Brazil is saying what we could not: we don't want these costly extravaganzas
From the World Cup to the G8, many countries are paying an extortionate price for hosting these pointless displays
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Simon Jenkins
The Guardian, Thursday 20 June 2013 19.40 BST
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私もどちらかというとこのガーディアンのおっさんに賛成。
現在、ブラジルで大規模なデモがやっているが、その参加者に聞くと、あれは、ワールドカップ、及び、オリンピック開催に金がかかり過ぎる、ということがあるそうな。
ところが、経済効果というのもほんの一時的で、実際にはなく、北京だって、オリンピックで潤っておらず、それは、ロンドンでも同じで、そのオリンピックにつぎ込んだ金を国民の福祉に使ったほうがまし、だ、と。
浪費的なお祭りさわぎをすべて否定するつもりはないが、、オリンピックやG8は日本で開催する必要はないし、邪魔くさい。
From the World Cup to the G8, many countries are paying an extortionate price for hosting these pointless displays
Share 2115
inShare
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Simon Jenkins
The Guardian, Thursday 20 June 2013 19.40 BST
Jump to comments (395)
The Olympics are likewise sold by the IOC to star-struck national leaders as offering glory for political gain. Their purpose-built stadiums, luxurious facilities, lunatic security and lavish hospitality are senseless, yet are backed by construction and security lobbies and a chorus of chauvinist public relations. If the cost is bankruptcy, as in Montreal and Athens, too bad. The golden caravan can move on to trap some new victim.
The World Cup and the Olympics are television events that could be held at much less expense and ballyhoo in one place. As it is, host nations are deluged with promises of "legacy return" that everyone knows are rubbish. Costs escalate to an extent that would see most managers in handcuffs, but gain bonuses and knighthoods for Olympic organisers.
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London 2012 is fun and competently delivered, but to think we'll ever recover the cost is like believing in Santa Claus
A study of Sydney by Australia's Monash University found there was no tangible benefit "or economic boost" from the Games. An IASE report on Atlanta called Bidding for the Games: Fool's Gold? found that "diverting scarce resources from more productive uses translates into slower rates of economic growth". Civic leaders talk desperately of "legacy" but no survey can find any. Barcelona saw hotel occupancy fall from 80% to 50% in the year after the Games. The city's subsequent prosperity is now attributed to cheap flights and the Spanish boom. Beijing has seen no games-related uplift.
From Cameron down, they claimed the games would make money, now and, if not now, then some time in the future. This was plain dishonest. Everyone knows there is no Olympic legacy, but, as with Santa Claus, we dare not tell the children.
This week's G8 shindig in Northern Ireland was pointless – a night and two days on a bleak Irish lough at a cost to taxpayer of £60m and a deployment of 1,000 policemen per delegate. It was held in Fermanagh to be as far as possible from demonstrators and "real people". The sole outcome was modest progress on tax avoidance, but that cannot have required two days in Fermanagh. Could they not have used Skype?
To this quest for authenticity Brazil's demonstrators offer a corrective. They point to its cost. The addiction to "eventism" can be so potent, so demanding of security and so expensive as to defy restraint. London's £9bn extravaganza was not necessary to host an international athletics show. It should have been the last such display of conspicuous consumption by the rich in the face of the poor. Yet Rio de Janeiro is now saddled with not one extravaganza but two.
So congratulations to Brazilians for saying what Britain last year lacked the guts to say: that sometimes enough is enough. If I were Blatter and his henchmen, I would get out of town fast.
私もどちらかというとこのガーディアンのおっさんに賛成。
現在、ブラジルで大規模なデモがやっているが、その参加者に聞くと、あれは、ワールドカップ、及び、オリンピック開催に金がかかり過ぎる、ということがあるそうな。
ところが、経済効果というのもほんの一時的で、実際にはなく、北京だって、オリンピックで潤っておらず、それは、ロンドンでも同じで、そのオリンピックにつぎ込んだ金を国民の福祉に使ったほうがまし、だ、と。
浪費的なお祭りさわぎをすべて否定するつもりはないが、、オリンピックやG8は日本で開催する必要はないし、邪魔くさい。