From the category archives:

Davos

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 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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Outrage of the Week: The Failure and Pretense of the World Economic Forum at Davos

February 2, 2007

One sees in this annual Alpine pilgrimage of Davos fragments of the grainy black and white movies showing the imperial families of Europe gathering in their toy soldier costumes and opulent surroundings, oblivious to the marshaling clouds of change and discontent that would bring their primacy to an end. Fortunately, the annual spectacle known as [...]

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Social Entrepreneurship Not Invented at Davos

January 30, 2007

The New York Times’s Nicholas Kristof visited the World Economic Forum at Davos last week and came back impressed by the idea of social entrepreneurship. As his column observes today: But perhaps the most remarkable people to attend aren’t the world leaders or other bigwigs. Rather, they are the social entrepreneurs. Davos, which has always [...]

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