Hosting the 2028 Olympics is proving to be a $6.9 billion logistical nightmare for Los Angeles. The city last hosted the games in 1984—when the unemployment rate stood at nearly 8% on the back of the 1981–82 recession—leaving a legacy of heightened police repression and brutal street sweeps of the homeless. Flash forward 40 years, and the prospect of the Olympics operating smoothly looks even more grim. The city is in the throes of a social crisis; across LA County, rents have increased 75% since the pandemic, housing prices are up 37.5%, and 64,000 people are homeless.

The capitalists are intent on ensuring that billions in Olympic revenues will benefit big corporations at the expense of the workers who actually make the games run. There are 36,000 workers in LA’s tourism industry, and unions representing hotel, airport, and transportation workers are demanding an “Olympic wage” of $30 an hour by 2028. To win even this modest demand, workers will need to wage a militant campaign, using their collective power to shut down Olympic preparations and, if necessary, the games themselves.

Transit turmoil

LA’s notoriously car-dependent infrastructure is incapable of handling the influx of tourists, fans, media, etc., so the LA Metro set a goal of completing 28 new public transit projects in time for the Olympics. Currently, only three are finished. Seven more are under construction, and at least ten are not scheduled for completion until after the games.

In January, the Federal Transit Administration pledged $1 billion of the $2 billion required to construct an extension of the Metro’s K Line to SoFi Stadium in Inglewood. In common with many other Olympic projects, the “people mover”—as the extension has been dubbed—is already seriously behind schedule. It’s currently estimated to be finished in 2030.

The K Line extension isn’t about getting people where they need to go as efficiently as possible, but rather, transporting tourists and sports enthusiasts to multibillion dollar stadiums that generate hefty profits for their already wealthy owners.

The capitalists are intent on ensuring that billions in Olympic revenues will benefit big corporations at the expense of the workers who actually make the games run. / Image: Los Angeles, Wikimedia Commons

Budget cuts and Democratic hypocrisy

Now, Democrat Maxine Waters, congresswoman for Southern LA, has put her foot down on the people mover, advocating a $200 million budget cut for the project. In addition to citing its high cost, she has also warned it will exacerbate displacement, homelessness, and gentrification.

Waters is right to be concerned. However, gentrification, homelessness, rent increases, and unemployment are all the result of the capitalist system in which profits trump human needs—the same system Waters has faithfully served, since 1976 first in the California State Assembly and later in the US House.

Billions for war, table scraps for transit

The people mover debacle shouldn’t distract from the fact that LA and other cities across America, are in desperate need of investment in public transportation. 77% of Americans favor expanding public transit, but budget cuts, construction delays, and meek compromises stand in the way. Meanwhile, the Biden-Harris administration’s 2025 budget calls for over $850 billion in military spending. The capitalists always find money for bombs, fighter jets, and bloody proxy wars to advance American imperialist interests, yet they claim their pockets are empty when it comes to public transportation.

Contrary to what the ruling class wants us to believe, there are more than enough resources to go around. It’s the anarchy of the market and the capitalists’ relentless drive for profit that imposes artificial scarcity on us. The economy is not rationally planned to meet the needs of society. Instead, workers get specks of crumbs that fall from the class enemy’s table. Only under a nationalized, democratically-planned economy can workers begin to revolutionize the transportation sector by rapidly expanding free, efficient, and low-emissions public transit to reduce traffic, ensure pedestrian safety, and combat the climate crisis.