Wednesday
I need an economic impact study
Answers to questions that only I was wondering about, part IV or V, I've lost track: When the giant clock/ art installation on Union Square South switched from simultaneously telling the time and telling the inverse time (hours, minutes, seconds, and hundredths of seconds until midnight), why did it start counting down to 6 or 7 AM (I forget which and the article I'm about to link to fails to specify) on July 6th?
My guess, when a friend first pointed the change out to me, was that it had been hijacked to count down to a movie premiere. I was pretty far off, it's a countdown to when the Olympic committee announces the winning bid for 2012. The one thing piece of information I'd like before deciding on whether or not I'm in favor of the Olympics in New York would be how much of the added tourism to New York would be diverted from the rest of the United States versus from the rest of the world. Though now that I write that, I'm not really sure which way that information would cut. I can see arguments in both directions.
Now that I'm actually thinking about this, here is the truly relevant cosmopolitan ethical concern: How much of the wealth generated by the Olympics being in New York would eventually end up in the hands of the global poor, and how quickly would it get there, as compared to the wealth generated by the Olympics being in Paris, which is the relevant alternative. I would guess that New York has both more and a higher percentage of immigrants, and since remittances are a big source of funds for many of the poorer nations, this seems to favor New York.
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My guess, when a friend first pointed the change out to me, was that it had been hijacked to count down to a movie premiere. I was pretty far off, it's a countdown to when the Olympic committee announces the winning bid for 2012. The one thing piece of information I'd like before deciding on whether or not I'm in favor of the Olympics in New York would be how much of the added tourism to New York would be diverted from the rest of the United States versus from the rest of the world. Though now that I write that, I'm not really sure which way that information would cut. I can see arguments in both directions.
Now that I'm actually thinking about this, here is the truly relevant cosmopolitan ethical concern: How much of the wealth generated by the Olympics being in New York would eventually end up in the hands of the global poor, and how quickly would it get there, as compared to the wealth generated by the Olympics being in Paris, which is the relevant alternative. I would guess that New York has both more and a higher percentage of immigrants, and since remittances are a big source of funds for many of the poorer nations, this seems to favor New York.
