What a waste of money. When Paris "lost" the 2012 bid to London, may in Paris were upset but I could have cared less. Joelle lived in Montreal during the Olympics and it turned out to be an enormous drain on the system. They were paying additional taxes for the honor of hosting the international drug fest. London had previously been the European capital for big finance where no deal was too large. Whipping up a few dozen billion could practically be done over lunch but those days are long gone. In an economy that heavily relied on finance (roughly 1/3 of the GDP), finance is now the biggest drag on the system. Hmmm, loans for home buyers or a loan for the Olympic village that will be used for three weeks?
Each time the IOC has another competition for the next host city, too many cities that don't have the money spend millions to make the cut. Even after winning and after the games, buildings sit idle never to be used again. Let the sports marketing companies or athletes fund this junk if they want it so much. I've watch enough of this horror show to not care if they ever bother to hold another Olympic game.
The taxpayer may end up paying to build every major venue in London's 2012 Olympic Games because private finance has dried up, the chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority admitted yesterday.
John Armitt said it was possible that no private sector money would be found for the £1bn Olympic village in the heart of the park, the most high-profile victim of the global downturn which has already cost the taxpayer £326m more than was planned for.
The authority has already given up hope of securing funding for the £355m international media centre, which will now be paid for entirely by the Exchequer. In total, £496m has already been used from the £2bn contingency fund set aside for the project.
