The Mohegan Sun Casino raked in over $1.3 billion in profits last year. Economic conditions caused strife for many companies in the private sector, who fought and clawed just to break even.
For the Mohegan Sun, the clawing was toward Washington: the Mohegan Sun hit a jackpot in the form of federal stimulus funds worth $54 million. From abcnews.com:
The tribe runs the sprawling Mohegan Sun casino, halfway between New York City and Boston, which earned more than $1.3 billion in gross revenues in 2009. Each tribe member receives a cut of the profits, a number a tribal official said was “less than $30,000″ per capita per year. The stimulus money is a loan from a U.S. Department of Agriculture rural development program that is meant to help communities of less than 20,000 people that have been “unable to obtain other credit at reasonable rates and terms and are unable to finance the proposed project from their own resources.”
It’s difficult to fathom why the profitable Mohegan Sun needs stimulus dollars. Favoritism in Washington must stop for businesses to reorient themselves away from government and toward activities that will secure long run growth and job creation.
