Rio Olympics - Shaping up to be a disaster?

[viper37]

How in the hell did Rio get the Olympics when it is such a disaster?
Or is this being exaggerated for journalistic lolz?

Exagerated?  Maybe no more than usual.  But when a government wants to do something, it can move very fast.

See, the 1976 Olympics in Montreal.  A few months before the beginning, there were talks of disaster.  Same for Athenes and Sotchi.
It turned out to be pretty much fine, from a public point of view.

Of course, for Quebec, we had to pay the bill, and we still do.  Lots of fraud, corruption, union strikes&empowerement, huge deficits, an olympic stadium that is not good at all for music, not really good for baseball, definately not good enough for football, took 30 years to get a decent roof on it and it has to be permanent, and has structural issues that are costly to repair.

[DGuller]

What do they lack to have a fully developed modern economy, then?

Strong rule of law, for one.

[derspiess]

How in the hell did Rio get the Olympics when it is such a disaster?
Or is this being exaggerated for journalistic lolz?

Exagerated?  Maybe no more than usual.  But when a government wants to do something, it can move very fast.

See, the 1976 Olympics in Montreal.  A few months before the beginning, there were talks of disaster.  Same for Athenes and Sotchi.
It turned out to be pretty much fine, from a public point of view.

Of course, for Quebec, we had to pay the bill, and we still do.  Lots of fraud, corruption, union strikes&empowerement, huge deficits, an olympic stadium that is not good at all for music, not really good for baseball, definately not good enough for football, took 30 years to get a decent roof on it and it has to be permanent, and has structural issues that are costly to repair.

You have a lot more faith in the Brazilian government than you probably should. 

[grumbler]

What do they lack to have a fully developed modern economy, then?

Strong rule of law, for one.

"Third World" is a pretty meaningless term these days, but I'd agree with you that the main thing holding Brazil back from being an advanced economy is that such a huge percentage of their economic activity is in the shadow economy.  GDP per capita isn't that great compared to, say, Argentina, so they have a ways to go there as well.

[derspiess]

Argentina itself has a pretty big shadow economy, FWIW.

[Valmy]

Argentina itself has a pretty big shadow economy, FWIW.

I remember our Spanish posters saying there was a fairly big one there as well.

[The Larch]

Argentina itself has a pretty big shadow economy, FWIW.

I remember our Spanish posters saying there was a fairly big one there as well.

And even more in Italy, that doesn't make them third world.

[viper37]

You have a lot more faith in the Brazilian government than you probably should. 

I think the Olympics are going to be okay.  But the aftermath, it may look like Greece.

[Grey Fox]

Sarajevo is still the gold standard.

[grumbler]

If you guys (Spicey, Larch, Valmy) are defining "Third World" as any country with a shadow economy, then every country in the world is Third World.  I don't think that that is a very good definition.

[derspiess]

Eh?

[The Larch]

If you guys (Spicey, Larch, Valmy) are defining "Third World" as any country with a shadow economy, then every country in the world is Third World.  I don't think that that is a very good definition.

I'm not, I was challenging that assumption.

[grumbler]

If you guys (Spicey, Larch, Valmy) are defining "Third World" as any country with a shadow economy, then every country in the world is Third World.  I don't think that that is a very good definition.

I'm not, I was challenging that assumption.

You should challenge that assumption in the thread where the assumption has been made, then.  No one has made that assumption in this thread.

[Hamilcar]

TBH, when I visit the U.S., large parts feel like a third world country.

[lustindarkness]

TBH, when I visit the U.S., large parts feel like a third world country.

You mean Capitol Hill in Washington DC?