Larry Ellison, Roy Disney, Mr. Kahn, Steve Fosset, and hundreds of other Billionairs here in the states, each one pursuing his own sailboat racing dream, and rightfully so, but how much money do each of them contribute towards the Olympic Saililng programs, or any US Sailing junior beginner program? How many little boats have they bought for inner city youth to learn to sail?

Personally, I have always been a bit upset by the amount of money US Sailing spends on things like the Olympics, vs. developing some real grass roots programs to bring sailing to more kids in middle schools and high schools all over the country. 99% of the dues paying members of US Sailing will never even see an Olympic regatta, let alone race in one, and most of the members have no desire -what so ever- to race in the Olympics, especially in those 40+ year old boats (470, Star)

Don't get me wrong, I think the Olympics are a great way for each country to measure it's best against the rest of the world, but that's all it is, and only once every 4 years, so why should US Sailing be so involved with any of it, when most of the members have no time or desire to compete in that way. I think all the US Olympic funding should be funded by private donations from some of our Super Sized Corporations, starting with Exxon! What did they make last year, only about $40 BILLION, I think they could write that check. Microsoft should pony up some dough too. Between just the two of them, money should not be an issue for our Olympic Atheletes here in the richest nation on earth. You should hunt down McDonalds and Coca Cola, the two biggest contributers to childhood obesity, and tell them to write the check to support some of the kids that DON'T spend all day on the couch watching the tube, sucking down fries and a Coke. That would help their image quite a bit.

Frankly I'm embarassed that our Olympic team has to beg for money at all. Other counties fund their teams off their national tax systems, we could always do that. Do we not have a "National Endowment for the Arts"?? that our tax dollars pay for? And what about that "bridge to nowhere" in Alaska? We will spend more tax money on that then the entire Olympic budget, summer and winter, for the next 4 years!