Hard Light Productions Forums
Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: Nuclear1 on October 05, 2009, 10:22:17 pm
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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/03/sports/03olympics.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=2016&st=cse
COPENHAGEN — When Rio de Janeiro was elected host city for the 2016 Olympic Games on Friday, the room where its bid team gathered turned into a boisterous party with members in uniform navy or moss green blazers hugging, dancing, crying and waving Brazilian flags. The bid leader, Carlos Arthur Nuzman, yelled, “We did it! We did it!”
Rio and Chicago had gone into the day considered the favorites, ahead of Tokyo and Madrid. But by the time Rio was chosen by the International Olympic Committee to become the first South American city to host the Olympics, the Chicago delegation and its star-studded supporters were nowhere in sight.
They had already left the building.
Despite the support of President Obama, who flew in specifically to address the I.O.C. voters, Chicago finished last, out of the running in the first round of voting, with a paltry 18 of a total 94 votes. Tokyo received 22, with Rio getting 26 and Madrid 28. In each round, until one city gains a majority, the low vote-getter is eliminated. After Chicago was tossed aside, nearly all of its votes went straight to Rio in the second round. In the third, after Tokyo was eliminated, Rio won handily, 66-32.
And then, on the WhyDoesTheGOPHateAmerica? front...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/02/conservatives-revel-in-ob_n_307794.html
Upon being informed of the news, a gathering of conservatives at the Americans For Prosperity -- one of the main organizing groups behind the tea party protests -- erupted in applause. They cheered once more after they were told that Chicago had been eliminated during the first round of voting.
Congratulations Rio! Upset that Chicago didn't get it, but not surprised either.
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I think it's good for Illinois in general. They've already got enough debt they've racked up over the years... the Olympics would not help that at all.
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I'm quite glad Colorado has a no debt constitution. Otherwise we'd be like California.
The Olympics would have bolstered our national image, but really we should be concentrating on digging our way out right now.
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I fear for the rubes who head to Rio and get scammed and/or robbed.
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I think the US has enough to worry about without planning and building facilities for an Olympic games.
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From what I know of Chicago, I agree that it would probably be too heavy of a monetary burden for the city, but then, I think much the same for London as well.
I think cheering the failure to host the Olympics is a bit immature, however, just sort of proves to me that these people have completely missed the point behind them, and cheering purely because 'Obama failed' is really silly, we're talking playground silly.
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I think cheering the failure to host the Olympics is a bit immature, however, just sort of proves to me that these people have completely missed the point behind them, and cheering purely because 'Obama failed' is really silly, we're talking playground silly.
I think we can all agree on this. I'm not going to lie, I'm a conservative (not a Republican) and I voted for McCain. Hell, I'm not even sorry I voted for him. But there's not a bone in me that wants Obama to fail; I'll even admit that I think Obama's done a pretty good job so far. I'll go further than that and say I even "officially" approve of the job he's doing.
Pisses me off to no end when Republicans act like this. . .gives us educated conservatives a bad name.
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I think cheering the failure to host the Olympics is a bit immature, however, just sort of proves to me that these people have completely missed the point behind them, and cheering purely because 'Obama failed' is really silly, we're talking playground silly.
I think we can all agree on this. I'm not going to lie, I'm a conservative (not a Republican) and I voted for McCain. Hell, I'm not even sorry I voted for him. But there's not a bone in me that wants Obama to fail; I'll even admit that I think Obama's done a pretty good job so far. I'll go further than that and say I even "officially" approve of the job he's doing.
Pisses me off to no end when Republicans act like this. . .gives us educated conservatives a bad name.
I bet, the problem is that there are so many louder, less educated person on the right wing whim grab attention from persons like yourself, and franlky, those people get ratings much better than you. I assume, no offence or anything.
think about the sterotypes of the left and right wing; left has college proffesors, and the right gets rednecks. of course there are probably a few liberal rednecks, and some conservative peope whim are college proffesors.
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Well, the problem is in part that people listen to those who shout the loudest, so being loud and obnoxious gets you noticed, that's how half the talking heads on both sides of the divide work.
I just think it's a pity that a few are ruining it for the many, there are sections of American society out there which, rather than seeing their opposites as political and idealogical enemies, are preferring to see them as physical enemies who are 'taking over our country', which, at least to me, reads as 'we've completely lost track of the plot with regards to Democracy'.
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I would have thought educated conservatives would have voted for the educated conservative: Obama.
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Completely called Rio from the beginning. No surprise here.
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I would have thought educated conservatives would have voted for the educated conservative: Obama.
Oh snap! :lol:
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One of the things that really strikes me about this in particular and the Obstructionist Party in general is that we, the country, can't afford for Obama to fail. It's not an acceptable option for him to spend four years or eight years being a dud, it'll wreck everything.
Yet they throw every possible obstacle in his way, they scream and holler and hold parties for the worst of all possible outcomes.
Okay guys, playtime's over. It's time to stop huffing butane and be statesmen now.
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I think cheering the failure to host the Olympics is a bit immature, however, just sort of proves to me that these people have completely missed the point behind them, and cheering purely because 'Obama failed' is really silly, we're talking playground silly.
I think we can all agree on this. I'm not going to lie, I'm a conservative (not a Republican) and I voted for McCain. Hell, I'm not even sorry I voted for him. But there's not a bone in me that wants Obama to fail; I'll even admit that I think Obama's done a pretty good job so far. I'll go further than that and say I even "officially" approve of the job he's doing.
Pisses me off to no end when Republicans act like this. . .gives us educated conservatives a bad name.
A-****ing-men to this entire statement.
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I think cheering the failure to host the Olympics is a bit immature, however, just sort of proves to me that these people have completely missed the point behind them, and cheering purely because 'Obama failed' is really silly, we're talking playground silly.
Yep. Cheer that your country didn't win a bid to host the Olympics. That's really ****ing patriotic. :rolleyes:
It's pretty obvious why America didn't get it. They've hosted 4 already with the last one only being 13 years ago and they'd like someone else to have a turn.
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When are the next Winter Olympics? Those are the ones that tend to involve more people falling down.
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democrats were doing the same thing for the last 8 years. I can't tell you how many times I heard someone say something along the lines of 'I hope we get our asses kicked in Iraq'.
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@Kara, the last olympics the United States had was the Winter Olympics in '02. (Salt Lake City)
@Ford, the '10 games are in Vancouver
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I don't think people quite understand why "The Obama Bid" for Chicago to host the Olympics failed.
He's from Chicago, or at least he learned the ropes politically in that city. The Politicians of Chicago INVENTED corruption. It's hard to walk through the streets of Chicago and no get some of that crap on your shoes. What we have in Obama is a unique combination of over-hyped, under prepared Politician who is trying to run the USA by "the Chicago Way". I'm not terribly surprised that his shmoozing was unsuccessful.
Also, let's be clear about this, I don't want Obama to fail(ok, maybe a little). I want his policies, which even conservative projections show as running completely off the rails in 10 or 15 years, to fail. You wouldn't believe the number of doctors and nurses who have said that they're going to stop practicing medicine if the Obama plan goes through.
Back on topic, congrats to the people of Rio De Janeiro, have fun spending tens of millions of dollars so you can make half of it back from the gringos.
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The Obama plan?
From what I've seen, most doctors PREFER a Public Option or Single-payer system.
Unless you're talking about the Baucus bill, which was just WRITTEN BY the INDUSTRY
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The US has had the olympics 8 times already, and at least two times in recent memory. Let Brazil have a go . . .
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Back on topic, congrats to the people of Rio De Janeiro, have fun spending tens of millions of dollars so you can make half of it back from the gringos.
Tens of millions? Olympics haven't cost tens of millions in decades. Modern olympics are multi billion dollar programs.
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@Kara, the last olympics the United States had was the Winter Olympics in '02. (Salt Lake City)
I was referring to the Summer Games. But that only makes my point more valid. :D
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and how the **** was it that Salt Lake City of all places in the US managed to get the games, I mean Salt Lake City? really?
...oh, yeah, bribery, that's how.
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I don't think people quite understand why "The Obama Bid" for Chicago to host the Olympics failed.
He's from Chicago, or at least he learned the ropes politically in that city. The Politicians of Chicago INVENTED corruption. It's hard to walk through the streets of Chicago and no get some of that crap on your shoes. What we have in Obama is a unique combination of over-hyped, under prepared Politician who is trying to run the USA by "the Chicago Way". I'm not terribly surprised that his shmoozing was unsuccessful.
Also, let's be clear about this, I don't want Obama to fail(ok, maybe a little). I want his policies, which even conservative projections show as running completely off the rails in 10 or 15 years, to fail. You wouldn't believe the number of doctors and nurses who have said that they're going to stop practicing medicine if the Obama plan goes through.
Back on topic, congrats to the people of Rio De Janeiro, have fun spending tens of millions of dollars so you can make half of it back from the gringos.
Ok, stop it. You're posting about stuff you have absolutely no idea about, and you're making the intelligent, reasonable conservatives in the thread look bad. Again.
You're making inflammatory generalizations that have very little support; not all politicians to come out of Chicago are corrupt, no matter what the raving mad conservative media tells you about them damn blue state big city types, and the fact that you choose to paint one of the most multicultural and beautiful cities in the Midwest as simply a slimebog of political corruption proves you've never been there. And you're simply talking out of your ass.
And that "shmoozing" your President did was representing the best economic and international interests of the nation in order to bring a symbol of world peace, friendly competition, and unity into a country that currently has a reputation of nearly the opposite. I'm sure if it had been Atlanta, or some city in a major red state, then you wouldn't have a damned thing to say about it--but since it was Chicago, and he happened to be from that city, it was all about his selfish interests and his Chicago-style "schmoozing". Give me a break.
And then that "gringos" thing...so you're basically saying "Humph, we didn't want the Olympics anyway! Enjoy the economic burden Rio!"
democrats were doing the same thing for the last 8 years. I can't tell you how many times I heard someone say something along the lines of 'I hope we get our asses kicked in Iraq'.
If by "I hope we get our asses kicked in Iraq" you mean "we shouldn't be here because we were lied into a war that's costing good American lives and diverting resources from the war we should be fighting", then you're absolutely right.
Otherwise, you're just quoting some strange fringe element. No elected Democrat was cheering for America to lose in Iraq and get more brave, patriotic Americans killed in that ****hole. Sorry we don't stoop to the same level as the fringe elements that seem to be leading the GOP.
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See, I like it when news stories like this are posted. It gives us rock-hard evidence that conservatives are not only dumb, they're douchebags who will stop at nothing to destroy the last remaining shreds of common sense left in the American public.
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Also, let's be clear about this, I don't want Obama to fail(ok, maybe a little). I want his policies, which even conservative projections show as running completely off the rails in 10 or 15 years, to fail. You wouldn't believe the number of doctors and nurses who have said that they're going to stop practicing medicine if the Obama plan goes through.
If doctor's + nurses quit some new graduates will just take their place. Big deal. Call it early retirement.
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Also, let's be clear about this, I don't want Obama to fail(ok, maybe a little). I want his policies, which even conservative projections show as running completely off the rails in 10 or 15 years, to fail. You wouldn't believe the number of doctors and nurses who have said that they're going to stop practicing medicine if the Obama plan goes through.
If doctor's + nurses quit some new graduates will just take their place. Big deal. Call it early retirement.
I just want to point out, for Liberator's sake, that polls of health care professionals actually show that a majority of doctors favor a public option.
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See, I like it when news stories like this are posted. It gives us rock-hard evidence that conservatives are not only dumb, they're douchebags who will stop at nothing to destroy the last remaining shreds of common sense left in the American public.
ITT more reasonable people get lumped in with (vocal) fringe elements.
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The problem is, the fringe elements are setting the policy. They're leading the party. They are the party now. You can't be both reasonable and Republican anymore, something I saw coming when Bush got reelected. That's not how the Republican party works anymore.
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See, I like it when news stories like this are posted. It gives us rock-hard evidence that conservatives are not only dumb, they're douchebags who will stop at nothing to destroy the last remaining shreds of common sense left in the American public.
ITT more reasonable people get lumped in with (vocal) fringe elements.
So why are they in charge? How are we supposed to judge a party if its leaders are, apparently, no longer good representations of the party? What the hell do you want me to do when your leaders are preaching the defeat of Obama's attempt to get the olympics hosted in the U.S. and somehow no one is pointing out how completely unpatriotic and hypocritic this is? Do you want me to somehow, for no good justifiable reason, believe that you are somehow smarter then the leaders that are preaching your values are? Upon what basis should this be made? Wouldn't it be a whole crapload more accurate to assume that you're all just stupid dumbasses until you prove yourselves otherwise?
If you're more reasonable people, then for f*cks sake, DONT LABEL YOURSELF AS A REPUBLICAN. Why not just call yourself a liberal republican, or maybe a republican who supports tax increases. My point here is that if your beliefs no longer line up with what your labelling yourself as, why the hell are you complaining about our misconceptions of you in the first place?!
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Man, blackhole, you exhibit all the calm and tolerance of a Westboro Baptist Church acolyte.
Why label yourself as a liberal if you're going to go off on kneejerk benders?
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Fair play to Rio!!!
About time someone got to have it on that continent.
Will make for an interesting time. Gives them good few years to sort out the slums and crime :D
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He's (blackhole) being actively offensive, but I don't think he's being actively wrong. His point, that we're not talking about fringe elements but powerful forces, trendsetters and people in leadership posistions, taking these stances that Mongoose does not want to be painted as having, is correct. How else are we to visualize the conservative movement as being when their leadership and their spokespeople are well and truly off their rockers?
Loyalty is usually an admirable trait, but the RINO accusations flowing thick and fast these days demonstrate what loyalty to the movement ultimately earns a moderate in this atmosphere. Blackhole is, ultimately, correct. Labeling yourself after a collection of people lead by madmen and sinners gets you painted as a madman and a sinner. What did you expect?
I have long maintained that the GOP and conservativism abandoned me, not the other way around. There is no shame in that posistion. If more people adopted it, something might actually get accomplished.
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I agree, he probably is correct, but presenting it with a couple ad hominems, some DRAMA ITALICS, and the passion of an undergraduate in a philosophy class is kind of silly. :p
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It's hard to walk through the streets of Chicago and no get some of that crap on your shoes.
Seriously could you construct a sentence that makes you look like more of a ignorant twit? Have you ever even been to Chicago? Have you even bothered to do some research before coming up with that gem? Or are you just parroting what others have told you?
Seems like you make a business out of posting unqualified statements all over these topics. You consistently post asinine comments that do nothing to further your position and generally make everyone else cringe. If you actually want people take take you seriously do yourself a favor and try accruing some non biased information on a topic. It's a lot easier to win a debate, or at least not appear to be an uneducated neobarb, if you bother to understand your opponent's position and can actually base your statements on sources rather then just spewing forth a bunch of opinionated tripe not based on experience or research. Do you run the risk of needing to reevaluate your views if you bother to learn about the subject yourself? Maybe. With great knowledge comes great vexation, but its better to see the sun with your own eyes then to base your life on the shadows cast by others.
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I have actually been to chicago for a week, and its not that bad in parts, that magnificent mile but other parts...yeah, but that's inherit in all urban centers, i bet its still a lot better than the slums in Rio...
...but the states geet the olymics plenty often, i'd rather see it in europe or something, but that's straying off topic.
IDK who you are, but if you relish when your country fails at anything just becasue a guy who looks different from was actually elected president...(cough, 2000, florida, cough...) then that's basicially treasonous...
...and i'm pretty sure that's a capital offence :drevil:Also, let's be clear about this, I don't want Obama to fail(ok, maybe a little). I want his policies, which even conservative projections show as running completely off the rails in 10 or 15 years, to fail. You wouldn't believe the number of doctors and nurses who have said that they're going to stop practicing medicine if the Obama plan goes through.
If doctor's + nurses quit some new graduates will just take their place. Big deal. Call it early retirement.
I just want to point out, for Liberator's sake, that polls of health care professionals actually show that a majority of doctors favor a public option.
just the greedy SOB's who prescribe you **** you don't need would likely quit, so that to me seems like a good thing.
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i think id have more fun in rio than chicago
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i think id have more fun in rio than chicago
true that, provided you stick to the more tourist/high income areas.
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If you're more reasonable people, then for f*cks sake, DONT LABEL YOURSELF AS A REPUBLICAN. Why not just call yourself a liberal republican, or maybe a republican who supports tax increases. My point here is that if your beliefs no longer line up with what your labelling yourself as, why the hell are you complaining about our misconceptions of you in the first place?!
Um, excuse me, but you're the one who's apparently equating "conservative" with "Republican." The post I quoted didn't mention the term "Republican" once, and if it had, I wouldn't have responded to it in the same matter. So how's about we actually read what was said and quit the bull**** knee-jerk responses.
(And yes, there is a distinction there. One that seems to be growing larger almost every year.)
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Seriously.
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Yeah, the neocons destroyed the GOP. It used to be a party of conservatism up through the 60s and 70s but given what Reagan did to bring the fundies into the fold and what Bush did to evoke the Reagan era and turn the party into a gathering of warmongering fascist hypocrites will do lasting damage to the party for a while. And with it's current leadership (or lack thereof) combined with a strong indication of Palin '12 may very well destroy it.
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...Palin...
<Thaeris shudders in distaste>
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She would never become president. If she was even running, I'm sure somebody would find a way to stop her from leading this country into "LET'S NUKE ALL THE COUNTRIES I CAN SEE FORM MY HOUSE!!!"
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I'm sure she's... a good person... but she strikes me as ragingly stupid.
Most candidates I've observed over the past few years have been, in retrospect, jokes in more ways than one. Sure, that's a human flaw which affects all, but I've seen no person that seems to be truly competant running for office in spite of that fact. That of course is the nature of the two party system... :doubt:
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Whig 2012?
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We should resurrect George Washington.
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This is one of the reasons why the world doesnt like you americans, here we are in a thread which the subject is where the biggest sports events of the entire world is going to take place and the only thing you all do is go yammering about yourselves.
Ok, I'm joking. ;)
Seriously now, its great that the Olympics is coming here but as a citizen of Brazil you can all mark my words when I tell you that the effort that will have to be done to make Rio de Janeiro a proper place for the Olympics will be a herculean task, a HERCULEAN task. Why? Because the city is a polluted piece of s***, its falling apart in terms of infrastructure, transport and ABOVE ALL in terms of security because more people die in Rio than in Iraq daily and it'll take more than 7 years to fix most of these.
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Tell it to China, Bejing was at least as filthy as Rio and they seemed to get it cleared up. At least at the places we saw in the video feeds. Course they have that communist bootheel they probably used to get things done. :drevil:
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Beijing's crime rate is nothing like Rio's, unfortunately.
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One of the things that really strikes me about this in particular and the Obstructionist Party in general is that we, the country, can't afford for Obama to fail. It's not an acceptable option for him to spend four years or eight years being a dud, it'll wreck everything.
Absolutly. Too much has gone wrong in the last 8 years, and we most definately can't have 4 or 8 more years of failure.
The problem is, the fringe elements are setting the policy. They're leading the party. They are the party now. You can't be both reasonable and Republican anymore, something I saw coming when Bush got reelected. That's not how the Republican party works anymore.
To be honest the seeds were sown all the way back in the Clinton era, and had been taking root through the Bush administration.
And with it's current leadership (or lack thereof) combined with a strong indication of Palin '12 may very well destroy it.
No matter how things go with Obama, if she or anyone else like her gets the reins it REALLY will be the end of everything.
Tell it to China, Bejing was at least as filthy as Rio and they seemed to get it cleared up. At least at the places we saw in the video feeds. Course they have that communist bootheel they probably used to get things done.
Beijing also didn't have sprawling slums, or gangs armed with machine guns & rocket launchers. I remember a few years ago there was a discussion here about a news story where the Brazillian army went into the slums (or maybe it was the slums of Sao Paulo, I forget). Beijing cleared up the air by stopping all construction, banning half the cars on the motorways (even numbered plates on one day, odd numbered on the other), and also encouraging the more polluting industries to get out of the city. Can't any city do this?
its falling apart in terms of infrastructure, transport
If that's the case then I'm not so sure Rio can have its infrastructure good enough in time. It took nearly 30 years of development and investment to get Beijing where it is today, although there was a lot more work that needed to be done.