Brazil's Leaders Opt for Circuses Without Bread

: Modern politicians have redefined the phrase ‘bread and circuses,' first coined by the Roman writer Juvenal, by arguing that investing hundreds of millions, and even billions, of dollars attracting and staging mega-circuses like the Olympic Games and the World Cup will provide bread of another sort, a sort of Keynesianism-on-steroids bet on the economic benefits of government investing in sports. Brazilians have become the latest people disenchanted by the hollow promises of this modern equation.

All of this was predictable. The 1976 Montreal games almost bankrupted the city, which spent decades digging out of debt. The Athens games in 2004, which Greece wanted so desperately to host because they fell on the 100th anniversary of the modern Olympics, were sold to the people of the country as costing under $2 billion. The $16 billion actual cost helped thrust Greece into its present fiscal predicament.

Until now these failures haven't mattered substantially to big sports events like the Olympics and World Cup because there's always a city or country ready to step up, hoping that hosting an event of that nature will thrust the place into worldwide eminence at whatever the cost.

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RealClearMarkets - Brazil's Leaders Opt for Circuses Without Bread