From the category archives:

World Economic Forum

The Frayed Plumage of the Davos Mentality

January 31, 2010

The czars and kings of Europe could not grasp why the people revolted against the high taxes, low wages, and hunger inflicted upon them by those who knew only opulence and self-aggrandizement.  The Davos mentality still cannot fully understand the resentment of a public saddled with massive unemployment and a bill for bailouts and social [...]

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Davos: The Spectacle of the Desperately Discredited Attempting to Flee the Apocalypse of their Own Creation

February 2, 2009

What the regulars at this fabled Swiss resort did not appear to grasp is that the breezier than usual air this year was the cold wind of change brought on by the bitter storm of betrayal and personal devastation that millions around the world have felt as a result of Wall Street’s greed and the [...]

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The Lehman CEO as Superman, and Other Myths in an Era of Underwhelming and Overpaid Leaders

October 8, 2008

When the market is going up, much of the world treats CEOs like superheroes who are worth every penny of the extraordinary sums they command. But when fate and fortune retreat and reverse direction, these CEOs suddenly claim only to be human, an attribute with which they had previously never shown much familiarity. It was, [...]

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The Real Davos Question

January 28, 2008

The chic thing to do this year at the World Economic Forum was for top leaders to answer what was called the “Davos question:” What one thing do you think that countries, companies or individuals must do to make the world a better place in 2008? The answers were posted on You Tube. No investment [...]

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Outrage of the Week: Democracy’s Muted Voice at Davos

January 26, 2008

How much further will it go to appease the non-democratic holders of oil wealth or American debt? After its major banks and corporations have succumbed to the influence that multi-billion dollar investment stakes invariably enjoy, will American foreign policy someday become a commodity to be bought and sold like offshore-made pieces of patio furniture at [...]

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What the Subprime Meltdown and Davos Have in Common

January 24, 2008

This is a group, like the aloof royal families of early 20th century Europe, that seems chronically incapable of responding to reality until devastation arrives on stilts. The timing was remarkable. In the same week that began with the world’s credit-battered capital markets falling off a cliff, the world’s rich and powerful opened their annual [...]

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