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Jim Seida / NBC News
East Londoner Dean Houssein sells coffee, drinks and snacks from the back of a van near the London's Victoria Park, a short train ride from the Olympic Park. He said that during the Games, the area has been "deader than dead."
LONDON – Quiet restaurants, empty sidewalks and spare seats on the subway have left businesses in central London without an Olympic gold rush, despite Britain's medal success -- and have raised new questions about whether the world's largest sporting event brings any economic benefit to host countries.
It is a major concern in Britain, which is still entrenched in double-dip recession even after the construction boom created by the Games.
Attractions including St. Paul's Cathedral and the London Zoo have seen a 40 percent drop in visitors since the opening ceremony on July 27. Dire warnings of travel chaos scared many away, and those who do come are congregating in the shopping mall that abuts the Olympic Park in East London, or inside the bars and opens spaces of the sprawling park itself.
Even small businesses within sight of the landmark 80,000-seater main stadium have seen none of the expected dividend.
East Londoner Dean Houssein, who usually works as a taxi driver, decided to sell coffee, drinks and snacks such as chocolate gold medals from the back of a van near Victoria Park. It seemed like a prime location -- big screens in the park show action from the Games to crowds of thousands and the Olympic Park itself is just a 5-minute train ride away.
"It's been like a f****** ghost town ... deader than dead," Houssein said. "I've never seen the area like this. It's costing me money. It's really not happening. I need to go back to my normal job, I've got bills to pay like everyone else," he said last week.
Asked what the business was called, he replied with a wry smile, "I was thinking of calling it 'Dean the Coffee Machine,' but I'm not selling it. I'm drinking it all myself, getting the shakes."
Full coverage in London 2012: Hosting the Games
Even as authorities warned of major delays and congestion, the Daily Telegraph published a slideshow of deserted stations and sidewalks.
Theater producer Nica Burns told the Evening Standard newspaper that her venues were "bleeding."
One day someone clever will explain to me the enigma of how London managed to simultaneously host the Olympics and become a ghost town.
— richard bacon (@richardpbacon) July 31, 2012
"For my six theaters, last week was the worst this year," she said. "I think the Olympics are great — but I feel like I've been the bulls-eye for the archery competition."
Peter Vlachos, a marketing expert at the University of Greenwich, in southeast London, has been surveying local businesses about the impact of the Games. "One word came back: Disaster," he told The Associated Press.
"There are 23,000 people walking past (local shops) in the morning to get to the grounds, and at the end of the day the same 23,000 people rushing back to their hotels," he said.
"The Olympics were sold to the business community as if it was going to be a huge windfall, and it hasn't materialized," he said.
Race to London's Olympic Park: Fastest way is ... ?
Big traders are also suffering. Stores on the city's flagship shopping drag, Oxford Street, have seen footfall slump by up to one-fifth.
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Click for more from the 2012 summer games in London.
"Of all months to see a drop in trade, August is the worst," said Bernard Donohue, chief executive of the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions. "We expected a drop in international visitors -- it's the well-known displacement effect that happens at every Olympic Games -- but we didn’t expect all the domestic visitors to stay away, too."
British Prime Minister David Cameron last week repeated official estimates that London 2012 would bring $20 billion-worth of economic benefits over the next four years, mostly in the form of inward investment urban regeneration – enough to the justify the $14 billion cost of staging the Games.
"That figure is based on somewhat shaky calculations," said Samuel Tombs of London-based analysts Capital Economics, which predicts Britain will fall back into recession within weeks of the closing ceremony.
"There are some short-term benefits, particularly in the service sector, but long-term gains are unproven. We expect modest growth in the third quarter -- partly boosted by Olympic ticket sales which are officially recorded in this quarter -- but our current prediction is that we will see growth shrink again in the fourth quarter."
Christians, Muslims and even a 'vegan turkey' seek converts at London 2012
'The Olympic Curse'?
Could Britain be the latest victim of "The Olympic Curse" -- a phenomenon that in 1976 left Montreal with a 30-year debt headache?
Jim Seida / NBC News
You can lead the world to London, but you can't make them shop. Pedestrians walk past an Olympic-themed window display in a Tommy Hilfiger store on Regent Street, central London, on Aug. 2.
Athens is estimated to have spent between $15 billion and $32 billion on hosting the 2004 Olympics -- a contributory factor in the country's economic crisis -- and recent pictures show many of the venues lying vacant and abandoned. Research from Oxford University's Saïd Business School concludes that host cities have averaged a 179-percent cost overrun in the past 50 years, although recent Games have seen among the lowest overspends.
Olympic hosts: Londoners open their homes to the world
Transit authority Transport for London last week abandoned the use of pre-recorded public announcements, voiced by Mayor Boris Johnson, warning Londoners to plan for an expected visitor boom that never materialized.
The New West End Company, which represents stores in Oxford Street, Regent Street and Bond Street, is spinning the unexpected quietness as a boon for locals under the slogan 'No tickets needed.' "It's a Londoner's dream at the moment -- they can get around easily and get a table in a good restaurant," said spokesman Jace Tyrell.
The decline in visitor numbers in London could mean that other British tourist hot spots, including Scotland's capital city, Edinburgh, and northwest England's Lake District, see fewer summer visitors.
Olympics officials accused of anti-Semitism over Munich remembrance
Jonathan Denby, head of the Lakes Hospitality Association, told BBC Radio 4: "We get probably 100,000 Japanese tourists during the summer. This year in July and August there are none.
Traveling around traffic-plagued London can be a hassle at the best of times -- never mind during an event such as the Olympic Games. NBCNews.com put the city to the test in a race to the Olympic Park.
"No visitors are coming in from Asia because they couldn't get hotel accommodation in London and they were frightened of all the travel restrictions in London, so they just decided to stay away for the five-week period of the Olympics," he said.
"If you want to know where all the Londoners are, a lot of them are in the Lake District," Denby added.
Forging an Olympic legacy
There have been some winners. The recently opened Westfield shopping mall, through which tens of thousands of spectators walk from Stratford station in order to reach the Olympic Park, became so busy over the weekend that it closed to all except ticket-holders. A worker at The Cow, a bar at the end of the mall overlooking the stadium, said it was making $50,000 a day from food and drink sales.
Jim Seida / NBC News
Thousands of people move through the recently-opened Westfield shopping mall on their way to and from the London Olympic Park on Aug. 2.
In Manchester, one of England's largest cities, more than 100,000 extra visitors have flocked to the central Exchange Square to watch the Olympic action on giant screens, to the delight of local businesses, according to the Manchester Evening News.
For others, it may be too early to judge with Cameron's predicted windfall will come true.
"We thought we might get some extra customers during the Games," said Roger Love, co-owner of London Fields Fitness, which offers personal training and pay-as-you-go classes in East London.
"In fact, not a single extra person has come to us because of the Olympics. At times the local area is as quiet as it was the morning after last year's riots. Having said that, we haven't lost any business, either – and there may be greater interest in sport and fitness longer term. In the park this morning I overhead someone asking their child if they wanted to be a swimmer or a runner, so there could be more future business for us -- and perhaps a real Olympic legacy -- after all."
More world stories from NBC News:
- Are these German protesters the world's oldest squatters?
- Race to London's Olympic Park: Fastest way is ...?
- Interpol drops 'red notice' for dissident
- Journalist: British militants took me hostage in Syria
- At Hiroshima memorial, Japan leaders vow to listen
- Olympic hosts: Londoners open their homes to the world
- Canada lobster fishermen lash out at cheaper US exports
- Slideshow: The lives of Syria rebels fighting for freedom
Leave a Comment:
Your average tourist would think hotels, restaurants etc would jack up prices during the Olympics so why bother going during the two week period. More crowds than usual especially at the airports which can be crowded at any given time.
My son lives in London and although it would have been a good time for me to go I thought the crowds and prices at this time were a turn off.
I think tourism will return to normal after the Olympics.
If London advertised that rates at hotels will be what they always have been and although it will be busier (that's what they thought) it's still a great time to visit then perhaps they'd have more visitors. Prior to the Olympics there were articles on how much money people were renting out rooms for. That was enough to scare people off.
The para olympics start at the end of August. Im wondering if it will be empty there from now until after those games. I hope so because Im going the week before those games and wouldnt mind missing some of the crowd.
Fool me once shame on me, fool me twice shame on you. Is that the way it goes? But it hasn't happened that way. Also this saying, The definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over and get the same results.
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
If you get the same results you are either doing what you are supposed to, have OCD, or are conducting a science experience to check for accuracy and precision. Not sure if you mistakenly wrote that wrong, but don't want to confuse people.
It is "Fool me once, shame on you...Fool me twice, shame on me"
Besides that, what are you trying to say?
"Fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again." - George Bush
Bee: O.M.G. L.M.A.O.-one of Bush's finer moments! London is extremely expensive-I have always wanted to visit England but never enough money.......and the recession certainly has hurt the tourism industry. I have had to cut back on 'wants' and focus on 'needs' as most of my fellow Americans have. Also agree with other Posters-I dislike crowds and traffic and the older I get the more I tend to avoid the "madding crowd"
Chicago residents were lobbying IOC AGAINST giving it to chicago. They knew it was a waste of money and a major kick in the clankers for local business.
Beerent - HAHAHAHAHA - that was funny, wasn't it? Where is Will Ferrell when you need him?
!
Seems that Chicago losing the 2016 games to Rio was a blessing in disguise.
I believe so. The last thing the USA needs right now is an international crowd to see how broken the infrastructure of the "greatest country in the world" is.
No doubt ... I mean, why bother fixing the infrastructure for the the productive members of society when we can keep handing out hundreds of billions a year to illegals and lifetime welfare recipients?!
way to comment panther hunter. Maybe you can point out which illegals received any benefits (which by law they cannot receive and why would they even look for them knowing it could get them turned in that much easier) also with a cap on lifetime benefits, that lifetime of weolfare is 5 years. hardly hundreds of billions but why let facts get in your way
"Jim"
You a woefully uninformed regarding government assistance programs and illegals ... not surprising coming from a typical uninformed leftist / propagandist.
Try these links out Scooter and get yourself educated ...
foxnews.com/politics/2010/06/23/labor-dept-offers-assistance-illegal-immigrants-facing-wage-disparities
nytimes.com/2012/03/09/education/as-aid-bill-lingers-illegal-immigrants-get-scholarships.html
Here are some more interesting facts for you dummy ...
A report that found that illegal immigrants in the United States cost the federal government more than $10 billion a year -- a sum it estimated would almost triple if they were given amnesty -- has drawn criticism from immigration advocacy groups.
For its report, the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington-based group that advocates tougher immigration policies, used Census Bureau figures to compare the revenue that illegal immigrants contribute through taxes with the cost of government services they use.
"Households headed by illegal aliens imposed more than $26.3 billion in costs on the federal government in 2002 and paid only $16 billion in taxes, creating a net fiscal deficit of $10.4 billion, or $2,700 per illegal household," said Steven A. Camarota, author of the study.
The costs outlined in the report include government services such as Medicaid, medical treatment for the uninsured, food assistance programs, the federal prison and court systems, and federal aid to schools.
They also receive funding in these ways:
Also, you know as much about "welfare" as you do about illegal immigrants ... there are MANY types of government assistance that aren't exactly called "welfare" ... nice try though loser.
Buy yourself a calculator and start reading and adding Jethro!!
Jim if you really believe that no illegals receive benefits.
You must have a liberal, arts degree
I believe his degree is in Ebonics Literature with a minor in Propaganda or Grass Mowing...
Well Panther your a little bit of a propagandist yourself. To claim that we can't fix our infrastructure because if illegals and welfare recipitants is ridiculous..
Corporate welfare recipients and the military industrial complex cost far more than pittance that goes to the poor.
and panther Fox news for you source please that's the same as using msnbc as a source come on we all know that those two stations are nothing more than minions for the the left and right. They lie to push there agendas so please don't site fox news for a source of information unless it is for something as harmless as a recipe for bull@!$%# pie.
Wow.. if you put as much into working as you did into whining you wouldn't have time to write this screed, or worry about immigrants.
The majority illegal immigrants are here to do migrant labor. Most of them pay taxes but receive little or no benefits. At the same time they contribute to the local economy by paying rent and supporting local business.
$10 billion? The government probably spends that much on toilet paper. In fact multi-national corporations are costing us far more then that.
GE in 2010 paid 0 taxes and got $3.4 billion in tax credits, while making $14 billion in profit. This is 1 company.
Yea, we should hobble the farm industry some more so that a few CEOs can pop some more champagne corks.
@ "Jeff"...
Fox is by far one of the most reliable sources and if you bothered to click on the link you would have seen the story contained direct quotes from a specific government agency official.
I also included a link to a NY Times article for all the lemmings like you that have an impossible time discerning fact from fiction ... amazingly it also contained direct quotes and statistics from government officials and agencies.
What's funny about half-wits like you is the fact that you took enough time to respond to my fact laced post but did absolutely nothing to refute what I stated, not that there was anything that could have been refuted.
"lynsypug"...
Please elaborate on what you think "corporate welfare" is cupcake and please try and put it into some sort of context ... thanks!
"BP"...
You're not being honest about what I said ... no worries, I expect that around here!
Schill
The problem I think is the host countries are always trying to out do the previous venue. Trying to make themselves look bigger and grander than they really can afford. Look at the empty seat issue. Why make the buildings to seat so many when there isn't enough people to fill them?
The Olympics are fading whether the IOC wants to admit it or not. At least travel wise. When you can watch your teams from the comfort of your own living room its hard to justify spending literally thousands of dollars to travel to watch them live, not to mention all the headaches associated with the travel.
What are you talking about? The issue with "empty seats" (that was in the first 2 days of the games) was not about not having enough people who wanted to see the games. On the contrary. The issue was with having TOO MANY people wanting to see the games, but they couldn't get tickets because (as happened in 2008) too many IOC officials failed to use the tickets to events they got free tickets to, so their allocated seats were left empty sometimes (it was actually a very very small percent, but when you zoom in with the camera...). Anyway, that "issue" has long been history and on the second day of the games more tickets were released to the general public, and if you had actually watched all the venues they are full to the brim and it's extremely hard to get tickets to any of the events. Most tourists and visitors spend their time in London this summer in the Olympic venues, instead of going to the regular tourist attractions, so it's not that they didn't show up - they simply shifted their activity to the Olympic venues.
This is what happens when you take something good and positive and turn it into a money game. Just like countless public utility companies all around this country, take something that is not about money and forcefully turn it into a profit factory and it goes straight to @!$%#. Quality goes down and prices go up!
Go back to amateur athletes only and stop blowing it up out of proportion and maybe it will become a positive thing for young athletes again instead of a money pit for the host city
I agree with you about the amateur status. I'm not even sure when it started, but I'm told the former East Bloc countries did it all the time in the past, so we (the US, and whoever else) decided we could and should do the same. I would rather watch amateur athletes myself, but I guess we can't go back now. It blows my mind to hear our basketball team say they should be paid to play in the Olympics. Arrogant f@*kers.
Agree with you there wiseone about being paid. That was Kobe Bryant who said that..he makes $28 million a year here and most of those who he challenges at the Olympics don't make $28k a year. They are greedy fools some of those NBA players!
They better pay their taxes on that gold medal prize ( if they win gold).
Look...if you go to a city to watch the Olympics, that's what you're there to do. Chances are, you're not going to wander all over town to look at other sh*t, and spend money. It would be like having the Olympics in New York, and having MOMA whine that no one is coming to look at the art work....that's not why those particular tourists are there. It is what it is.
I completely agree. When I went to the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, I went to see the games, ate if and when I had to because everything is so jacked up in price. People don't want to site see when people are price gouging..... Plus nice name DB ha!
Also this guy quit his normal job in the hopes of some fast cash on a junk stand.
The saddest part is - ALL of this gets endlessly recycled whenever there's talk of "Who Will Host The 20XX Games?". It doesn't get as much mainstream media attention, but there are endless analyses of the real costs host cities have incurred and how the games NEVER seem to generate the revenue promised. Average citizens who've followed along breath a sigh when their city isn't picked while officials and representatives try to pimp their city to be the next venue. Anyone wanting to host a future Olympic Games needs to see all of the data and ignore the smoke being blown up their backsides by the IOC.
I think LA turned a profit in 84 but it basically recycled all the major facilities from the 32 olympics.
This is what happens when a government puts their hand into business. Spend,spend, spend....then a money pit for a decade. But next time.....
You mean the British government spent billions of dollars on construction and infrastructure and it didn't lead them out of their recession...shocking...someone alert Paul Krugman and the rest of liberal economic fantasy land. You can't tax your way out {see Illinois and California} and you can't spend your way out. You have to cut and save your way out, same as if it were your family!
Dead wrong. Every country that has tried austerity in the face of a recession has just gotten a worse recession for its efforts. That has been the result every time this approach has been tried. How many repetitions do you need to see?
Can't spend your way out of a recession? Really? What do you think happened in the U.S. from 1940-1945? Deficit spending hit a whopping 30% of GDP in 1943 (it's a fraction of that today). There's nothing magic about a declaration of war - what made the difference was that the Government spent money like there was no tomorrow, and we ended up with an economic boom.
Early they dont understand facts and figures. You just have to use vague statements and grand stories to send the message of misinformation that will win people to your side.
"Earlyout"...
You have absolutely no idea what you're talking about and are the perfect representation of the type of flawed logic "thetruthmachine" was referencing.
The spending that was being done during the period you reference was greatly focused on massive infrastructure projects that further connected the inhabitants of this country and which laid the foundations for massive expansion. There were far more babies being born per capita back then and innovation and invention were the cause of much of the expansion taking place.
Now that the "connective tissue" is in place, the infrastructure projects that can be done now are cosmetic in nature which does nothing to change anything beyond keeping what we have (sewers, bridges, roads, etc., etc.) in good working order.
You are attempting to compare apples to pipe wrenches ... FAIL.
Conservatives don't want to hear all that! That means they will have to pay their damn taxes!
You do know that all tax money goes to godless brown people that are too lazy to work, right?! Oh, and don't forget the gays! Tax money goes to the gays so they can further oppress poor defenseless christians and systematically destroy the world! We are Taxed Enough Already! /s
Oh to live in the mind of a conservative...brrrrrrrrr(shudders uncontrollably)
Panther ... EarlyOut knows exactly what he is talking about. Yes, some of that spending in WWII went for infrastructure, but the much of it was spent on pay and disposable items like arms, ships, planes, etc.... The really major infrastructure improvements, such as the Interstate highway system didn't occur until the 1950's. There were few, if any, "massive infrastructure projects" in the period of 1940-1945. Further, EarlyOut was responding to the original poster, who simply slammed all infrastructure spending, without making a distinction between infrastructure to support a two-week Olympic season vs. economic growth.
"livinginthewoods"...
"Conservatives don't want to hear all that! That means they will have to pay their damn taxes!"
What do illegal immigrants that sponge billions of dollars each year from taxpayers have to do with the nonsensical gibberish "earlyout" was spouting and what money does the government give to gays to oppress Christians and how could you be so obtuse as to suggest that the very people that pay the majority of this country's taxes don't pay any taxes and what kind of soup were they serving at the shelter you got that hat and that shirt from?
LivingintheWoods should change his name to livingunderarock............for a long time.
If spending and job creation on the government end is what spurs growth, why was the economy still tanking under The New Deal? The economy should have been booming by what is presented by EarlyOut. Instead the situation got worse until the war.
"BarryNJ" ...
I was trying to give "earlyout" a little latitude since he isolated his comment to 1940-1945 and I thought he surely wasn't so ignorant as to suggest that the "government spending" during that time was an economic growth "plan" but rather a time of global war requiring an "all hands on deck effort" in manufacturing and scaling back at home for 99% of the country.
If I would have thought he was that ignorant I would have simply called him an idiot and moved on and after reading your comment and fully realizing that he probably was talking specifically about that time frame that is exactly what I should have done.
What's more hilarious is he just described how wars fuel the economy and a couple of know-nothing leftist half-wits that were too dumb to realize what his post suggested jumped right in and agreed with what he said ... too funny!!
Barry-NJ is correct. In fact, given the need for raw materials to produce weapons, very little infrastructure improvement occurred during WWII. There was no steel for bridges. Industries that would normally have been producing road-building equipment were building tanks, instead. Our railroads were so badly beaten up from heavy use during the war, with no money being put into maintenance or upgrades, they essentially never recovered.
Pretty much all the Government's excess spending went into producing things that were sent out to be sunk, shot down, or blown up. If that same spending had, in fact, been steered into infrastructure improvements, things that would have continued to provide economic stimulus for years after they were created, the results would have been even more dramatic.
Panther Hunter -
Can you provide a tangible example of your point of view that a country can save it's way out of a recession/economic crisis?
Also, you can't serious believe that the only infrastructure projects the US needs are "cosmetic"! Think I heard once that almost 70,000 bridges in america are structurally deficient.
Oh...and stop acting like the christian majority is 'oppressed' just because people attempt to stop them from oppressing gays, non-christians, etc. Being stopped from oppressing doesn't qualify as being oppressed.
HaHa that is funny! That picture is around 15 years old and that shirt was in fashion at the time. I can't really defend the hat though.HaHa...
As far as illegal immigrants go, I am actually on the right hand side of that argument. I would like to see as many as can be, deported. I think that would spur the economy in multiple ways, creating more government jobs and opening up countless jobs in construction and agriculture.
Too bad it will never happen as long as corporately owned politicians on both sides of the political fence are in control. They love the cheap labor and just blame it on Americans that are too lazy to work in the open sun 12 hours a day with low wages and no overtime.
Think it's only liberal politicians that kowtow to the illegals? Just do a little research on Bush Jr and Rick Perry and what they have done about illegal immigration.
Panther Hunter, you're taking the wrong lesson from this. The bottom line is that Government spending boosts the economy, no matter what the Government spends it on. But spending on defense is the least effective use of those funds. The manufacture of 100 armored personnel carriers stimulates the economy, but once those APC's are parked at Ft. Knox, they're not doing squat for the economy any longer. By contrast, spending the money on infrastructure, education, housing, or health care produces the same initial stimulus, but it's the gift that keeps on giving, usually for decades.
StMiller says ...
"Can you provide a tangible example of your point of view that a country can save it's way out of a recession/economic crisis?
Also, you can't serious believe that the only infrastructure projects the US needs are "cosmetic"! Think I heard once that almost 70,000 bridges in america are structurally deficient.
Oh...and stop acting like the christian majority is 'oppressed' just because people attempt to stop them from oppressing gays, non-christians, etc. Being stopped from oppressing doesn't qualify as being oppressed."
First of all genius, you need to learn how to read. I never said a country can "save its way out of a recession". I can show you MANY examples of how a country can put itself much further in the whole by trying to spend its way out of one though if you are interested in that.
Also, my use of the term cosmetic was incorrect ... what I meant was (which was obvious in the beginning part of the sentence in which you are questioning me ... reading is fundamental) the infrastructure projects are rehab projects, not new growth projects (at least 90% of them).
Lastly, when did I say ANYTHING about Christians being oppressed dummy? You either can't read worth a flip or are a typical lying leftist that likes to take what people say and twist it into whatever you'd like to rant and blather about.
One of the major reasons business was able to ramp up for the war was the govt backing off all the anti-trust witchhunts that were going on. Business was FDR's #1 boogieman until he needed them to support the war.
The U.S. has been in two wars for the better part of the last decade and is spending money like there is no tomorrow. Where is the economic boom? Answer: There is none. It has done nothing but put the nation further in debt which creates an even bigger burden down the line that will have to be addressed. Spending your way out of a recession isnt working and is actually creating larger problem the country will eventually have to deal with.
The OP did though.
If you don't believe that you can save your way out of depression, and you don't believe you can spend your way out of one, then what exactly do you believe?
Earlyout, you are only partly right. During WWII, we almost went bankrupt twice. People began to question the war after a few year and stop buying government war bonds. So the propaganda machine had to find heros and heroic acts to get people to buy bonds. Also we were selling items to other countries (mostly South America) such as weapons, medicine, food, and etc, because we were the only suppliers of those items since Europe was in shambles. You did not mention that our government was 1/4 or less of the size that it is now.
Also you do not mention the black market problem or the waste of government money to special groups that was connected to senators and congressmen in the US during this great government spending. You wonder why interstate is not straight in some areas, it is because that some government officials family or friend was able to buy the property for a few bucks and was able to sell it to the government for 10 to 100 times the price if the interstate went through their property. Also the interstate was built for security reasons as much as everyday transportation, a plane with troops can land on the interstate in certain areas, in case the US was ever attacked. This came about because what happen in Alaska during the war.
It might not have been a growth "plan," but thanks to the spending by Great Britain for American arms and our own spending for rearmament, we were out of the Depression by the time we entered WWII. Spending was our only way out of the Depression. People without jobs certainly weren't creating a demand for products. We needed massive spending. And, thanks to Hitler, we got it.
Chips and other snacks out of the back of a van down by the river ... I can't imagine how that business model could possibly fail.
All of this doesn't surprise me NOT in the least everything looks greener until something is real and in front of you and then everything turns brown sad but true.
This is similar to what happens when a city manages to attract a major sports franchise. It doesn't bring in new visitors, or cause more of the full-time residents of the city to go out more often. It just diverts the business. In other words, instead of going to the ball game, those same people would be going somewhere else in the city, like the zoo, the shopping malls, the movies, whatever. There's no net gain in revenue - it just takes revenue from some businesses and gives it to the sports franchise. (This is, of course, why municipal officials who want to subsidize a sports franchise should be booted out of office.)
I will agree with you on this. The politicians and sports teams try to make it seem like the money not spent on their little playground will evaporate. We certainly know that isn't true and if you live in an area with a dense professional sports team population you're not going to bring in many from the surrounding area.
This is all just banter for the sheeple and the sports fans who don't care if the local economy suffers just so they can wave their towels and wear their jerseys with pride. What baffles me more is the number of conservatives who fall for this corporate welfare nonsense. And yes, I consider myself a conservative before anyone tries anything down that route.
On top of all that, the jobs that a sports stadium creates are generally low-paying, part-time, and seasonal. The tax revenues (sales taxes, for example) also tend to show up in short bursts, interspersed with long stretches of nothing. Having a major sports franchise may be good for a city's pride, but financially, it's a loser.
If the team owners won't build a stadium with their own money, what does that tell you about the business model? ;)
Britania, at one time a global empire, now a third world country. This is what happens to all empires once they have been exhausted financially and morally. USA, soon to follow that road to nowhere. Britain is responsible for all the malice we have around the globe today. They have left their footprint in every corner of this planet. We are still fighting wars and famine that England started or failed to fix. The seeds of destruction were already planted for us by the Britts , but we had nobody smart enough in this country to avoid them or burn them up. They are well on their way of becoming a Muslim country and we are on our way becoming an extension of MEXICO. It won't be long when few real AMERICANS who are left will be walking down the streets and asking a Mexican if they can spare a DIME.
SRBINAT - you are quite the little ray of sunshine, aren't you?
Go outside, mate. Take in some sun - maybe have a fruit cup? You obviously are having a very bad day.
"SRBINET"...
You are 100% correct on all counts except for your last sentence ... if there are only a few real Americans left at some point in time they most likely will have stayed for a reason and that reason is they will probably still be the ones running things!
;-)
I think you need to look up the definition of a third-world country. You have no clue as to what you're talking about.
I think you need to look up the definition of a third-world country. You have no clue as to what you're talking about.
His mom said it at the breakfast table this morning and he thought we'd be impressed.
Britain is responsible for ALL the malice we have in the world today? Hardly. There was malice, war, failed nations, and corrupt governments before them, during their reign, and after them.
..and americans are doing just fine. Don't confuse the failings of multinational corporations and their profit margins with actual American character. There are still plenty of farmers, craftsmen, machinists, and builders going about their business and rebuilding things. It just doesn't happen on a quick internet time frame. We can instantly communicate our complaints nowadays but that doesn't speed up the time it takes to build buildings and real companies.
The US turning into mexico and Britain turning Muslim? ..again, hardly. There are plenty of protestants in England, and plenty of caucasions in the US. Just because mexicans are finally getting enough wealth to start having a middle class doesn't mean they will be taking over any time soon. ..and we've always had immigration, and they've always been 'about to take over'. That was rumored about the Irish, the Italians, the Germans, the Chinese, and the Eastern Europeans. Thats just the worries of a closet bigot, which never turn out to be true.
Truly a hoot...
I'm proud to say I haven't watched so much as ONE MINUTE of the Olympics on tv. WAY too many commercials anyway. Good luck Rio. That's going to displace 100's of 1000's of people--but the IOC doesn't give a chit. That simple.
That's you're problem that you're watching it on the US broadcast. Watch it on BBC, then you won't see a SINGLE commercial and no edits. Instead, you'll see 14 hours of daily non stop LIVE (and only live) broadcast of every single moment before, during and after the events, spread across 20+ channels to choose from. No blabber and no cut to shreds and pieces non-live edits that take away all the fun and excitement.
The BBC is certainly doing a much better job than NBC. NBC's coverage is a joke compared to the job BBC is doing. And then NBC showing most of the Olympics prerecorded? Horrible job. The Olympic committee should ban NBC from ever bidding on broadcasting Olympic games again.
But where did the billions of NBC television dollars and the marketing/sponsorship dollars go? Oh, in the pockets of private businesses who shortchanged the host city and left the gov't with the bill, sounds familiar doesn't it. Well, soon they'll be no Olympic games worth watching because of this and the corporate big wigs will find another circus in town to make money on.
Its really just a design problem with the Olympics, and it could be fixed. The majority problem is that they design the whole thing as a closed system, almost self-sustaining as though they were in a services desert. Its built like a military camp, with its own generators, its own venders, its own temporarily built services. They have this design like its hosted in a minor backwater instead of a major world city like london.
This is partially caused by the Olympics themselves. Where does all the food come from for all the thousands of athletes? McDonald's. There are no English companies able to do basic commissary work? I doubt it. Where are all the venues? Isolated in their own area without local vendors. This is good in that they renovated a blighted neighborhood, but bad in that the only vendors there are temporary ones, not the venerable, hundred(s) year old establishments that adorn various parts of London.
A design like this is better for a place like Salt Lake City. They really had no facility for mass tourism like this, because they dont normally get it. So building your own city there made sense. In London, not so much.
In a country rife with moslems / terrorists / terrorist apologists these are the kinds of compounds that are required to ensure the safety of not only the participants but the fans as well ...
Not true.. All countries have been filled with terrorists for decades.. terrorism didn't start with 9-11 or with what was it 7/14 (or the whatever the London bombings date was.) Just our bad reaction to it.
There are huge events all over the world every year, nearly every month even. Look at the Superbowl, huge music events, the world championships of almost any sport. Any one of these would be a wonderful target, yet they occur in cities, next to normal businesses, without being isolated from the rest of the country.
At some point we all have to live our lives, trust in our security forces, and stop letting the terrosists win. Thats just what is happening when you trust the rare terrorist event as the norm instead of the rare and despicable thing that it is.
When we trust in our own countries people and those of host countries.. thats the only time that businesses and services can succeed.
They are going to say the same thing when Christmas fizzles this year. When will the corporations figure out that when you squeeze the people who buy your goods, they don't have any money to buy your goods?
Too bad they didn't teach you about supply and demand in grass-cutting school ... jeez.
What, you mean a business is nothing without consumers?
sapply & demand, is the corps problem.they make just enough products, to keep the price high, and the laber low, less workers means you can pay them less, couse there's no demand for them. CEO's did/do it to themselves, there only hurting there own people/consumer.guese gov need to creat NEW corps. cuese that's what gov does, creat corps, through taxes. GOPers are stupid. take salindra, for example.show how important consumers & gov are too corps
Lampster, I mostly agree with what you are trying to say but, please try to learn to use the spellchecker. Many people will just roll their eyes that much farther back when they read your comments. I am by far, no spelling or grammar nazi but, if you want to make your point, you should learn to express yourself in a more comprehensible manner.
k nazi spy. sad, spelling is all you nazi's know!! spelling doesn't make you smart. it just makes you easy to read, and im reading, your a neo-con
lampster - at least we can spell !
"lampstur3"...
I can safely say you are one of the most ignorant and uneducated people I have come across in a while and that is saying a lot considering the medium we are currently using.
You are far too dumb to understand anything about capital creation, corporate structuring or the global monetary system ... please go get on your lawnmower and get back to work.
Hum supply and demand, Well lets see here. between 1946-1975 our great country as well as many others where on top. supply and demand was high. But what we didn't have was most of the supplies being held by large corporations. Instead they where held by small business which was in competition with hundreds of other small businesses which in turn kept prices low and more jobs available.
So with that happening supply and demand was the opposite. the more demand the cheaper you could sale it. you where able to by more supplies which in turn you paid less because you ordered more. so you where able to sale at a lower price.
But then came big business corporations, and they seen nothing but dollar signs and not the consumer or workers. They jacked up prices when everyone needed some thing even tho they where paying less to make there product. So there you have the evils of big business. screw the people as much as you can and as fast as you can.
We need small business back to fix this country and corporations out. big business has to go, we can not depend on them to help or keep a stable economy.
Hahahahaha! Now that is funny! Anyone who has read any of my comments has got to be rolling on the floor right about now.
I may lean towards the right when it comes to immigration and gun control but I am practically a @!$%#ing socialist when it comes to economics/politics and lean heavily left on almost all social issues.
NeoCon!?!?
I will be glad when summer break is over and school goes back in.
OMG - this conversation is hysterical. And Oh BTW - I LOVE the hat, livinginthewoods. Do they make a NeoCon style? Hopefully one with straws attached to a beer for lampstur3? For the record - there is absolutely NOTHING worth my travel to London, England. And Elizabeth says, "LET THEM EAT CUP-O-SOUP!!!!"
The Salt Lake City Olympics were outstanding. None of the problems the London had.
Salt Lake does not roll out the red carpet for terrorists / moslems ... if the Olympics would have been held in Dearborn, MI that year it would have been as bad as this London debacle.
no one want to be part of londons 911. they waged war on the world, they'll kill a few more 1,000. to make there EU goal.also what's with the Olimpic mascot? a one eyed angry alien, weird. what are the brittish trying to say? blow me?pluss with london being known for big brother, no one wants to stay at scottland yard. and pay $5,000 for a candy raper.that's why no one ever goes to london. not even londeners want to go to london.all that securaty shows how people, don't like to be appressed, too many laws, to much to enforce= appression..EU commies
Wait for the meth high to subside and then post your thoughts...
London is one of the most difficult cities in the world to navigate, so this is not unexpected. Who, when having finally got to the Olympic venue they paid big money to attend, is going to jump on a train or hail a cab to go into town for a cup of coffee or a snack? When people get where they're going, they're usually going to stay there and not spend the extra time or money going somewhere they aren't familiar with to shop. They got to the Olympics, so that's the place they will shop and eat. The Olympics being in town usually just means all the business will happen right at the events and nowhere else. If you think it would be fun to go into downtown London, you're nuts.
This is especially true when the most famous navigators of that city are hobbled by the IOC. The taxi drivers are the ones Im speaking of. That whole special lane for olympics vehicles thing just isnt the solution in such a city.
After the Montreal debacle, the Olympics almost went out of business until the LA ones and Uberoff made them pay for themselves. Socialist Olympics are the biggest scam perpetrated on taxpayers since social security and national health care or Obamacare. London is experiencing Obamanomics, high taxes, low productivity and no rich people to spend money! they all left the country, the ones at the Olympics come and go, and they do not stay to spend money. The Olympics is a party for the 1/2 of 1%ers who are mostly govt. officials , put on by the tax payer, and the hangover is a killer! it lasts for a decade. It is like the bridge to no where, more socialists infrastructure that has no purpose. it will be a ghost town for years and years.
"Socialist" Olympics? Seriously? Get your recto-cranial inversion corrected, because you're obviously viewing the world through darkly tea-colored glasses, and you sound like an obsessed fool.
Perhaps this Churchill quote will help you: "A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject." Look in the mirror; he was talking about people like you.
Keys to Olympic success, past and future:
1. Amateur athletes.
2. Don't build all new venues in a centralized "olympic park"; renovate existing venues that will continue have a purpose after the games are over. It also moves the events over a broader area, allowing businesses outside the epicenter to benefit.
3. Limited corporate sponsorship and limited tickets to those sponsors. Giving 1/2 the tickets to partners 1) drives up the cost of remaining tickets, reducing ability for many to purchase and 2) puts a lot of tickets in the hands of people who are only going to attend the most popoular events, leaving the others sparsely populated.
4. Transportation. Sorry, London, I predicted this 6 months ago after repeatedly going through incomprehensibly long lines at Heathrow customs. Any thought of wanting to visit during the games evaporated as I was herded at a painfully slow place as 10 customs officials tried to process 2,000 people through the customs hall. 29 empty customs pods just further infuriated the crowd.
5. Recognize that the IOC is corrupt. You'll never again have a great games when the primary concern of the IOC is lining their pockets.
As one other commenter noted, it's become all about the profit and sport and competition are afterthoughts. Let's face it.... the Olympics is dead; Long live the Olympics....!
Hit Girl = Sharp Chick
Oh, one more -
6. B-O-R-I-N-G!
I prefer the Winter Olympics if I am forced to watch any of them.
Well, they didn't. Lords Cricket Ground, the Excel Arena, Earls Court and Wimbledon, for example, have all been used. The main stadium will be converted and taken over by West Ham United after the games. there really is a lot going on outside of the Olympic Park.
As for transportation... I've gone through customs in the US many, many times and had the same experience. There are times when they are inundated and other times when you get through far quicker. They won't take on enough staff to be able to deal with the times they are inundated as that would leave them way overstaffed for the many other times when they are not. And, believe me, it makes a huge difference if you are a foreigner going through. Much, much longer. So, you're always going to have a better view of customs in your own country.
Otherwise, I agree with the rest you said. It's as much a money making venture for the IOC and their sponsors than anything else.
Even the coverage sucks! I am tired of the same old athletes over and over, don't they ever retire! and NBC shows the same ones over and over, every stinking preliminary game or event until you can scream. Go back to the old days when it lasted on about a week, and TV showed the medal rounds and that is it, I am tired of BEACH volleyball, tired of Mitzi and company, tired of women's track preliminaries, men's prelims, and lets who the big stuff, enough of ping pong and badminton, plus the athletes have become corrupt and the fix is on !!! typical socialism at its best!
well you dont have to watch.. its all on NBC.. feel free to use another channel. For those of us that DO like to watch.. I would agree that having fewer sob stories and "touching moments" would be nice. They could show lots more of the other nationalities, and the prelims, not to mention even showing the scores of the games they do show instead of sobbing parents.
It does seem like people were happier when Abc told them what they were going to see and when they were going to see it than they are this year with all the choices thay have. I do agree we wouldn't have missed the Today show if they had stayed home. And there seems to be a script that all the teams have to do the huggy touchy feely thing. Never seen anything quite like it and it does desensitise people after a while. I have to give the women gymnasts from Russia credit. If they didn't like their own performance, no amount of hugging could change their minds.
Well, finally the great "marketing brains" are finally getting what they deserve. The public, all over the world, is now starting to learn that they have been taken advantage of. They are finally getting smarter than the hype that is being thrust upon them. The public is just not willing to take it anymore. Now, hopefully all the darn politicians in America will start to learn that the public does not want everything broken down to sound bites that have a very small percentage of truth wrapped around krap. Unfortunately that may not happen :-(