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Mercnbeth -> RE: Chicago Olympics 2016...Not all Chicagoans seem happy (10/2/2009 11:50:47 AM)
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ORIGINAL: DomKen
I'm puzzled by something. I've just looked around the web at the usual conservative suspects, drudge, free republic, fox nation etc. and they are celebrating that Chicago didn't get the Olympics. Which strikes me as odd.
An Olympics will certainly result in lots of construction projects which would serve to stimulate the economy right now when it needs it. It would guarantee an influx of foreign tourists, and therefore foreign money, in 2016 which is good for the economy then.
So why are conservatives celebrating something that is bad for the US economy in the short and the long term?
Maybe some have thought it through and used the past as an indicator of the future:
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There Has "Never Been An Olympic Games That Has Made A Profit." Robert Barney, Director of the International Centre for Olympic Studies at the University of Western Ontario: "'There has never been an Olympic Games that has made a profit....' Fold in all the costs and revenues, he says, 'including federal allotments, municipal allotments, provincial or state allotments, it's always been that a debt has to be paid somewhere.'" (Howard Berkes, "Olympic Caveats: Host Cities Risk Debt, Scandal," NPR, 10/1/09)
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And Chicago Residents, Illinois Taxpayers On The Hook For Overruns: "Chicago officials say there is very little taxpayer funding going to the games up front, though the city and state of Illinois have guaranteed that they will cover hundreds of millions of dollars in potential cost overruns." (David Schaper, "In Chicago, Some Protest Olympic Bid," NPR, 9/30/09)
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American Taxpayers Could Be Put On The Hook As Well. "Chicago and the Obama administration are exploring ways the federal government can bolster the city's bid for the 2016 Olympic Games with financial support for the $1-billion Olympic Village ... Crain's has learned that senior presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett and Lori Healey, president of the Chicago 2016 committee, met this month with top officials of the Department of Housing and Urban Development to discuss financing options for the village, the single biggest project -- and question mark -- in the city's bid." (Paul Merrion, "Chicago 2016 Hunts Fed Cash," Chicago Business, 9/28/09)
Or maybe it's the concern about what Obama owes his Chicago roots; considering that city's corrupt history; especially considering this background of the parties involved.
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And Four Co-Chairs Of Obama's Inaugural Committee Tied To Chicago 2016. "Four of the five co-chairs of Obama's inaugural committee continue to have unpaid leadership roles in Chicago 2016, including Pat Ryan, the chairman and CEO of Chicago 2016; John Rodgers, the treasurer and director of Chicago 2016; Bill Daley, the former Clinton administration commerce secretary and brother of the Chicago mayor; and Penny Pritzker, the Chicago businesswoman and Hyatt hotel heiress who led Obama's meteoric presidential campaign fundraising... Pritzker's family also owns or manages a handful of hotels singled out by Chicago 2016 as accommodations for Olympic workers, press and family members." (Kenneth P. Vogel, "Obama Tied To Olympics, Win Or Lose," Politico, 10/1/09)
Obama Senior Advisor David Axelrod's Former PR Firm Paid To Do Communications Work For Bid Committee. "A.S.K. Public Strategies, the Chicago-based corporate public relations company founded by Obama political guru David Axelrod, has been paid 'a nominal amount of money" by Chicago 2016 to do "communication management [and] communication planning,' said former Axelrod partner Eric Sedler." (Kenneth P. Vogel, "White House Lobbies For Olympics In Chicago," Politico, 5/12/09)
Obama Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett Was Former Chicago 2016 Vice Chair, Former CEO Of Real Estate Company Hoping To Cash In On Olympic Construction. "Until joining the Obama administration, Jarrett was both vice chair of Chicago 2016, the $49 million nonprofit enterprise created in 2006 to lead the city's bid, and CEO of The Habitat Company, a real estate company that is among the bidders to build the 3,500-unit Olympic Village." (Kenneth P. Vogel, "Obama Tied To Olympics, Win Or Lose," Politico, 10/1/09)
Personally, I don't see any "celebration" I see relief on the part of those who opposed it in consideration of some, or all, of the issues documented.
Of course there are those on both sides, celebrating and sad, whose intellect requires them to insult, mock, or who chose to say call the other sides reaction, "twatism". But there's nothing you can do in those cases except laugh.
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