{"id":1511,"date":"2010-06-13T13:13:19","date_gmt":"2010-06-13T17:13:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/officiallyscrewed.com\/blog\/?p=1511"},"modified":"2010-06-13T13:13:19","modified_gmt":"2010-06-13T17:13:19","slug":"g8g20-cost-analysis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/officiallyscrewed.com\/?p=1511","title":{"rendered":"G8\/G20 Cost Analysis"},"content":{"rendered":"

No this is not a breakdown of the cost of the G8\/G20 summits taking place in Huntsville and The Big Smoke<\/a> this year. \u00a0This is my analysis of the whole “G8\/G20 Cost” debate.<\/p>\n

Question: \u00a0Did it need to be over a Billion dollars?<\/p>\n

OfficiallyScrewed.com Answer: \u00a0It wasn’t over a billion dollars. \u00a0Sure, maybe it was earmarked as G8\/G20 spending but realistically it is also a chance for the government to beef up permanent security needs for a major urban area. ex. \u00a0London, England already had 10,254 security cameras scattered around the city when they held the summit. \u00a0The Big Smoke did not. \u00a0So realistically all permanent infrastructure that will be in place for the benefit of Muskoka and The Big Smoke should really be eliminated from the bottom line when analyzing the cost. \u00a0And I am pretty sure that over half the cost can be assigned to this category. \u00a0So in effect it becomes stimulus money for the local economy.<\/p>\n

And speaking of the local economy, I wonder what The Big Smoke tourism board thinks of all this. \u00a0With some entourages numbering in the 4 digit area, we can safely assume over 10,000 guests to The Big Smoke. \u00a0That’s a hell of a lot of hotel rooms and meals. \u00a0And think of the shops in Yorkville or along Queen St. \u00a0The VISA and Mastercard machines will be humming and alot of this spending will be subject to GST and PST reducing the total cost even further.<\/p>\n

Question: \u00a0Will jobs be created out of this?<\/p>\n

OfficiallyScrewed.com Answer: \u00a0Damn straight. \u00a0Security alone will be huge but there will also be paramedics, fire, police, food services, waste disposal, preparation, (and yes Nellie, even the arts get some money. \u00a0(Do you think some suit put together the fake lake? \u00a0No, I bet it was some artsy fartsy person taking their turn at the trough too.) \u00a0I am not sure about how many jobs are being created even temporarily but I can be sure that the paychecks for those jobs are subject to……ding ding ding…federal and provincial income tax further reducing the cost.<\/p>\n

Question: \u00a0Will we come out ahead?<\/p>\n

OfficiallyScrewed.com Answer: \u00a0Probably not. \u00a0But there is other inherent values to hosting the G8\/G20. \u00a0Long term tourism dollars are the least of my concern. \u00a0You see in the old days in many countries a group of three people meeting could be considered conspiracy and you could be charged. \u00a0The paranoia ran deep in governments but it was also a symbol to them that the few at the top controlled everything. \u00a0This is not the case in a western style democracy. \u00a0Perhaps from a mile high view this is the case but realistically if taxes go up, jobs go down, that government will get tossed out on it’s ear.<\/p>\n

So to me, having these nations get around a table and talk is important. \u00a0It shows leaders like Ahmedinejad and Chavez, and groups like Hamas and Hizbollah and Al Quaeda that we can sit and talk peacefully about how we should best address problems the world is having so we can all best move forward wherever our free will takes us. \u00a0We do NOT need to be pushed back in the shadows to meet under cover of the night or teleconference or in small groups. \u00a0We can do it openly…under their noses and in front of their faces. \u00a0And hopefully in front of the faces of their citizens too.<\/p>\n

Because the bottom line is that as long as we are talking, we are not fighting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

No this is not a breakdown of the cost of the G8\/G20 summits taking place in Huntsville and The Big Smoke this year. \u00a0This is my analysis of the whole “G8\/G20 Cost” debate. Question: \u00a0Did it need to be over a Billion dollars? OfficiallyScrewed.com Answer: \u00a0It wasn’t over a billion dollars. \u00a0Sure, maybe it was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics-international"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/officiallyscrewed.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/officiallyscrewed.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/officiallyscrewed.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/officiallyscrewed.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/officiallyscrewed.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1511"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/officiallyscrewed.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1511\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/officiallyscrewed.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/officiallyscrewed.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/officiallyscrewed.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}