Las Vegas casino developer and businessman Steve Wynn said that with real unemployment still high the notion that the country was experiencing an economic recovery was baseless.
"Well, the idea that America is in the midst of a great recovery is pure fiction. It's a lie," Wynn told interviewer
Jon Ralston of "Ralston Live," a PBS program based in Las Vegas, WND reported.
"It's a jobless recovery. Because recoveries are marked by the level of real employment. And if you count the people who have left the workforce, real unemployment is 15 to 20 percent."
Wynn, the founder and CEO of Wynn Resorts, said he doubted that the Consumer Price Index accurately measured the price of consumer goods and services, or that the Bureau of Labor Statistics' assessment that there was no inflation was accurate, according to WND.
"If you take real inflation, and you've got to count energy and food and all that stuff, real inflation is much higher than they say it is. My employees' take-home pay, in spite of the increases we give them, their paychecks are 90-cent paychecks, 90 cents on the dollar.
"It's very difficult for the middle class in America to keep up because of the inflationary pressure and the devaluation of the dollar," he told Ralston.
The $18 trillion national debt may be perceived by ordinary Americans as an abstract problem. "In fact, it impacts every one of my employees critically every day."
Turning to the gaming industry, Wynn said most establishments in Nevada have not been profitable for decades. The industry is a major employer and pays taxes but is losing money. "Most of the money has been made by the best, the newest and the most competitive properties, and I suspect it will stay that way."
The results of Wynn's efforts to build what he described as the most extravagant casino hotel in the world in Macao, China, have been disappointing. He attributed losses to rampant government corruption that has been acknowledged by the Communist Party itself.
On domestic issues, he said he supports merit incentives for teachers that would reward them with tax-free income for superb achievement in the classroom. He similarly favors redirecting a portion of a worker's federal income tax into a tax-free savings account earmarked for healthcare, he told Ralston.
Wynn said he was not backing anyone for president, though he had recently met with Bill and Hillary Clinton over dinner in New York. He implied that he would wait until the general election before picking a favorite candidate.
He has been a friend of Nevada Democratic Sen. Harry Reid for decades, while being critical of his support for President Barack Obama's healthcare policies, he told Ralston.
Wynn has recently been contributing to the Republican Governors Association, according to
The Boston Globe.
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