market in which we're currently exploring opportunities. We see the market there continuing to contract over the next couple of years," said Eric Schippers, a spokesman for Penn National Gaming Inc.

This type of industry (at least in AC) reminds me of the newspaper industry where a new business model needs to be implemented.

Advanta and Alter

Talk about bad times hitting close to home (and how quickly times have changed). Here is a story discussing Alter (as in the building attached to our classroom). Keep in mind they just opened the building inside one month! The bottom line: “Too many [people] have not been paying their bills during the recession.” This is not a good recipe for a credit card company. Hopefully they can pull out of this.