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I do not agree with spending public money on sports venues and events.
Those events were the straw that broke the camel's back for the Brazilians and I cannot blame them one bit for being pissed off.
From what I have read, that, and corruption, seems to be the core complaint. Tons of money being poured into the World Cup and the Olympics, and not enough on health care, education, public transportation and infrastructure.
From what I have read, that seems to be the core complaint. Tons of money being poured into the World Cup and the Olympics, and not enough on health care, education, public transportation and infrastructure.
I think it has been seething for a while. They knew about both of those events coming several years ago.
Had a US city been chosen for the Olympics, we would have done the very same thing.
We have had the Olympic games more than any other country, but never had such protests. Last time we had them in Salt Lake City with Mitt Romney bragging about how much tax payer money he was able to milk from DC for the games. Did you protest?
The poor have never guided any economy anywhere or any time. Most spend their time trying to survive to guide anything. They are too poor to do anything else.
This is true. To an extent. We live in the welfare state era as well though. There was a time the Brazilian notoriously worked 3 jobs just to survive. Often in the underground economies or other non-taxable work.
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Now the Olympics were, have been and are the great show for the very wealthy. The originals were places rich people could hire trained soldiers and guards. The poor were usually the guys being hired. When revived in England they were for the entertainment of the very wealthy and the athletics would have been spoiled if the contestants were paid actual cash prizes. That is still true.
I think if the Olympics came to Milwaukee it would be great for the city. I don't think the rich would be the only ones to benefit especially with so many tourists flooding in.
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The only people to really benefit from building Olympic facilities are the contractors, and their political sponsors, involved and the real estate speculators that own the nearby land.
The construction workers to and the places they spend their paychecks at. Circular flow of the economy.
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As most of the newly paid working class will not benefit from any of this spending and are pissed that they didn't get a piece of the pie. What the hell did they expect? The owners of the country to part with their hard stolen wealth to pay for Olympics only they can afford? Not 'effen likely. The very wealthy take from the economy and never give back a dinero.
IIRC the Brazilian bureaucrats like police and administrators war not paid very well so corruption is mandated so these folks can actually make a living from their positions. Some of the positions are actually bought as investments to be paid off in the bribes. This is ideal for the very rich that can afford the bribes and the politicians that reward the positions and take their cut. It is really annoying to new investors that want to upset he cozy monopolies created by the existing corruption. Economists may hate monopolies but the people that own them most certainly do not. This is the problem with both the Olympics and the angry newly middle classes.
Indeed the same thing is happening in the USA. Just look at Monsanto and America's farmers for a good example.
Lula went to tears when Brazil won the villager to host the Olympics. It was a monumental moment if not achievement in his Presidency. He came from abject poverty from the Northeast of Brazil. This is a region of Brazil on par with Haiti. His mother moved him and his many siblings to the city eventually. She raised them as a single mother. He shined shoes and sold peanuts on the streets as a kid to earn money and never finished his grade school education (became President of a nation and never even graduated from grade school). As an adult he worked in a factory or manufacturing plant where he lost one of his fingers in a machine. He eventually became a union leader. And after more than one try he eventually became President of Brazil.
I think he shed tears in part not just for his own personal long journey from that rural poverty of the Northeast to the highest office of his nation, but because he knew this marked Brazil's "arrival" on the world stage.
The protests in Brazil might be thought of as analogous to union protests or complaints within a hospital. What nurse does not want to get paid the salary of a medical doctor? And organized labor for good or ill want to reap profits from their place of employment they think is fair. Albeit, the protestors in this case are tax payers.
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Originally Posted by HappyTexan
Apathy about government corruption has led to this.
For years the people didn't care but now they do.
An emerging middle class are now demanding fixes.
Transportation, education, healthcare and law enforcement is what they want funded and fixed.
Over 100K took to the streets in protest.
100K protesters flood Brazilian streets in protest
In some of the biggest protests since the end of Brazil's 1964-85 dictatorship, demonstrations have spread across this continent-sized country and united people from all walks of life behind frustrations over poor transportation, health services, education and security despite a heavy tax burden.
..
Brazilians have long accepted malfeasance as a cost of doing business, whether in business or receiving public services. Brazilian government loses more than $47 billion each year to undeclared tax revenue, vanished public money and other widespread corruption, according to the Federation of Industries of Sao Paulo business group.
But in the last decade, about 40 million Brazilians have moved into the middle class and they have begun to demand more from government. Many are angry that billions of dollars in public funds are being spent to host the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics while few improvements are made elsewhere.
No mater how bad things get it seems countries always have money for sporting events
We have had the Olympic games more than any other country, but never had such protests. Last time we had them in Salt Lake City with Mitt Romney bragging about how much tax payer money he was able to milk from DC for the games. Did you protest?
The US is not a BRIC country. We are well past "emerging" status aren't we ?
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