its official sydney fireworks are boring, page-19

"Australia

The balmy summer night in Sydney was split by 7 tons of fireworks fired from rooftops and barges, many cascading from the city's Harbor Bridge, in a $6.9 million pyrotechnic extravaganza billed by organizers as the world's largest."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2012/dec/31/new-years-eve-countdown-2013

It might be the $6.9 million, gone up in smoke, as a reason why many of us feel this way.

Ten years at that rate, becomes $69 million. A lot of money, during these supposedly tough times.