This post will be updated as Davos continues.
Day 3 - January 19 - E-mail from a sociologist taking part in the conference at Davos:
prez of China and IMF claiming that the populist wave is bucking the tide of history, which is still globalization despite the hiccups (seems a bit of an ostrich response). Xi angling himself as the grown up on the block and China as the engine of a more equitable "balanced and harmonious globalization" (as long as it's basically as China sees it).
Schwab, the originator of the WEF, saying that we need 2 things: 1. sublimating self interest to the common good (apart from Ayn rand turning in her grave like a lathe in response, one might ask "and what, exactly is the common good that can really motivate people to sacrifice?" Certainly not de-spiritualized globalization); and 2. that automatization and robotization should not leave humans in the lurch. So, what about all those lumpen laborers? Give them a guaranteed income while they retrain or retire (Really? not realizing that people with full stomachs, yet finding no purpose or significance, are much more likely to attempt revolution or resort to revolution than the poor).
Schwab, the originator of the WEF, saying that we need 2 things: 1. sublimating self interest to the common good (apart from Ayn rand turning in her grave like a lathe in response, one might ask "and what, exactly is the common good that can really motivate people to sacrifice?" Certainly not de-spiritualized globalization); and 2. that automatization and robotization should not leave humans in the lurch. So, what about all those lumpen laborers? Give them a guaranteed income while they retrain or retire (Really? not realizing that people with full stomachs, yet finding no purpose or significance, are much more likely to attempt revolution or resort to revolution than the poor).
Day 1
Davos Man Confronts Trumpocalypse
 |
| Davos selfie from years past |
With Trump an enigma to the movers and shakers of the world, one country has stepped into the breach to seize the attention of the planet's most famous elite conference: China.
PARIS—The village of Davos in the Swiss Alps has seen a lot, but it has never seen anything quite like the impact of Donald Trump. As the men and women who used to be called (or call themselves) “masters of the universe” assemble there at the World Economic Forum this week, the man who will be sworn in as President of the United States in Washington on Friday remains for most of them a mystery wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a Twitter account. ... MORE
PARIS—The village of Davos in the Swiss Alps has seen a lot, but it has never seen anything quite like the impact of Donald Trump. As the men and women who used to be called (or call themselves) “masters of the universe” assemble there at the World Economic Forum this week, the man who will be sworn in as President of the United States in Washington on Friday remains for most of them a mystery wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a Twitter account. ... MORE
Day 2
Explaining Trump to the Unsettled Elite
At Davos this year China’s premier appeared the un-Trumpian paladin of free trade, while the U.S. president-elect's "translator seemed unsure just what his boss believes.
Of course, if you believe all that, there are plenty of people with a couple of Alps to sell you. .... MORE
PARIS — What a relief! The World Economic Forum in Davos learned today that everything’s going to be okay. President-Elect Donald Trump didn’t really dump all over Europe and its unifying institutions over the weekend, or, well, he did but he didn’t mean it like it sounded: NATO is only kind of “obsolete,” Germany’s Angela Merkel opening the door to migrants was a “catastrophe,” but Trump really respects her a lot. So the high and mighty were told on the Davos stage by his soon-to-be assistant in the White House “office of liaison,” Anthony Scaramucci.
And in case you were worried about a China-United States trade war under the new administration—nah. No less an authority than Chinese Premier Xi Xinping declared himself to be an ardent free-trader, strongly opposed to protectionism, the new incarnation (although he didn’t quite say this) of Davos Man.
----------------------------------------------------
Many thanks to Adrian Monck and the communications team at the World Economic Forum for making so many of the sessions available in their entirety on live-streaming and embedded video (See below for a scroll through the videos so far and a full list of upcoming talks.)
From Day Two, going into Day Three:
From Day One and going into Day Two, Monck recommends:
From Day Two, going into Day Three:
|
From Day One and going into Day Two, Monck recommends:
|
[
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment