Steve Wynn Built the Wynn Macau in 2006 and Expects to Open the Wynn Palace in Macau in 2016
Steve Wynn recently gave an interview to CNBC on the state of the land-based gaming world. In the interview, the CEO of Wynn Resorts presented a brave front on the Macau gaming decline, while he praised the Chinese government.
Some of Wynn’s comments are certain to make Americans pause. In the same interview, he compared the Chinese political system favorably to American politics. While he makes a good point about the polarization of American politics and the need for greater cooperation between America’s political elites, he also seemed to miss the point about one-party governments.
Wynn also characterized the current mood in China as a positive one, even suggesting that the protests in Hong Kong in October 2014 did not indicate a sense of unrest in the country. Nor did he suggest those protests were a sign that the Chinese people were fed up with a one-party state. Readers might want to judge for themselves what Wynn’s comments were, so “US Poker Sites” wants to provide some of those quotes, before making comments on them.
Hong Kong Protests
In late-September 2014, tens of thousands of Hong Kong residents took to the streets to protest anti-democratic actions on the part of the government. The immediate cause of the protests involved discontent over the selection of candidates. Instead of being offered two or more political parties selected by popular consent, the one-party communist state selects candidates, who often run unopposed. Hong Kong has a decades-long history of democratic elections, due to its rule by the British Empire and later by its successor state: the United Kingdom.
For over a month now, protestors have gathered in Mong Kok, Admiralty, and Causeway Bay to protest the government. Hong Kong and Chinese authorities have sometimes clashed with protestors, though the Occupy Central movement has usually been allowed to peacefully demonstrate. The protests appear to have popular support in Hong Kong, though that support has eroded some as the state media has tried to characterize the protestors as disruptive and locals have tired of the disruptions in their daily schedules. Business leaders have disliked the protests from Day One, because they thought it would hurt business and it would cause a reaction from Beijing.
Wynn on the Protests: “It’s…a Party Out There.“
Steve Wynn, who has done business in China for 12 years, says he is familiar with the Chinese people and also with the sentiment of ordinary Chinse residents. On October 1, he told a CNBC interviewer that the protests are overblown in the US and international media.
At the suggestion that the protestors are seriously protesting anti-democratic policies and could face reprisals from the Beijing government, Wynn told CNBC’s Jane Wells, “It’s become sort of a party out there.”
Since he made that statement, protests have turned violent, with Hong Kong police sometimes clashing with protestors.
Wynn said he has talked with many Chinese citizens over the years. He characterized them as pragmatic and concerned about building prosperity, but all-in-all pleased with government in China. He said, if someone spoke with an average Chinese person and asked, “Do you trust the central government, they’ll say ‘Yes’.”
Polarization in America
The founder of Wynn Resorts, who recently won a hard-fought campaign for a Boston-area casino, went even further when he told the broadcaster that the Chinese people are happier with their government than the American people are with theirs. While that might well be true, he went further in saying, “You don’t have the kind of polarization you have in America.”
Wynn discussed the lack of bipartisanship in the United States at present, decrying with some passion the polarized nature of American politics. He spoke of the ideology of gridlock, while heaping scorn on both major political parties for their role in the lack of action coming from Washington D.C. When asked how the US’s political deadlock compared to the protests in the Middle Kingdom, he added, “Nothing like that in China–nothing even close.”
“Demonstrations Every Single Month”
Jane Wells took exception to the thrust of the conversation, pointing out that China has a one-party state and hinting it would be impossible for gridlock to be an issue, since there is no second pole in Chinese politics. Despite the seeming contradiction implied with his previous statement, Steve Wynn defended the characterization of China as a one-choice system by saying, “There are demonstrations every single month in every province in China.”
The CNBC anchor did not appear to be convinced, but she was gracious in the remainder of the interview. In summing up her conversation with the Las Vegas gaming executive, the CNBC broadcaster quoted Wynn as saying, “China has the most laissez-faire system on the planet.”
Editorial Comments on Steve Wynn
With all due respect to Steve Wynn, if one were to judge the man by this one interview, someone would think he doesn’t have the first clue about political systems. Many Americans would agree that the two-party system is deeply flawed, with Democrats and Republicans opposing one another almost reflexively. US residents might say the American people are divided in profound ways by the Culture War between liberals and conservatives. They would be right.
Despite that, most Americans, whatever their political philosophy, would not suggest that a one-party state would be better than the current two-party system. If anything, they might prefer a third party to be added to the mix. Certain, they would prefer “polarization” to a single group of people dominating the state.
Rousseau on Political Parties
As the 18th century French political philosopher, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, stated in “The Social Contract“, faction politics is bad, but if you have them, you want as many factions as possible. Rousseau, whose writings have influenced most modern democracies, including the American system, wrote, “When factions arise, and partial associations are formed at the expense of the great association, the will of each of these associations becomes general in relation to its members, while it remains particular in relation to the State: it may then be said that there are no longer as many votes as there are men, but only as many as there are associations.
He added later, “But if there are partial societies (political parties), it is best to have as many as possible and to prevent them from being unequal…These precautions are the only ones that can guarantee that the general will shall be always enlightened, and that the people shall in no way deceive itself.”
Thus, it is best to have the Republicans and Democrats, and have them be as equal in strength and influence as possible. By opposing one another, this assures that both sides remain honest. Polarization is a necessary evil.
In fact, Rousseau warned against a one-party state, when he wrote, “When one of these associations is so great as to prevail over all the rest, the result is no longer a sum of small differences, but a single difference; in this case there is no longer a general will.”
In Defense of Steve Wynn
Whether he read Rousseau or not, Steve Wynn is smart enough to know all of this. His billion-dollar investments in Macau require him to deal with Chinese businessman and communist party officials. Macau has lost 30% of its revenues this year because of arbitratry and unchecked meddling by the Beijing government, due to Li Xinping’s anti-corruption campaign. But he has to make the best of the situation, because billions of dollars are on the line, for him, his gaming companies, and his shareholders.
Steve Wynn Interviewed by CNBC’s Jane Wells
Those interested in seeing the comments in their original form should click on this CNBC link to Steve Wynn’s interview with Jane Wells. Some of Wynn’s quotes were so outrageous, our American readers might have to see them to believe them.
