I'm impressed.

Oct 02, 2009 12:00



It looks like the Obama administration actually managed to save a major US city from disaster.

olympics

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Comments 9

sabrinageek October 2 2009, 17:21:19 UTC
Thank the Gods.

I'm about scared to publically admit that I didn't -want- us to get the olympics, because it would make Chicago even more insane than it already is. I mean, seriously, the traffic, the public transportation, the budgets, congestion, we're seriously stretched thin as it is, and everyone was like "OMG OLYMPICS WILL SAVE US!!!1111"

Ummm... no. It'll just be a never-ending nightmare. Friends in Atlanta said as much from when they had it a few years ago.

So yeah, I'm glad we missed out.

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vakkotaur October 2 2009, 17:37:05 UTC
I think pretty much every city that finds itself afflicted with the Olympics discovers that it's paying an awful lot to put up with an awful lot and not get much in return. This is also true of single stadiums: they do not make economic sense. If they did, shares in them would be sold rather than team owners extorting public funding for financing.

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nefaria October 2 2009, 19:45:38 UTC
No way, he saved every major city except New Orleans! Just like Obama is "creating or saving" millions of jobs through the stimulus plan, look how many people are still employed even though the stated unemployment rate is near 10% and the actual unemployment rate is near 17%.

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electronin October 2 2009, 18:41:11 UTC
That will be the games 3rd occurrence south of the Equator, the other 2 times being in Australia. Now that Rio has the 2016 spot, finally putting South America on the map, Africa should be next.

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nefaria October 2 2009, 19:47:49 UTC
Makes me wonder which African nation they'd pick, virtually all of them have seriously corrupt governments. Maybe Kenya or Egypt, they're among the least bad.

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thecanuckguy October 2 2009, 20:36:27 UTC
Well, if they don't want to give the Olympics to a country with a seriously corrupt government, there's your reasoning why Chicago lost (on the first ballot too!) right there! :D

Of course, to take that hypothesis, you'd have to forget the 2008 Games in Beijing, or the 2014 Games in Sochi, Russia.

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vakkotaur October 3 2009, 00:27:04 UTC
Maybe the problem was that Chicago just wasn't (*boggle*) considered corrupt enough. This is the IOC, after all.

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bronxelf_ag001 October 3 2009, 00:32:20 UTC
Agreed.

Anywhere but here.

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