Print
Comment
Email
RSS
Twitter
Ride Over? Six Flags Declares Bankruptcy
Ride Over? Six Flags Declares Bankruptcy
Posted Sunday, June 14, 2009 - 3:50am
Amusement park operator Six Flags declared bankruptcy yesterday but says that it will keep its parks open, at least for now. According to the Washington Post, the company is carrying $2.4 billion in debt. Despite the fact that Six Flags reported 25 million visitors and posted record revenues in 2008, the debt is simply unsustainable, the Associated Press reports.
Yesterday, Obama proposed an additional $313 billion in cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and other programs in order to pay for health care reforms that could cost about $1 trillion over the next 10 years, Reuters reports. "I know some question whether we can afford to act this year," the president said, "But the unmistakable truth is that it would be irresponsible to not act."
Two of the nation's most influential bank regulators are at it again, reports the New York Times. John Dugan, comptroller of the currency, is reportedly feuding with Sheila Bair, head of the FDIC. Dugan has lambasted a proposal to impose harsh insurance fees on banks, which he views as unfair to the largest banks (which he regulates). Bair responded in defense of small banks, charging that the big banks should take the blame for the financial collapse.
Financial leaders from the G8 have offered their most optimistic evaluation of the global crisis yet, the Washington Post reports. They called for an "exit strategy" from stimulus policies that have been instituted to bolster the economy. But not everything is fixed yet, says U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. He called on international banking regulators to devise better ways to "quickly resolve failures of cross-border financial firms."
Television's digital switchover has gone relatively well so far, the Wall Street Journal reports. Though a record 317,000 calls poured into a national call center set up by the Federal Communications Commission Friday from consumers who had trouble to setting up converter boxes, most issues have been quickly resolved.
The Los Angeles Lakers may win the NBA Championship, but some city officials are saying that they might not be able to host a victory parade. The parade could cost more than $1 million, and the city is already squeezed financially, thanks to a deep budget deficit, which might require job cuts, Reuters reports. "We can't afford to cover the costs," City Councilwoman Jan Perry told the Los Angeles Times. She asked, "How could we make a decision about people's jobs and then sponsor the parade?"
Comments
Six Flags declare bankruptcy?
Six Flags declare bankruptcy? That sucks man. What is really happen with those amusement park. Where should we go for fun, when there are no amusement parks anymore. But, I wonder, why one by one big company collapse and declaring for bankruptcy. Is this some anticipating or 'emergency exit' strategy from these companies, since they can't repay their debts. How pathetic. If one by one big company down, the small business will also collapse, and that will be bad for the economics.
Six Flags
Let us hope there is a buyer out there who picks them up. When this recession turns into recovery there will bea big demand for amusement parks.
SIX FLAGSTO OPEN NEW WAKK STREET ATTRACTIONS
BANZAI7 NEWS--Six Flags, the big theme park operator, filed for bankruptcy in early Saturday morning in Delaware after failing to reach an agreement with lenders over a plan to reorganize its debt outside of court.
Six Flags's proposed a reorganization plan that includes exciting new attractions with timely financial services themes including:
HANK AND BEN'S SUBPRIME FRIGHT NIGHT COASTER
HANK AND BEN'S SUBPRIME FRIGHT NIGHT COASTER will transform guests into seedy citizens of Wall Street, where they find themselves caught in the middle of a city under siege and torn apart by Alan Greenspan the fractional reserve Riddler and Milton Friedman, the cruel free market Joker. Venturing through demented hallways of twisted derivative trades, oblique policy turns and hallucinatory correlations, riders speed through six 180-degree DJIA hairpin's, climb unseen hills of toxic assets, plunge into pitch balance sheet darkness and dip into unforeseen "Black Swan" like outlier dangers.
VIKRAM BANDIT'S BIG SPIN
Vikram Bandit's Big Spin — A Gerstlauer PR spinning coaster, "this unique public relations spinning coaster gives riders the opportunity to defy the laws of financial services gravity just like Vikram Bandit, the memo bloviating legend himself. With random and unpredictable verbal twists and techno-babbling spins at each market dip and turn, this CITI bailout sponsored coaster offers a unique ride experience for all stakeholders every time."
LLOYD BLANKFEIN'S WIGGLE OUT WORLD
"BLANKFEIN'S Wiggle Out World is designed to leverage and wiggle Goldman Sach's out of a hair raising squeeze using its world-wide recognition and status among financial regulators and policy makers ages 2-6, featuring rides, shows and attractions the entire United States Financial Services regulatory family can enjoy. The new area will include specially themed Goldman Wiggle out rides, including Hank Paulsens's Big Bailout Car and Steve Friedman's Big Red Escape Plane rides, as well as a new Timmy G Toxic Turd retail location and a Larry Sommers Yummy Dummy Investor Cafe. In addition, The Goldman Wiggles are scheduled to appear at the park on a to-be-announced date in 2009. The Great Wall Street Escape also will debut a thrilling new waterslide, Wild AIG Wedgie, in its Subprime Derivative Splashwater Kingdom water park."
ALAN THE MAESTRO'S INVERTED YIELD COASTER
Maestro's Ultimate Inverted Yield Curve Coaster — "Adding a powerful new dimension of twisted monetary thrill's to an already irrationally exuberant coaster line-up, Maestro IYC will feature a unique radiating blue steel track and high-speed yellow and blue trains that suspend riders from short and long term coaster tracks. Once aboard the suspended 28-passenger interest rate trains, the bottom drops out from beneath the riders and they soar out of the real estate asset bubble station four abreast to experience spine-tingling gravitational market forces and the sensation of racing totally unregulated at 80 mph with nothing beneath their 401k feet but cloudy sky."
GLOW IN THE DARK TOXIC ASSET PARADE
Glow in the Dark Toxic Asset Parade at Six Flags Great Subprime Adventure "Six Flags is taking the asset backed security parade concept to new subprime levels as bull market drummers, shyster bankers, political puppeteers, psychotic quants, crooked mortgage brokers, unscrupulous real estate brokers, and kinetic regulatory stilt walkers bring the park streets to life with an unparalleled nighttime financial fantasyland of interest only mortgages, riskless securities, pay option loans, no document loans, VAR fantasy lights and bear trade commotion. Glow in the Park Toxic Asset Parade features the latest quantitative finance technology, state-of-the-art collateralized debt floats and special credit enhancement effects with thousands of sparkling rating agency lights adorning every element of this uniquely themed toxic asset parade."
BERNIE THE PONZI ENGINEER
Bernie the Ponzi Engineer — This attraction entertains sophisticatedly naive investors of all ages, offering wealthy retiree's, brainless asset managers and SEC enforcement attorneys a ponziesque train ride through Bernie's mythical trading room on the French Riviera Island of Absolute Returns, Bernie-themed play areas, and appearances by Clown Commissioner Christopher Cox, Controller of the SEC's ponzi sanctioned Railway, who will pose for photos and greet visiting investors. A Bernie & Friends store located within the areas will feature an assortment of pre-owned Palm Beach merchandise.
DICK FULD'S ROOM FULL OF SMOKE & MIRRORS
Dick Fuld's Room Full of Smoke & Mirrors takes the financial smoke and mirror funhouse concept to the absolute last minute. Packed full of opaque accounting tricks, toxic asset hazards, valuation illusions, securitisation fakirs, shifty Korean and Arab investors, short selling bogeymen chasing bikini clad CFO's and a Mega subprime CDS ticking time bomb, Dick Fuld's Room Full of Mirror's will leave spectators young and old totally unbailed.
HANK GREENBERG'S HOUSE OF AIG HORRORS
Perhaps the scariest attraction ever created, Hank Greenberg's House of AIG horrors will not be beat. Packed full of all manner of subprime ghouls, vampire toxic asset salesmen, financial skeletons, CEO ghosts, litigous zombies, blood thirsty regulators and Goldman Sachs derivative traders, Hank will make sure your NAV will never see the light of bailout day. Sandy Weil says: "I thought I had the systemic house of horrors racket cornered, but Hank Greenberg beat me to the bailout punch."
Another retail sales giant is
Another retail sales giant is biting the dust, as Eddie Bauer has filed for bankruptcy. Eddie Bauer recently filed for Chapter 11 as they had too much debt and the credit market hasn't helped them out, and there aren't any instant payday loans that are going to cover it. The cause has been cited as the bankruptcy filing a few years ago of Spiegel, the former parent company of Eddie Bauer, which left the firm heavily leveraged, and when the economy dropped off, there wasn't enough income to sustain the payments on the debt.