Dear Mick, While I've loved the world cup since I was a little kid but after reading the attached article I am reminded that ignorance is not always bliss. It's about some of the hidden costs of hosting a world cup. Let me know if you think you find it an interesting read or not. Dear Limey, That is really interesting. I did not know any of that. It is kind of sickening in a way, especially in South Africa. Collecting tax revenue would be a great way to stage World Cups in smaller poorer countries. Thus, it irritates me though I am not sure how much money in South Africa is lost by this since a lot of the sales are going to be in the informal sector anyway and hotels and restaurants are already taxed via VAT. However, here is where it really irritates and annoys me. Sepp Blatter is a lying Dear Mick, I am pretty much in agreement with you although and there is always a but... given the cost of new stadiums there is little chance of the Caribbean or Central American nations hosting the world cup with it being a joint bid. That leaves it to being a North American affair with only Mexico and the US standing a real chance to host the event as attested by the US bid to host the 2018 World Cup. In my heart I would love to see some sort of joint bid within CONCACAF but as that is not likely to happen and I believe hosting the world cup means more to the people here in Europe, especially in the UK, than it would for the average Joe in the US I'm pretty much backing the UK bid. If you ask the average Brit would they trade the Olympics for the world cup the answer would be "Hell YES!" What really gets my goat is this rumor that FIFA is discouraging joint bids. Without joint bits moving forward how will smaller countries ever be able host a World cup due to the prohibitive cost? The last time a small to midsized nation hosted the WC was back in 1978 Argentina and that was with 16 teams; since the larger format no country with less than approx. 40 million has hosted it. Shoot the last joint bid, which was bad mouthed by the way, had a combined population of 175 million people and were both developed nations (South Korea and Japan 2002). It is bad enough the fact that the last time a small nation won the world cup was back in 1950 Uruguay and the only country with a population of or about 20 million to win was Argentina. Let's face it, the odds are heavily against small nations on the pitch ever winning and now FIFA wants to make it virtually impossible for them to host it. The FIFA World Cup is starting to look more and more like the UN security counsel than the General Counsel in terms of winning and hosting. If not for the qualifying rounds they should not even use the title "World Cup" maybe they should just call it the FIFA CUP.
So my good buddy, Limey, and I have had a discussion over the past few days about FIFA taxes and the World Cup. What spawned this discussion was an article on BBC about the taxes FIFA pays (or does not pay.) With his permission, I am posting our edited comments.
if the US doesn't get the World Cup 2018. Now before you dismiss this, follow my logic. According to FIFA policy, there is supposed to be a continental rotation of the World Cup. In 2018, it is the turn of CONCACAF. The US, like Brazil in 2014, is the only federation bidding. That did not stop Brazil from procuring it becuase it was going to CONMEBOL anyway. However, now they are supposedly opening up 2018 to European bids (four of them.) I am not saying that the USA has to have the World Cup again, though it still stands as the World Cup with the highest attendance despite having 8 fewer teams than the current allotment of 32 (and thus fewer matches.) What I am saying is that is should go to CONCACAF...period. I would love to see Mexico, Canada, or a confederation of say 8-10 Carribbean Islands bid. It would be a bonanza. Can you imagine? Matches in Antigua, Barbados, Dominica, St. Kitts, Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica, etc? Have those teams qualify regularly through the process so obviously not all would make it, but then allow the non-qualifiers to play a tournament for the one host country automatic bid. These islands have the tourism infratstructure to hold the people and by upgrading the stadia, it could work. Why not have a truly Central American World Cup by having a joint Costa Rica/Panama bid. Simple. Because of this stupid greed, the small countries cannot afford it. FIFA is backwards. If the game is going to truly help the world, this tax policy has to go. South Africa made it over the line to host this because they could afford to...barely. Other countries that might be very suitable (Costa Rica and Panama would be amazing as would the islands)...will not be able to do so and that stinks. What do you think?
27 June 2010
The Mick and Limey Show Returns to discuss taxes and future World Cups
31 May 2009
The Mick and Limey Show Part 1
In 1999, when I was at Howard University, Alex, one of my best friends, and I decided to host our own radio show. It was on the AM Howard University student radio station. For several months we did a morning show. We called it the Mick and Limey show since I have Irish ancestry and he has English roots. It was a hilarious exercise that ended when we became sick of waking up before 6am each morning.
Well, the Mick and Limey show is back on air, except this time we are on-line. Alex and I exchange e-mails all the time. I've decided to post some of those exchanges! Here is our latest. Enjoy
From Limey to Mick:
Are we beginning to see the sun setting on the US empire or am I missing something? Gone seem to be the days when the US said something and people would fall into line or powers would fall eg. Chile. Today, even the banana republics are beginning to talk smack without much fear. Piracy is rampant on the high seas, Isreal will not listen, North Korea, Burma and Zim are like whatever. My question would be what happened to weight of the US? Where did it go and when did it leave?
Was it after Vietnam with Panama and Grenada simple sideshows to fool us into thinking the US still had real power. Shoot, the UK fought and won the falklands war but no one with any real sense would consider us to have any power but there are still some crackpots. Sadly we call them the media.
Yes we all know the US has the largest most powerful army but what good is it if you can't use due to the political and economic ramifications? Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying your 15 mins is about up just yet and I'm no neo-con...shoot I'm not even an American all I'm saying is these are interesting times which we live.
Thoughts,
Limey
From Mick to Limey:
Limey,
I think you are spot on on many points. Let's hope the sun is setting to some degree. (Though I'd still rather see the USA in the lead than China or Russia.) Absolute power corrupts absolutely. The US financial meltdown is evidence of that. How a few bankers managed to rip off the world and screw up the entire financial sector...eish. That's another story.
Here's the problem. The US is the world's largest debtor. It owes the world in its own currency. So if the $ falls to precipitously, it makes that debt owed worthless. The US just prints more money, and voila...it's out of debt, it's economy has taken a hit, but not a non-recoverable one. What's crazy is that despite all the anti-Americanism, frustration with foreign policy, etc., nobody wants to see the US economy fall because with it, then so too goes the world economy.
Politically, Bush messed it up. Full stop. I said this in 2004. On September 12, 2001, George W. Bush woke up as the most powerful man in world history. He was the leader of the most powerful empire and he had the entire world's sympathy. Imagine that..the whole world felt sorry for the big guy. How often has that happened? Over the next seven plus years, he managed to successfully erode that sympathy to the point where it had switched to loathing. Nice job there Bubba.
We are not safer. We are far poorer (from a balanced budget Clinton to the world's biggest debtor in 8 years). And US prestige has been eroded, perhaps beyond repair. Translation: Osama accomplished his goal of bringing down the US empire!
It's been frustrating to watch if you believe in America. If you believe the US had too much power, it's been a thing of beauty. I do think little countries such as Chile, etc., won't get too carried away because they need the US. But you are 100% correct that the days of Uncle Sam saying something and the rest of the world kowtowing are gone.
Cheers,
Mick
