The London Olympics Hangover

London 2012 Olympics | BCBusiness
What will the morning after look like after the London 2012 Olympics?

While Europe is still in the throes of a financial crisis, much of the complaining in Britain has been muzzled by a successful Olympic run in London.

Rather than counting up a laundry list of expenses, Britain is busy counting Olympic medals.
 
Despite the United Kingdom and much of Europe being buried in debt and stagnating economies, the successful run of the London 2012 Olympics, which closed Sunday evening, has temporarily quelled the worries. Critics are silent, even though the expected cost for the Games skyrocketed to £9 billion (or $14.2 billion), which is around twice the estimated cost when London originally won the Games back in 2005.
 
While the British government estimates the long-term benefits from the Games will net the city around £13 billion, the fiscal outlook is worrisome, for the moment. According to the country’s central bank, Britain’s economy will not grow at all this year.
 
While there will obviously be a temporary boom from all the tourists and spending on Olympics merchandise and corresponding morale boost, those revenues will disappear rapidly. Ticket and T-shirt sales do not a booming economy make.