Should The USA skip the Olympics this summer?

ok lets take it one step further, did the US intelligence at the time have information that the japs would attack, are there any similarities you think between the two fall days that we will live in infamy......

Not exactly the same but I know a guy that did not get to go when we boycotted Russia - now looking back - I really wish.......

Olympic security budget hits billion euro mark
AP[ WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28, 2004 08:46:17 PM ]

ATHENS: The security budget for the Athens Olympics has climbed to one billion euro (USD1.19 billion) - nearly four times spent on protecting the Sydney Games four years ago, a top official said on Wednesday.

"About 1 billion (US$1.19 billion) is the money which the Greek government will spend on security issues," Fani Palli-Petralia, deputy culture minister coordinating Athens' preparations, said.

Plans to safeguard the Aug. 13-29 games are the most expensive and extensive in Olympic history. The previous estimate was more than 672 million (US$800 million).

Olympic security concerns heightened following the March 11 terrorist bombings of four commuter trains in Madrid, Spain, that killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,800.

"With security, we are not cutting any corners. Whatever is possible to do is being done," Palli-Petralia said.

The rising security expenses have added to the bloated Olympic budget.

On Tuesday the government announced that the Olympic budget is about one billion (US$1.19 billion) more than the earmarked for the games. Palli-Petralia predicted the final figures would be higher.

The conservatives, who defeated the long-governing Socialists in March elections, are currently reviewing all the previous government's budget figures, including Olympic costs.

size=18]Greek Olympics Are EU1 Billion Over Budget This Year [/size]
April 27 (Bloomberg) -- The Greek government will spend 1 billion euros ($1.19 billion) more than budgeted this year on preparations for the Olympic Games in Athens, potentially reducing the state's future investments in the economy.

The government plans to spend 2.4 billion euros on Olympics projects this year, up from an initially budgeted 1.4 billion euros, Deputy Economy Minister Christos Folias said at a press conference in Athens. That will push total spending to 5.4 billion euros, 17 percent more than previously expected.

Greece may exceed European Union budget limits this year amid cost overruns and construction delays that have left 60 percent of Olympic venues incomplete less than four months before the games begin Aug. 13. The government deficit will widen to 3.2 percent of economic output this year, the European Commission said in April, exceeding the 3 percent ceiling set by the EU.

``The government's investment budget in the future will obviously be smaller,'' said Platon Monokroussos, an economist at EFG Eurobank Ergasias, Greece's third-biggest lender. ``It's a factor that will have an effect on growth.''

Olympics projects have crowded out spending on other public works, cutting EU aid for co-financed projects elsewhere, Folias said. Increased spending on the Olympics and reduced EU assistance will widen the deficit in Greece's investment budget by about 2 billion euros to 7.2 billion euros, Folias said.

Greece initially budgeted about 4.6 billion euros for the Athens Olympics. It had spent about 3 billioon euros by the end of last year, Folias said. Bloomberg calculations based on previously published figures indicate the government had spent about 3.5 billion euros through December.

Transportation Projects

The Olympics budget doesn't include costs of upgrading the city's transport network, such as building new subway, rail and tram systems. In addition to government financing, the Athens Olympic Organizing Committee is spending 2 billion euros.

Greece is the smallest nation to host the games since Finland in 1952, and the Athens Olympics are the most heavily state-funded since the former Soviet Union staged the 1980 games in Moscow.

The government has said it expects a successful Olympics will lure enough tourists and investors to Greece to justify the costs of staging the games. Organizers estimate the Olympics will add 2.4 billion euros to Greek economic output this year.

The Greek deficit contrasts with the experience of recent Olympics.

The games have become moneymakers since the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal left a public debt of more than $1 billion. The most recent Olympics, the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, left a surplus of more than $101 million from a budget of $1.3 billion.

The benchmark of Olympic fiscal success is the $225 million surplus from the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles, the first to be financed entirely by private enterprise. Beijing, the host of the 2008 games, forecasts a $16 million surplus.

Then Blatham, you are saying that the USA should just do what it had been doing? That when the twin towers came down, the Pentagon was trashed, four airliners crashed, more than 3000 dead, we should just suck it in as we have always done and take it because to retaliate just makes the terrorists more angry? Or it was sufficient to rout the Taliban out of Afghanistan to make our point and then go home with 99% of the terrorists still out there plotting their next attack?
You know, it gets frustrating to discuss with someone who just starts typing without engaging their noggin. You really ought to get familiar with the notion of a 'false dilemma', because you do it once again here. Your statement above suggests that there are two options - do what this administration did, or do nothing. That's dead dumb.

And, the Taliban are NOT routed from Afghanistan (as a dead football player's family will tell you). They have been gaining strength and regrouping. Please read more.

Yes to oppose them helps them make their case for more recruitments. But hello. They hate all democracies that are successful. And they hate America most of all because we are the flagship for all that they hate.
Again, I posted for you and others the letter just delivered to Blair from more than fifty working middle east experts (most held ambassadorial posts) expressing that the administration's actions, words and policies were increasing the recruitment pool for al Qaeda and other terrorist groups. And they are just one small echo of those making the observation.

And whether or not we oppose them, they'll take us out if they can. Silly and simplistic. Imagine Brenner pooping on the Koran. What is said and done has variable consequences depending on just what it is that is said and done. Is the US military moves on Najaf, their holy city comparable to the Vatican, that will have consequences. And don't tell me they aren't that stupid...the letter noted above is telling Blair that yes, stupid is going on there.[/[/color]quote]

Margo, there has been some scuttlebutt about taking the olympics back to Sydney if Athens can't get ready. Do you think Sydney is ready?

Anyhow, one of my favorite backup on line bridge partners is an Aussie from Sydney. Is she you?

Well we on the North and South American continents can't go to Greece by car either.

LOL. Well the person I referred to is absolutely delightful and so are you. So I took a shot.