The Olympics are a great way to waste public money
Big sporting events are vastly expensive vanity projects for politicians and leave little legacy
The demonstrations in Brazil against the Olympic Games are hardly a surprise. Just two years ago, the World Cup provoked outrage in the same country at the colossal waste on white elephant stadiums in cities where there are no top-flight football teams. There has been no subsequent use for several of these venues, which were constructed with public funds and much corruption.
Half-a-billion dollars was spent on a 72,000-capacity stadium in the capital, Brasilia, which is now used as a depot by the municipal bus company. Brazil is a country in recession, with severe economic and social problems, and Rio has seen more billions spent on facilities for once-off athletics events in a city famous for its slum housing and struggling to find resources to combat the Zika virus.
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