Fake Stores for a Crumbling Economy

While this storefront in Northern Ireland looks like it's a merry place full of meat, it's actually full of lies. In anticipation of the G8 conference in June, empty shops and abandoned buildings around the country were plastered in cheery faux-stores and images of local landmarks. The country's leaders spent two million pounds to cover up signs of a crumbling economy. Presumably, their hope was that the G8 attendees, zooming past in their limos, wouldn't see that the stores were as flat as the employment rate.

Via Atlantic Cities.