Hard Rock Park files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection

True, wahoo, but presidents of both parties have a strong tendency to take credit for every little good thing that happens in our economy, so it's only fair to dole out some of the blame to them when things go sour as well.

There is plenty of blame to dish around. The former Fed chairman, Alan Greenspan, certainly deserves to be recognized for failing to act to let some of the air out of the housing bubble before it inflated to dangerous levels (not to mention going along with the Bush tax cuts, which only served to stoke the fever of spending and debt accumulation among home-owners and investment firms alike).

Congress deserves its share of the blame, as well. Under the control of Republicans, and lately Democrats, the legislative branch has done little to offer regulatory oversight during the last eight years.

And of course the bankers and Wall Street types have a huge amount of culpability. Dating all the way to the Depression, there had been regulatory walls between commercial banks, investment banks and insurance companies. But in 1999, the banking and insurance lobby pushed through bills that stripped away all those regulatory structures. They were impediments to increased profits, the bankers told Washington, and in this modern age of high technology were no longer necessary to protect the financial sector. The then-Republican Congress passed these changes, and Bill Clinton signed them into law -- and for that he deserves some of the blame as well.

I'm very concerned about what's going to happen in this huge mess we're in. $700 billion sounds like a lot of government bailout -- and it is -- but it's a mere drop in the bucket to the estimated $45 trillion in fairy-land derivatives that these companies hold. It's a house of cards, IMO, and when it crashes, look out.

Some of the blame...yes. All of the blame...no.

But, back to the parks, I will say that investment in these companies (with the exception of Hard Rock Park) remains a pretty safe bet. Disney is holding up (largely thanks to the Europeans who are flocking here on the weak dollar) and even Cedar Fair is holding it's own (though they have their own debt problem...on a far smaller scale).

http://thesunnews.typepad.com/tourism/2008/09/hard-rock-annua.html

Since we're playing the "blame game" regarding the economic crisis:

The real problem was a bad government decision to stick their nose into the markets in the first place and force banks to lend money to people with poor credit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5tZc8oH--o

I refuse to believe that the world will end Monday if they don't pass this $700 billion bailout bill. I think the realization of the mistakes that were made is going to come eventually anyway. This bailout will only delay it and make it more painful when it does finally happen.

Hopefully Hard Rock can recover, but you have to wonder how well the place is going to be run/maintained after this. Maybe someone that knows what they are doing will buy the place up.

CF to buy HRP?

Why would you even suggest that?

Because we think companies buy parks like it's the White Sale at Target?

Sorry for resurrecting this zombie thread. But, I saw it in the list of today's "Rollback"

Jeff said:

I bet they'll get their act together next year.

ChrisC. said:

Hard Rock Park is not going anywhere anytime soon.

Emiroo said:

I don't think they'll close the doors for at least 3-5 more years

5 years later, and I'm still wishing all of that that was true. I still miss "Nights in White Satin: The Trip"

I have a feeling that dark ride will quickly rise to legendary status, a la Bat.

Dark. Ever. Best. Ride.

Sorry, my brain is scrambled today.

I totally heard that in George Bluth's (Jeffrey Tambor) voice.

Well, if the voice fits....

I was recently made aware by someone that there may be a facial resemblance too...