There was a time, let’s say in October of last year, when the Provincial government was claiming that the 2010 Winter Olympics would produce a $10 billion dollar whirlwind of economic stimulation. Okay, that’s roughly a $4 billion dollar gain after the cost of the games is covered. Add to that that most of that revenue would be funneled back into this Province’s already well-to-do, and well, maybe there’ll be a little change left over for, you know, education, social programs, that sort of thing.

Unfortunately, that was October. Not a month later, the Provincial government downsized its prediction to $4 billion dollars, which, if accurate, means that we’ll be roughly $2 billion dollars in debt when all’s said and done.

Remember the fast ferry scandal? Well, that was tens of millions of dollars and look how the public responded to that. Unfortunately, we’re not talking about tens of millions of dollars this time, we’re talking about billions of dollars – money that British Columbians will be forced to repay. Not only that, we may even see cuts to a few insignificant things – such as education, social programs, that sort of thing.

There are a lot of people out there that wish that I would just shut up about this subject. I have come to the conclusion that they’re either from other parts of the country or British Columbians so propagandized by all things Olympic that it won’t be until after the shit hits the fan that they’ll actually become pissed off. By then, of course, they’ll be getting what they deserve. Unfortunately, the rest of us will be getting what they deserve as well.

Yes, the Olympics are great. But you know what’s better than the splendor of hosting them, spending money on things that actually make a difference in peoples lives. Little things like new textbooks, smaller classes in schools, reducing the abhorrent child poverty rate in this Province, improving healthcare, dealing with the fact that we’ve played host to this country’s poorest urban community for years, let alone a few weeks in February.

Ya, that Matt Good’s a real downer. If only he could just relax and enjoy it all and then get upset about it afterwards. After all, it worked for the American public regarding Iraq.

Who knows, maybe I’ll be proven wrong and everyone will receive an Olympic bonus cheque in the mail.