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rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Infrastructure week. at last.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Eh, that’s media spin. biden’s health is fine and he’s doing a good job.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

You are here: Home / Economics / Show Us on the Doll Where the Invisible Hand Touched You / Pandemic Open Thread: The Runaway Train Olympics

Pandemic Open Thread: The Runaway Train Olympics

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It’s too late for second thoughts — even if the games *were* called off tonight, most of the athletes, IOC staff, and entourages are already in Japan. A cynic would say the only question is not whether this will turn out to be another (global!) superspreader event, but just how bad the aftermath will be. Especially for the athletes from developing countries, where vaccines are still a luxury…

… The Olympics and Paralympic involve 15,400 athletes and tens of thousands of others entering Japan, including media, broadcasters, officials, and judges and others.

The Olympics, already delayed by 12 months because of the pandemic, will be held with virtually no fans. Fans from abroad were banned several months ago, and last week Tokyo and three neighboring prefectures banned all local fans. A few outlying venues are expected to allow a smattering of fans.

Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported earlier this week that Bach asked Suga about the possibility of having some fans if conditions improve.

New COVID-19 cases on Friday in Tokyo were reported at 1,271. They were 822 a week ago, and it marks the 27th straight day that cases were higher than a week previous. New cases on Thursday were reported at 1,308, which was the highest in six months.

Bach has said there is “zero” risk of athletes in the Olympic Village on Tokyo Bay passing on the virus to Japanese or other residents of the village…

If you want to make (Murphy the Trickster) God laugh, tell him your plans…

Coronavirus outbreaks involving Olympic teams in Japan have turned small-town hotels into facilities on the frontline of the pandemic battle, charged with implementing complex health measures to protect elite athletes and a fearful public.

Infections have hit at least seven teams arriving in Japan barely a week out from the July 23 opening ceremony and after host city Tokyo reported its highest daily tally of new COVID-19 infections since late January…

In one example, 49 members of Brazil’s judo team are being kept in isolation after eight COVID-19 cases were discovered among the staff at a hotel where they are staying in Hamamatsu, southwest of Tokyo.

None of the judokas have tested positive but frustration over their isolation is mounting as health officials work to contain the outbreak…

Other outbreaks among athletes include members of Olympic delegations from Uganda, Serbia, Israel and several other nations either testing positive or isolating in their hotels after being designated as close contacts…

Tokyo 2020 playbooks for athletes and sports federations call for attendees to physically distance themselves from others, to wear masks, and to get tested daily.

Those playbooks are working and being enforced, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach has said, and there was “zero” risk of Games participants infecting residents…

… There will be little economic benefit to speak of, given that almost all of the venues for the games will have no spectators physically present, so benefit to tourism-related sectors will be nil.

Other sectors can breathe a sigh of relief. Brand sponsors, for example, will still get exposure to millions of viewers watching from home. And while the decision to ban spectators might cost the global reinsurance sector $300 million to $400 million in reimbursements, according to ratings agency Fitch, they would have taken a far bigger hit had the Olympics been cancelled outright. However, there is one clear loser already: Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who has pushed the games on despite widespread resistance, has seen his popularity tank, and his political future is distinctly uninsured.

Reader Interactions

92Comments

  2. 2.

    trollhattan

    County full vaccination rate is mired below 50%, positive tests are well up (above state rate), deaths still occurring, hospitalization is tripled and ICU count is doubled.

    Yay, us.

  4. 4.

    Seanly

    The Olympics are just a huge grift at this point – worst than pro sports and their stadium scams.

  5. 5.

    Mousebumples

    I know we’re not huge sportsball fans around here but this is an awesome story about a Bucks mega fan, who is also a life saving pediatric oncologist at Children’s in Milwaukee. ?

    Stephen Watson (@WISN_Watson) tweeted at 9:33 PM on Thu, Jul 15, 2021:

    [email protected] and @drdavemke deserve this spotlight for all the amazing work they do. Really enjoyed this feature from @NBATheJump.

    https://t.co/mJV5u9XPgx

    (https://twitter.com/WISN_Watson/status/1415862243732844546?s=03)

  6. 6.

    Mike in NC

    Simply insane that they’re holding these games during a pandemic. Does the Trump crime family have any money invested?

  8. 8.

    Amir Khalid

    The Games are not going to end well. It doesn’t like the “bubbles” around the competitors are secure enough. Athletes are going to come back from Tokyo to their home countries and alarming numbers of them will test positive.

  10. 10.

    trollhattan

    @debbie:

    The IOC is basically running the show from what I understand. They weren’t cancelling shout of a confirmed comet, and would have debated that.

  12. 12.

    raven

     
    At the core is the Host City Contract that gives the IOC the sole authority to cancel. If Japan cancels, it would have to compensate the IOC. Of course, the IOC is unlikely to sue a host city. So any deal would be worked out behind the scenes.
    And there are billions at stake. Japan has officially spent $15.4 billion but government audits suggest it’s twice that much. Japanese advertising giant Dentsu Inc., a key player in landing the corruption-tainted bid in 2013, has raised more than $3 billion from local sponsors.
    Estimates suggest a cancellation could cost the IOC $3 billion-$4 billion in lost broadcast rights income. Broadcast income and sponsors account for 91% of the IOC income, and American network NBCUniversal provides about 40% of the IOC’s total income.

  15. 15.

    dr. bloor

    Makes Sturgis look like small potatoes.  Kristi Noem weeps with envy at Japan’s ability to stage a superspreader cash grab.

  16. 16.

    Chetan Murthy

    Even in previous years, I paid little attention to the Olympics.  This year?  Will actively avoid any coverage.  Don’t even want to be a de minimis participant in the carnage of innocents that is sure to come.

  17. 17.

    Anne Laurie

    @debbie: They’re losing all kinds of money. Makes no sense.

    The IOC got its money — licit (from sponsors, including the media broadcasters) & illicit (bribes / kickbacks from hopeful site sponsors) — long ago.

    Right now, as I understand it, the host (Japan) and the various sponsors are the ones shelling out bucks for what’s looking to be, at best, the Asterisk Olympics.

    If they throw up their hands & cancel (which: as I said, a little late, if it’s spreading coronavirus they’re worried about), they have to pay very much more money to… the IOC.

    Shikata ga nai (nothing can be done) , as the saying goes…

  20. 20.

    debbie

    @Anne Laurie:

    If they throw up their hands & cancel (which: as I said, a little late, if it’s spreading coronavirus they’re worried about), they have to pay very much more money to… the IOC.

    I didn’t know that. It is criminal.

  24. 24.

    bbleh

    Other sectors can breathe a sigh of relief. Brand sponsors, for example, will still get exposure to millions of viewers watching from home. And while the decision to ban spectators might cost the global reinsurance sector $300 million to $400 million in reimbursements, according to ratings agency Fitch, they would have taken a far bigger hit had the Olympics been cancelled outright.

    Well thank heaven that brand sponsors and the global reinsurance sector — not to mention the broadcasters and associated advertising agencies, I’m sure — aren’t going to lose money!  Because, really, isn’t that what the Olympic Games are all about?

  27. 27.

    West of the Cascades

    “millions of viewers watching at home” won’t include me this year. I can’t watch a slow-moving, preventable disaster. It would be like watching indoor barbecues in Florida right now in terms of potential covid spread, and I won’t watch those, either.

  30. 30.

    pat

    I don’t understand why all of the competitors, especially from the US, can’t be vaccinated..
    Does anyone know anything about the vaccination rate among the athletes?

    And yes the whole thing should have been cancelled…..

  32. 32.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Anne Laurie: Just wait till one of the major athletic stars contracts COVID and dies during the games. I don’t want it to happen, I hope it doesn’t happen, but it is likely too.

  33. 33.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Cheryl Rofer: Those beds are going to break as soon as a heavyweight judoka or wrestler or boxer or a large male shot putter or one of the heavyweight male power lifters sits or lies down on them. It isn’t going to take a sudden movement.

  34. 34.

    JWR

    OT but funny:

    PHOENIX — Arizona county election officials have identified fewer than 200 cases of potential voter fraud out of more than 3 million ballots cast in last year’s presidential election, undercutting former President Donald Trump’s claims of a stolen election as his allies continue a disputed ballot review in the state’s most populous county.

    The 182 cases represent instances where problems were clear enough that officials referred them to investigators for further review. So far, only four cases have led to charges, including those identified in a separate state investigation. No one has been convicted. No person’s vote was counted twice.

    Time for another Ninjaudit!

  35. 35.

    CaseyL

    @Cheryl Rofer: Holy hell.  Never mind the sex; those look smaller than a twin bed.  The athletes better not roll over in the night, or they’ll fall out.  Jeez.

    @Adam L Silverman: I’d need a better look at the frame, but cardboard, aka container board, can be very sturdy.  I once turned a Steelcase desk box into a cat treehouse.  I could stand up on it, no problem; and needed an actual saw to cut the stuff.

  36. 36.

    NotMax

    Hm. 55 Olympic rings. 5G.

    It’s all part of their cunning master plan, don’tcha see?

    //

    there is “zero” risk of athletes in the Olympic Village on Tokyo Bay passing on the virus to Japanese

    Who’s gonna clean the rooms, showers and bathrooms, cook and serve food, shuttle them to and from facilities, etc., etc.? Disposable robots?

    And that’s without even considering the risk of it being passed from natives to the teams.

  37. 37.

    NotMax

    @NotMax

    Whoops.

    5 Olympic rings. Just got back from the monthly Costco run; eyes bleary. (And legs not doing all too well either.)

  41. 41.

    Martin

    @NotMax: If they’re smart, they’ll adopt the NBA model to the last detail. Their process worked great – create a bubble, everyone goes in, quarantine, daily testing, and nobody goes out until they’re done. It worked with no vaccines available.

    Normally, I’d say that’s asking too much, but this is the olympics. It’s already locked down. Everyone has to get there early enough to quarantine, no exceptions. And nobody leaves the Olympic venues/village until the games are over. And it happens infrequently enough that people will accept it. And have the US donate enough vaccine for all the workers and athletes, so they can get the shot before they leave.

  42. 42.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    In a piece written for the Nikkei Times, Tokyo-based journalist William Pesak asks the question, “Is there a limit to the Olympic sacrifices we must make?” He writes, “Just out of curiosity, what is your over/under on human sacrifice? I cannot speak for all of the greater Tokyo area’s 37 million sacrificers, but for me, it is a very hard ‘No.’”

    h/t https://www.thenation.com/article/society/thomas-bach-tokyo-olympics/

  44. 44.

    Eunicecycle

    @CaseyL: I used to work in a nature preserve cemetery, where people are buried in biodegradable containers without embalming. The containers usually used were very heavy cardboard. They had handles and everything, and handled every burial I saw, anyway. Some people used the old style pine type, but the cardboard ones were most popular. They looked very nice, not like you’re burying Grandma in a shoe box

  45. 45.

    Martin

    @Darkrose: So, I don’t know anything definitive, things are still fluid, but all UC campuses are currently planning to require vaccination to step onto campus. That should be sufficient even  with an uptick.

    It’ll be a hell of a dataset – a community of 60K people with 100% vaccination rate, what’s the breakthrough rate?

    Trying to find out what’s up with UCD suspending their entire baseball operation. Nobody’s giving up the goods yet. Must be serious.

  46. 46.

    Major Major Major Major

    My best to the athletes.

    —

    Had a good first week back at the office! Went in three days. Felt great to take a meeting in a real room, even if I was the only person on the call who was in the NYC office. I’m actually the only team member left on this island. It’s weird, I guess I kind of like it, we will see. And I’m very excited to meet all my new coworkers, too!

  47. 47.

    Viva BrisVegas

    From my point of view another tragedy is that the IOC is about to perform their scam on my home city in 2032.

    I suppose it’s too much to expect our state premier to read the fine print of the IOC contract and then throw it out the window.

  58. 58.

    Percysowner

    I am totally baffled. The IOC will make a shit ton of money. They knew when the Olympics would be held. Why not just buy a ton of vaccine, and tell every athlete, coach, support staff that they had to be fully vaccinated to participate? Really this is NOT Rocket Science. We have effective vaccines. Going to the Olympics is a big deal. Sha’Carri Richardson was suspended and won’t make it to the Olympics because she smoked a little weed. There is NO REASON to have a COVID outbreak in the Olympic Village. None.

  61. 61.

    Gravenstone

    @Adam L Silverman: They wouldn’t even have to die of it. A nasty case of long covid that robs them of the ability to remain a competitive athlete would be nearly as tragic.

  62. 62.

    Mary G

    I will watch Simon Biles murder the competition in her leotards embroidered with a sparkly goat despite having the scoring system blatantly changed to lower her results.

    @Cheryl Rofer: Are we sure that’s not the Onion? People the age of most of the athletes are used to sleeping on a mattress on the floor.

  64. 64.

    karen marie

    @Adam L Silverman: Some athletes are already in quarantine per above. My question is, what happens when athletes are quarantined during the time they’re scheduled to compete.

  65. 65.

    Pete Downunder

    @Viva BrisVegas: Brisbane is going to take a pounding. The premier thinks what the hell I’ll get credit now and some poor schmuck who’s in office 10 years from now will take the blame. On the subject of Oz and Covid the NSW premier has a “lockdown” with all major retailers open. WTF? Their last hotspot was IKEA! New slogan:“meatballs worth dying for”.

  66. 66.

    Kent

    @pat: I don’t understand why all of the competitors, especially from the US, can’t be vaccinated..
    Does anyone know anything about the vaccination rate among the athletes?

    Because you need to start the vaccine regime 6-8 weeks before arriving in Tokyo. That means going around to every country and vaccinating athletes right now in July. But each country has it’s own vaccine issues. If you are in say, Senegal and vaccine is in short supply. Do you waste it on young fit athletes on the Senegalese soccer team? Or do you vaccinate front line health workers who are working in Covid wards?

    See the problem?

  67. 67.

    JWR

    Oh, f*ck you, Joe LieberManchin!

    WASHINGTON – West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin — a key Democratic holdout over efforts to pass federal voting rights legislation — is expected to head to Texas on Friday for a fundraiser with a host committee that includes several wealthy Republican donors.

    The fundraiser comes just a day after Manchin met with Texas House Democrats on Capitol Hill who are desperate for his support of the congressional efforts which could preempt the statewide GOP’s push to pass bills that would restrict voting access for Texans.

  68. 68.

    Fair Economist

    @raven:

    And there are billions at stake. Japan has officially spent $15.4 billion but government audits suggest it’s twice that much. Japanese advertising giant Dentsu Inc., a key player in landing the corruption-tainted bid in 2013, has raised more than $3 billion from local sponsors.
    Estimates suggest a cancellation could cost the IOC $3 billion-$4 billion in lost broadcast rights income.

    30 billion in costs to earn 3 billion in broadcast rights. Insanely inefficient in addition to being insanely corrupt

  69. 69.

    NotMax

    @Kent

    How about “divert it to” rather than “waste it on?” If it is providing protection to someone, wouldn’t call that a waste.

  70. 70.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Kent: I get you. But OTOH, 200 countries [round numbers], let’s say 2 person teams to each country, let’s say $20k for the trip (including vaccines), that’s …. $4m.  Again chump change.  Let’s double that number, just for headroom and mistakes.  Still chump change.

    ETA: what I mean is: you send a vaccinating team to each country, where they travel to a central site, to which all athletes and other officials/workers from that country will travel, to get their shots.  Sure, it’s not gonna look equitable for a country that lacks shots otherwise, but …. if that’s the requirement to be able to go to the Games, you’d think that countries would just say “let’s get it done”.

  71. 71.

    Fair Economist

    @Gravenstone:

    They wouldn’t even have to die of it. A nasty case of long covid that robs them of the ability to remain a competitive athlete would be nearly as tragic.

    Even a mild case of long covid would be the end of most Olympians’ careers. Lose 5% of your lung capacity – a loss barely noticeable to an average person – and you’re not going to earn a medal in most sports.

  72. 72.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Chetan Murthy: Let’s double it again for two trips (two shots).  So instead of $4m-$8m, it’ll be $8-16m.  Again, a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of the whole shebang, and if things go badly, they’ll regret not having spent it.  But hey, I’m sure the IOC members need extra Maybachs.

  73. 73.

    Splitting Image

    @pat: 

    I don’t understand why all of the competitors, especially from the US, can’t be vaccinated..
    Does anyone know anything about the vaccination rate among the athletes?

    And yes the whole thing should have been cancelled…..

    Most of the athletes probably are vaccinated, but there are thousands of support staff who haven’t been. As a few other people have said, being vaccinated won’t necessarily prevent an infection, and at the level Olympic athletes compete at, a mild case of COVID could be career-ending even if it isn’t life-threatening.

  74. 74.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Fair Economist: I’d be careful about citing any of those numbers.  Quite a bit is probably infrastructure spending that just ended up be accelerated, it would have happened anyway.  In LA for the 1984 Olympics they built the Tom Bradley Terminal and the second deck for traffic, it was done quicker for the Olympics, but was badly needed anyway.

    ETA: The games themselves in LA in ’84 ran a profit, just as they did in LA in ’32.

  75. 75.

    Darkrose

    @Martin: I was wondering about the baseball team thing. In his weekly letter, Chancellor May said “We are responding to credible allegations of misconduct primarily related to hazing,” which tracks with them putting all the coaches on administrative leave.

  77. 77.

    karen marie

    @JWR: Who has their knives out and the wherewithal to obtain the info and also get it in front of someone to make it news?

  78. 78.

    Anne Laurie

    @Splitting Image: Most of the athletes probably are vaccinated…

    Believe it or not, some of the American athletes (and presumably those from other vaccine-rich countries as well) have refused to get the jab.  The ones I’ve seen quoted say they’re young, healthy, and besides — losing even a few precious days’ training to side effects, when the win / lose margin is measured in fractions of a second, is just too much risk.

    As Adam said, if things go badly, there will be at least one ‘superstar’ who gets sick & dies.  But the vaxx refusers — like the IOC officials — are calculating that as long as they win their medals first, they’re good with that risk.

    (Actually the Boch Boys are no doubt figuring that any performers who get sick won’t die until the cameras stop rolling, and who cares what happens then?)

  79. 79.

    JWR

    @karen marie: Hell if I know, but as frustrating as Manchin is, he is after all a Dem, and we go to a knife fight with the blades we have, not the blades we wish we had. Also, I remember how insufferable Lieberman was, and I don’t think Manchin is as bad as sanctimonious Joe.

  81. 81.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    @NotMax: ​
     

    Who’s gonna clean the rooms, showers and bathrooms, cook and serve food, shuttle them to and from facilities, etc., etc.?

    the bowery boys?

  82. 82.

    opiejeanne

    @karen marie: Nicole Wallace and Lawrence O’Donnell both sounded off about it today. I don’t know who else did but probably all of them did.

  87. 87.

    Nelle

    @JWR: At this point, I’m sorry to say, we need some wealthy Democrats to just bribe the hell out of Manchin and Dinema.  All moneies to be cut off if they accept a Repinlican dime.  That’s the apparent game.

  88. 88.

    Feather

    The fact that there are 49 people on the Brazilian judo team is a big part of the problem. For Olympic purposes, coaches and certain officials count as athletes, which may make logistical sense, but shows how the whole Olympic movement has wrong priorities.

    Watched the world figure skating championships in March, where the Russians just sort of ignored the COVID rules. Especially the ones about number of coaches.  Thankfully there wasn’t an outbreak, but this may have been because the Russian team had already had several COVID cases.

  89. 89.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @NotMax: In the late 90s when I was traveling to Lansing MI for work, on the way to the connecting flight in the Pittsburgh airport I saw a fast-food joint named Wok Don’t Run. Among many mad dashes for the puddle-jumper, I once actually had enough time to stop for takeaway. As I recall, whatever I had (which I don’t recall) was quite acceptable.  /trivia

  92. 92.

    Anonymous

    Must confess, when we were young, we made love in the great outdoors pretty commonly… up into our 30s or 40s. Sometimes even in the dark…

    Even indoors we weren’t in bed nearly 100% of the time

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