MGM: The Glitter Is Gone

I am taking a very short position on this leisure and gambling behemoth. As people begin to feel the squeeze of higher oil prices,as they already have, disposable income will diminish. In addition to this, due to being over leveraged as a result of people using their homes as giant ATM machines (as people have borrowed against their home, betting that the value will rise), disposable income will be hurt in this way as well. Plus with declining real estate valuations, MGM Mirage looks pretty poorly. Las Vegas Sands can seek consolation in their Macau casinos, but MGM Mirage is too heavily exposed to Vegas. The glitter and glitz is gone.