Thar's Gold In Them Thar' Olympics!

Oh I so dearly hope that the Romney lackeys start pushing the meme that the 2002 Olympics were saved from annihilation by the Super Hero intervention of The Great and Powerful Willard.

The truth of the matter is that Willard and his cronies all made a ton of dough off of that escapade and even managed to stick the U.S. taxpayers with a $1.5 billion (yes - billion - with a 'b') bailout bill at the end.  No wonder Willard took the Olympics gig as a side-job while still at Bain Capital - it was easy grifter money, and he was able to get some of his pals in on the feeding frenzy too:

Is this a great country or what? A millionaire developer wants a road built, the federal government supplies the cash to construct it. A billionaire ski-resort owner covets a choice piece of public land. No problem. The federal government arranges for him to have it. Some millionaire businessmen stand to profit nicely if the local highway network is vastly improved. Of course. The federal government provides the money.

How can you get yours, you ask? Easy. Just help your hometown land the Olympics. Then, when no one's looking, persuade the federal government to pay for a good chunk of the Games, including virtually any project to which the magic word Olympics can be attached.

For the past few years, while attention was focused on the Great Olympic Bribery Scandal—in which Salt Lake Cityboosters dispensed as much as $7 million in gifts, travel, scholarships, medical care, jobs and other goodies to IOC members (and their relatives and companions) to ensure that Utah's capital city would be chosen to host the 2002 Winter Games—private and public interests have siphoned an estimated $1.5 billion out of the U.S. Treasury, all in the name of those same Olympics. Two months before the Games, Utah has already walked away with the gold while setting records in four categories:

Total federal handouts. The $1.5 billion in taxpayer dollars that Congress is pouring into Utah is 10 times the amount spent by lawmakers to support all seven Olympic Games held in the U.S. since 1904—combined. In inflation-adjusted dollars.

Enrichment of private interests. For the first time, private enterprises—primarily ski resorts and real estate developments-stand to derive significant long-term benefits from Games-driven congressional giveaways.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1024516/index.htm

[Click on Picture to Zoom]

Privatization is simply a word these people use to deceptively convey a sense of freedom from big bad government regulation, which gets the loins moist of the teabagger morons, when in fact all it really is is a way for the already obscenely wealthy to stuff their gullets with even more money for themselves and, if possible, walk away from the table leaving Joe Taxpayer to foot the bill.

All I can say is that if Americans want to put the Willard crew in charge, don't come fucking crying to me afterward when the depression hits and you and your family become the modern day version of Tom Joad and his kin.


----TFG