8-2 算计并不一定是让你变得油滑，只是要更明白自己的利益和成本在哪里

1. Rose（Michael Rose, the chairmen of Holiday Inn） was an impressive-looking guy, tall, well-dressed, and very much the gentleman. I launched right into a pitch about what a great piece of property the Barbizon was, an incredible location, a piece of the rock, nothing like it, how smart he was to come and see me about it. While I really didn't want to sell it, I said, perhaps I could be convinced in this case. For ten minutes I just ranted and raved while Mike Rose, the chairman of Holiday Inns, sat and listened very politely without saying anything. Finally, looking a little embarrassed, he said to me, "I don't think you understand, Donald. I'm not interested in the Barbizon-Plaza. I'm interested in being your partner in Atlantic City. That's what I'm here to talk about."

2. 

I like to pride myself on rolling with the punches. I had never thought of a partner in Atlantic City, but I jumped right back in and started talking with the same enthusiasm about our plans there. I said that we had the best site on the Boardwalk, that we'd designed the best facility, that we had our approvals and financing in place, and that we planned to be open for business in less than two years.

take sb off the hook: 让某人摆脱困境。 

3. he explained that he was interested in my site by virtue of its location, but more important, because of my reputation as a builder who came in on time and on budget. Like most other casino operators, Holiday had experienced endless problems in construction and had run over budget by tens of millions of dollars on Harrah's Marina. Rose particularly liked the idea, he said, that we were already under construction. The point, Rose concluded, was that Holiday simply couldn't justify major overruns to stockholders a second time. Making a deal with us, he said, seemed like a good way to marry their management expertise with our ability as builders.

4. I was confident we could finish ahead of schedule and even under budget based on how carefully we'd done our planning. 

5. One way we stood to save money was from sth known as value engineering. 

6.  Rose had a specific deal in mind. 

We'd build the hotel, they'd manage it, and 

we'd split the profits fifty-fifty. In addition, 

he said, they'd put up $50 million of their own money toward construction and reimburse me immediately for approximately $22 million of my expenses up to that point. 

We also agreed they'd take over responsibility for financing and use the Holiday Inns guarantee to get us a very prime rate. 

As a final inducement（刺激诱惑） to make the deal, Rose said that Holiday would guarantee me against any operating losses for a period of five years from the date the casino opened and pay me a large construction fee.

7. He told the crowd that for us to have completed such a huge facility on time and on budget was a near miracle in this day and age. 

8. By relieving me of personal financial liability, it assured I'd sleep better at night. 

9. by  all rights,（照正常发展来讲） that should be the end of the story. However, success running the Boardwalk facility with my own management made me see a broader opportunity. 

The second way we saved money was by producing very complete plans, so that contractors could bid on every aspect of the job. When you have incomplete drawings, a smart contractor will often come in and underbid the job just to get it, knowing he'll be able to more than cover his costs through the change orders that inevitably occur as plans become more complete.

The final thing that helped us keep costs down was the state of the construction industry in Atlantic City in the spring of 1982. The only casino still under construction by then was the Tropicana, and thousands of local construction workers were either out of work or about to be. That gave us a lot of leverage with contract who had to either cover a certain overhead or go out of business. I wasn't looking to force these guys to make such bad deals that they'd lose money. On the other hand, I was in a position to negotiate very reasonable prices.