Does London Really Need the Olympics?

Five massive rings now hang from the Tower Bridge, and the Olympics logo will be brightly lit every night after the games begin later this month. But after the Queen's recent Jubilee, are Londoners excited or thoroughly underwhelmed? Traffic congestion has many working at home. There's commercial saturation, and public space has been sold to private investors. There will be warships in the River Thames, missile-launchers on apartment rooftops and 35,000 police and military personnel. London last hosted the Olympics in 1948 amid austerity in the aftermath of World War II. Amateur athletes slept on cots and brought their own towels. Will the "Spirit of the Olympics" finally overwhelm doubts about a $15 billion spectacle in the midst of economic recession?