« Do We Need to Believe? »

There’s a curious marketing campaign being launched now, encouraging Canadians to *BELIEVE* in 2010 Canadian Olympic Athletes.

Hmmm….You know what I’d rather believe in?

All the countries of the world dumping the ridiculous idea of the Olympics and investing their residents’ tax dollars into infrastructures that could be taken advantage of by all their inhabitants. How about reducing carbon dioxide emissions , improving social services and enabling  small businesses? Heck - and this is a crazy idea, how about tax credits, or rebates or even giving that money to their population?

The value of the Olympics is negligible. The costs of the Olympics are extraordinary. Until such a time as a country’s population is safe, stable and secure, the idea of the Olympics should be shelved.

The 2004 Olympics cost an estimated $14 Billion

The 2008 Beijing Olympics may well have cost over $44 Billion.

The 2010 Vancouver Olympics is rife with controversy right now, as the BC government is being less than transparent with the true costs, citing only a revised budget of $2.5 billion. What’s not considered are all the costs to local and regional businesses and service providers who are expected to pony up services and materials “in the spirit of the Olympics. Considering the excessive budget over-runs that previous host countries experienced, it’s not unreasonable to expect the final price tag for the 2010 Olympics to exceed $10B.

The 2012 Olympics in London is expected to end up close to $22B US.

Now, consider all the additional costs; the infrastructure, the support services, the corporate pricetags involved in advertising, media, broadcast. Whew.

I BELIEVE.

I believe it’s a load of hooey. ;-) Alas, I will not be watching the Olympics. I can’t afford to any more.

CTV.ca | New ads to make Canadians ‘believe’ in 2010 athletes

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Tags: Olympics, 2010 Vancouver