The 31st Olympic summer games are underway in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and thousands of athletes and spectators from around the world have gathered for the event which will serve as prime time entertainment for the next couple of weeks. Every four years an insane amount of money is dumped into the spectacle as host cities and the Olympic committee construct arenas, stadiums and press quarters, leaving megalithic ruins in their wake.

Most of the news coverage about the events in Rio are centered around the pomp and splendor of athleticism, hoping to portray the affair as an opportunity for the world to feel united in sport, yet the truth is always hidden from the highlights and coverage: the world is suffering from terrible inequality and the fallout of economic tyranny, and the divide between the haves and have-nots is now greater than it has ever been.

Rio de Janeiro is an increasingly troubled city, known for its sprawling favelas, where the poor live in zinc-roofed shacks, rivaled only by the slums of India. Yet some $4.6 billion has been spent already in creating the facilities for the 2016 summer olympics, which will be used for just two weeks, then forgotten, and when all other expenses are factored in, some $12 billion dollars will be spent on the show. Meanwhile, the average monthly salary in Brazil is around $778, which explains why so much of Rio is so desperately poverty-stricken.







Historically, the Olympics do very little to support or boost local economies, and the sad fact that local taxpayers will be footing a huge percentage of the bill means that the events are actually an enormous burden on cities like Rio.

“If the economics of huge sporting events is the same in Brazil as it is everywhere else it has been studied, then the Olympics will do nothing for the economy of Brazil, and nothing for the taxpayers there who were forced to pony up the cash to pay for it all.” [Source]

The world is fracturing at the seams at present, and in this recent photo from Rio, the stark contrast between manufactured reality and truth is clearly visible. Thousands of people are starving just outside of view of the cameras, poor people are being violently hustled out of sight by riot police, and crimes of desperation are rocking the city, yet, in the Olympic arena, paid security is doing its part to shelter event-goers from the harsh reality of life in one of the world’s most troubled cities.







This photo truly is like a scene from the popular movie The Hunger Games , where an insanely wealthy and oppressive world elite live in stupendous luxury amongst a world packed with second class citizens who are deliberately kept poor by the vampiric economic policies of the rich and powerful.

Mainstream media coverage of the events does a fabulous job of hiding reality from those of us who watch in the comfort of air-conditioned homes, restaurants and bars around the first world, but the truth is out there for those who have eyes to see. Yet, as the world faces ever-increasing troubles initiated by a global banking elite, it is becoming more and more difficult to conceal the cracks developing in society. Events like the Olympics are a wake up call to all middle class people of compassion and concern.