The Olympics

Cagerty · 9 Jul 2012 at 23:11

The Olympics are a damp squib and are going to flop big time. I coudn't care less about them. Makes no sense to me spending all those billions when public sector workers are being laid off, people's disability benefits are being cut, and the NHS is being underfunded and back door privatised. It makes me sick!

Azza · 9 Jul 2012 at 23:13

Cagerty said:
The Olympics are a damp squib and are going to flop big time. I coudn't care less about them. Makes no sense to me spending all those millions and millions when public sector workers are being laid off, people's disability benefits are being cut, and the NHS is being underfunded and back door privatised. It makes me sick!

Strong argument.

C.R.A.Z.Y · 9 Jul 2012 at 23:14

Bengaboy said:
The Olympics is a load of balls anyway - spending all this money when we dont have it. Awesome!

If done correctly serious profit can be made:

1996: Atlanta Olympic Games made profits of US $10 million.

1992: Barcelona Olympic Games made profits of US $5 million.

1988: Seoul Olympic Games made profits of US $300 million, a record high for a government-run Olympiad.

1984: Los Angeles Olympic Games made profits of US $250 million

1932: Los Angeles made profits of $1 million.

Also 2000 Sydney Olympics made a profit although I don't have the exact amount.

DAIR · 9 Jul 2012 at 23:16

C.R.A.Z.Y said:
If done correctly serious profit can be made:

1996: Atlanta Olympic Games made profits of US $10 million.

1992: Barcelona Olympic Games made profits of US $5 million.

1988: Seoul Olympic Games made profits of US $300 million, a record high for a government-run Olympiad.

1984: Los Angeles Olympic Games made profits of US $250 million

1932: Los Angeles made profits of $1 million.

Also 2000 Sydney Olympics made a profit although I don't have the exact amount.

lol

Cagerty · 9 Jul 2012 at 23:18

I bet these Olympics will make a loss though. I really don't think you can justify spending that amount of money in these recession hit times. I mean it's gone massively over budget so far. As for the Mcdonalds sponsorship, well that just says it all! Cap in hand to big corporations as always sigh

C.R.A.Z.Y · 9 Jul 2012 at 23:18

DAIR said:
lol

What's so funny?

[TW]Fox · 9 Jul 2012 at 23:19

Cagerty said:
I bet these Olympics will run at a loss though. I really don't think you can justify spending that amount of money in these recession hit times.

Once you've bid for it in the early part of the last decade you don't really have any choice. We could hardly turn around and and say 'actually times are a bit tough so we've decided not to bother'.

Doomedspeed · 9 Jul 2012 at 23:21

C.R.A.Z.Y said:
1984: Los Angeles Olympic Games made profits of US $250 million

If i remember rightly, they just just the old stadium left over from the 1930's. Just a quick re-vamp.

That's clever.

Cagerty · 9 Jul 2012 at 23:23

[TW]Fox;22312827 said:
Once you've bid for it in the early part of the last decade you don't really have any choice. We could hardly turn around and and say 'actually times are a bit tough so we've decided not to bother'.

True but I'm sure there must have been an option to pull out as they could hardly have forced you to stage the games. At the very least they could have managed it a bit better and come in under or on budget.

A World Cup would have been cheaper if we could have got that instead

C.R.A.Z.Y · 9 Jul 2012 at 23:26

Cagerty said:
I really don't think you can justify spending that amount of money in these recession hit times.

Surely thats the best time to do something that if done correctly will provide serious $Millions of profit and stimulate the economy :confused:

I can assure you that hundreds of big business's WILL make serious profit and dollar from the Olympics, if that's at the expense of the TAX payer then you need to question why this government will allow that to happen!

Cagerty · 9 Jul 2012 at 23:30

C.R.A.Z.Y said:
Surely thats the best time to do something that if done correctly will provide serious $Millions of profit and stimulate the economy !

Very true, but will it or has it been done correctly?. Only time will tell. No doubt the Olympics will make a lot of profits, but will they make back their cost? I think not. McDonalds and the like will walk away with their pockets full no doubt, but probably at the expense of the taxpayer.

All speculation on my part of course, but one thing I am certain of though is that this Government will allow it to happen!

Burnsy2023 · 9 Jul 2012 at 23:37

[TW]Fox;22312758 said:
McDonalds doesn't make people fat. They simply sell a product that some people seem unable to eat in moderation.

British American tobacco don't kill people. The simply sell a product that is likely to give you serious health issues some of which may kill you if you smoke too much.

Burnsy2023 · 9 Jul 2012 at 23:39

Cagerty said:
True but I'm sure there must have been an option to pull out as they could hardly have forced you to stage the games. At the very least they could have managed it a bit better and come in under or on budget.

A World Cup would have been cheaper if we could have got that instead

The olympics are on budget...

Dolph · 9 Jul 2012 at 23:40

Cagerty said:
The Olympics are a damp squib and are going to flop big time. I coudn't care less about them. Makes no sense to me spending all those billions when public sector workers are being laid off, people's disability benefits are being cut, and the NHS is being underfunded and back door privatised. It makes me sick!

Do we need to go through a basic maths lesson here?

The Olympic games are budgeted at one off costs of £9.3bn. The NHS budget is £106bn this year. Total public spending is in the region of £700bn a year. The deficit is around £140bn a year.

Not hosting the Olympics would have made absolutely bugger all difference to the absolute disaster that is the UK's public finances after 13 years of Labour government.

King Damager · 9 Jul 2012 at 23:43

Burnsy2023 said:
British American tobacco don't kill people. The simply sell a product that is likely to give you serious health issues some of which may kill you if you smoke too much.

A decent argument, but the difference is that Mcdonalds isn't addictive...

Everybody enjoys the odd Mcdonalds... It's just all about moderation...

Hell, I'm pretty sure that Usain Bolt lives off of Chicken Nuggets from McDonald's at olympics because of something like he knew what it was like, and knew it wouldn't cause him any issues..

kd

MOOGLEYS · 9 Jul 2012 at 23:45

Surely thats the best time to do something that if done correctly will provide serious $Millions of profit and stimulate the economy

In this country with this goverment not a chance.....

King Damager · 9 Jul 2012 at 23:49

MOOGLEYS said:
In this country with this goverment not a chance.....

They 'claim' it should generate £13bn... whether it does or not is another question all together...

kd

Dolph · 9 Jul 2012 at 23:50

MOOGLEYS said:
In this country with this goverment not a chance.....

You do realise the bid and the quadrupling of the budget from the original estimate happened under the previous government, right?

The current government has delivered an underspend on the budget Labour put into place in 2007...

Cagerty · 9 Jul 2012 at 23:55

Burnsy2023 said:
The olympics are on budget...

So the government says, but not according to the public accounts commitee who have calculated that it is already overunning its budget once all costs have been included. Just an estimate at the moment but will probably hit 11bn ( e.g overpriced private security from good old G4S )

And yes I am aware it is a drop in the ocean in terms of public finances, but 9.3 billion I'm sure could have stopped some services being cut etc. I agree with the point of Labour's disastrous financial management, but the Tories are doing just as bad a job so far.

Burnsy2023 · 9 Jul 2012 at 23:56

King Damager said:
A decent argument, but the difference is that Mcdonalds isn't addictive...

Everybody enjoys the odd Mcdonalds... It's just all about moderation...

Hell, I'm pretty sure that Usain Bolt lives off of Chicken Nuggets from McDonald's at olympics because of something like he knew what it was like, and knew it wouldn't cause him any issues..

kd

I disagree that junk food isn't addictive. You've also got to factor in that the price and the fact that poor people can often lack the skills to cook balanced meals means that many young people are brought up on this fast food not knowing any differently.