Closing time

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — The world’s foremost gathering of business and government leaders wrapped up a five-day meeting Sunday with widespread agreement that a fragile recovery is under way but no consensus on what’s going to spur job growth and prevent another global economic meltdown.

In a group of big egos and many power players attending the annual World Economic Forum, there was even some humility and a realization that overcoming the first global financial crisis is uncharted territory.

The gathering of some 2,500 VIPs in this Swiss alpine resort saw much spirited debate on whether more regulation is needed for the financial industry, how to boost sagging global unemployment, and finding ways to ensure the nascent recovery is kept on course through 2010.

The atmosphere of doom and gloom that pervaded last year’s forum, which took place at the height of the economic crisis, was replaced this year by a feeling of some satisfaction that a modest recovery is under way but uncertainty about the way forward and how banks should respond.

Continue reading Closing time

A few blog highlights

Forbes:

‘Not A Bang, Not A Whimper’

By ten o’clock this Sunday morning, forum personnel were already pairing up to remove the metal security barriers that enclose the Congress Center, while across the street at the Hotel Belvedere others were rolling up large reams of white tarp. The conference was lumbering to a quiet conclusion, but there would be one final word on financial regulation and the banking system.

‘Global Economic Recovery: Fragile, Bumpy and Uneven’

Recovery everywhere remains fragile and dependent on government stimulus monies in the absence of a robust return of private-sector demand. There are still plenty of potential trip wires to send the global economy tumbling into the feared double-dip recession—asset bubbles, commercial real estate, bad bank assets, carry trades unwinding, protectionism—but there was consensus that too-early exits from government stimulus programs were the greatest risk.

Continue reading A few blog highlights

Silence on Google

eric_schmidt.jpgEric Schmidt, chairman and CEO of Google, addresses a panel in Davos on Friday. (Photo courtesy of the WEF)

Marketplace’s Stephen Beard has filed this report on the growing rift between China and the United States over the issue of censorship:

Clearly, the biggest issue to confront officials at this year’s gathering in Davos is the question of banking regulations in light of the economic downturn.

The second issue, and one that’s not receiving nearly as much attention (but to my mind is equally important), is the state of U.S. -China relations.

It was widely anticipated that Google’s recent threat to pull out of China over cyber attacks and aggressive Chinese censorship would take center stage this year. This is especially true given what many consider to be China’s pronounced swagger at the recent conference on global warming in Copenhagen.

In fact, the Google issue, which by any estimate is an enormously important topic, has barely surfaced in a formal WEF setting. Various reports say that the Chinese insisted to WEF officials that they would not discuss Google at Davos.

As of now, it appears that the chest-thumping has succeeded in tamping down the issue almost entirely. There was apparently no mention of Google at several forums where it would be an obvious topic. Panelists of “Rise of Asia” and “Redesigning the Global Dimensions of China’s Growth” said nothing about Google. Even Eric Schmidt, Google’s chairman and CEO, has tread lightly (and politely) on the subject.

“We like what China is doing in terms of growth,” Schmidt said during a WEF press conference on Friday. “We just don’t like censorship. We hope that will change and we can apply some pressure to make things better for the Chinese people.”

One would think that the man who, as his own bio proclaims, invented the World Wide Web, might have strong feelings about China’s censorship. I caught up with Tim Berners-Lee during a break in the proceedings. Berners-Lee expressed regret “that China jailed a blogger and that it is still censoring the Internet,” and said that he “hopes that China realizes that openness is necessary. And that they become progressively more open before big pressure for change builds.”

Yet when asked about Google and whether it should remain in China, Berners-Lee said, “I can’t comment on that.” He then turned on his heels and departed.

It’s easy to interpret the official silence on Google as a symbol of China’s growing power. But, according to some long-time Davos Men, it says more about the culture of Davos itself than it does about any desire to appease the Chinese. It is, by WEF standards, better to avoid flash points than to alienate any shareholders in a growing global community. Even issues that should be considered sacrosanct, including freedom of speech, are taken off the table for the sake of a healthy dialogue. Following an edict of Winston Churchill, Davos believes that it’s “better to jaw-jaw than to war-war.”

But the bedrock issues remain: will China’s growing prosperity move it toward a more democratized society, or simply bolster its power to repress free speech?

Texas CEO Kenneth Hersh, who runs a $9.3 billion private equity firm predicts that it is a dynamic that will, in his words, “play out over a generation. The next 50 years are going to be very interesting.”

—Stephen Beard in Davos

'44 minutes'

julia.jpgJulia Lalla-Maharajh, founder of “End FGM Now” speaks at WEF panel on Saturday. (Photo courtesy of WEF)


In recent years, the WEF has offered YouTube users the chance to submit video essays directly to world leaders gathered at Davos. Subjects have included the fight against aging, world poverty and global warming.

This year, YouTube viewers voted to send Julia Lalla-Maharajh, a London-based advocacy adviser, to Davos to take part in a discussion on female genital mutilation. Her winning video, embedded below, contains a gut-wrenching description of FGM (including the amount of time that the procedure takes). But Lalla-Maharajh addresses the issue with intelligence and compassion. It’s easy to see why she was selected to speak at Davos.

Lalla-Maharajh addressed the conference earlier today and, in an interesting aside, she also encountered former president Bill Clinton in the halls of the WEF. She took the opportunity to tell Clinton about her cause. The interaction offers a good illustration of how work gets done at Davos.

Here’s the video that earned Lalla-Maharajh the right to speak at the WEF:

Summers: reform is coming

summers.jpgLawrence Summers speaks in Davos on Friday. (Photo courtesy of WEF)

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — Confronting bankers head on, President Barack Obama’s top economic adviser told them Friday to put their customers first and insisted the U.S. government would push through new banking reforms despite pressure from lobbyists. “Our challenge now is to put in place a new system,” said Lawrence H. Summers, telling a crowd at the World Economic Forum that the reforms wouldn’t last forever but should be able to protect a generation from banking excesses.

Summers, the top U.S. official in Davos this year, said there needed to be rules restraining how risky these banks can become. His session came after three days of complaints from senior officials in the banking industry that governments - and the U.S., in particular - risked choking off growth with a glut of new financial regulations.

The level of anxiety among financiers at the new populist push was reflected in a series of closed-door meetings at Davos on the subject of the regulation proposals, and bankers and financial regulators were expected to meet again Saturday on the forum’s sidelines to discuss a range of issues, officials said.

Summers was adamant that “we are going to put in place a set of reforms that will make a real difference.”

Continue reading Summers: reform is coming

A busy 'wocial' life

blog_party_96230268.jpgPublisher Hubert Burda, right, talks to Roland Berger, left, and Josef Ackermann, CEO of Deutsche Bank AG, during the Burda DLD Nightcap 2010 party at the Bellvedere Hotel on Jan. 27, 2010 in Davos. (Photo: Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)

Saving the world is really hard work — just ask a punch-drunk Master of the Universe after a long day of handshaking and speechifying in Davos. So when the seminars are done for the day, many attendees head to bars or cafes for a little R&R.

Davos is famous for its party scene. A lucky few will be invited to parties in chateaus on the outskirts of town. Others will go to some of the more popular bars and restaurants such as the Cabanna Club or Bar Bistro.

There was some concern that a moribund economy and various global crises would put a dent in the social scene. Some of the usual heavy hitters, including Rupert Murdoch, have stayed away this year (as if he, of all people, would really liven up a soiree). But people always need to eat, drink, and flirt. Thus while the mood is more subdued than in previous years, the tradition continues.

As we write, the much-hyped Google party is in full swing. Although an invitation to the gathering is highly coveted, not everyone’s impressed. “It’s probably just a bunch of dorks standing around looking for free liquor,” said one bitter media type who did not receive an invitation.

One of the most prominent players in the Davos party circuit is Barry Colson, a Canadian performer who treks to the Alps each year to entertain the WEF masses at a piano bar in the Hotel Europe. Marketplace’s Christopher Werth caught up with Colson earlier this week. And today he had this story on the Marketplace show:

Kate Weinberg of London’s Telegraph describes Davos nightlife, where a distinct hybrid of work and socializing gets its own name:

“Davos is, after all, the highest form of “wocial”. For those who don’t know - or don’t have to go - the wocial is an event that is part work, part social. It is the brunch of the business world. People are casual, but nobody is entirely relaxed. There is drink, but it’s unwise to get drunk. Conversations may be informal, but they are supposed to be important.

“The hierarchy of wocials in Davos is tangible. Every evening a certain buzz travels through the frosty air, similar to that in a music festival, about which is the best gig in town. Private rooms in restaurants are taken over by companies and campaigners who, intent on luring investors and good press, throw red wine and rosti at the problem.”

“Wocial,” at least to this observer, sounds a lot like “Mwork.” As in just “more work.”

Displaced person

Marketplace’s Christopher Werth walked into a press conference in Davos only to be suddenly ushered back outside through the snow and into a simulation of a refugee camp; to his surprise, he became a willing participant in a bit of street theater enacted by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to bring awareness to the plight of refugees and internally displaced people. For the next 20 minutes, he and a group of ten other WEF attendees (including economist Jeffrey Sachs ) were corralled by armed soldiers. Still wobbly from the experience, Werth filed this dispatch shortly after his “release”:

blog_refugee.jpg(Photo: Christopher Werth / Marketplace)

Our guide led us through the snow and down a hill towards a makeshift shack that was decorated to look like a home in Afghanistan, with rugs and pillows on the floor. The women were made to wear head scarves. With a single knock at the door, a group of men and women playing the part of town locals pulled everyone in, screaming “the rebels have stormed the city.”

Suddenly, the room went black, as soldiers armed with machine guns and flashlights burst into the room, yelling “get down, get down” and pushing us to the floor. Then we were forced through a maze of rooms, and made to empty our pockets at the gate of a barbed wire enclosure.

The feeling was incredibly tense. Even when you know it’s a simulation, the constant screaming and disorientation of the lights going on off gets to you. After 20 minutes, it was all over. But I admit to be shaken and disoriented.

That’s exactly  the intention of the UNCHR, which hopes to influence some of the policy makers in Davos this week and to bring attention  to the plight of 42 million internally displaced people around the world.

It appears to be working, at least in my small group.  ”Even in a few minutes of being pulled into a world of violence, rebels, land mines, shots in the night—and of course this is the reality for so many people—it triggers lots of emotions,” Jeffrey Sachs told me after the simulation. “It’s an extraordinary experience.”

blog_refugees.jpgLord Malloch Brown takes part in the Refugee Run, which the former UN deputy secretary-general described as “compelling.” (Photo copyright of Global Hand UK)

Sachs went on to describe a possible solution to the plight of refugees, at least for some. “Sustainable development is a path to peace,” he said. “A lot of the violence in the world results from places of hunger, places experiencing extreme deprivation, they are the most prone areas to dislocation, and if we can help people to find a foothold in the world that gives education for children, and access to food and water, we’ll avoid a lot of these tragedies.”

—Christopher Werth in Davos

At the press conference mentioned above, Sachs also called on the United States, Europe and other nations and international organizations to set up a relief and development fund for earthquake-ravaged Haiti:

Terrorist monetary policy

It seems that everyone, including fugitive terrorist masterminds, wants a place at the table in Davos.

According to the WSJ, Osama bin Laden has added his voice to the mix by releasing a statement that’s clearly intended to coincide with the WEF gathering.

In an audio tape sent today to Al Jazeera Television, bin Laden urges his minions to move away from the Dollar and to “get rid of this currency as early as possible.” According to the WSJ, Bin Laden also blames the west for global warming.

In a snarky aside, the WSJ points out that bin Laden’s rant was similar in theme to the WEF talk given by French President Nicholas Sarkozy two days ago.

$10 billion for vaccines

gates_410b.jpgBill and Melinda Gates announce $10 billion vaccine funding at the WEF conference in Davos on Friday. (photo courtesy of WEF)

(AP) The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will donate $10 billion over the next decade to research new vaccines and bring them to the world’s poorest countries, the Microsoft co-founder and his wife said Friday.

Calling upon governments and business to also contribute, they said the money will produce higher immunization rates and aims to make sure that 90 percent of children are immunized against dangerous diseases such as diarrhea and pneumonia in poorer nations.

“We must make this the decade of vaccines,” Bill Gates said in a statement. “Vaccines already save and improve millions of lives in developing countries. Innovation will make it possible to save more children than ever before.”

Continue reading $10 billion for vaccines

Clinton: Obama right on Bernanke

Former President Bill Clinton tells reporters in Davos that Obama was right to reappoint Ben Bernanke as head of the Federal Reserve. Here’s a transcript of the interview with Clinton, via Forbes:

“To tell you the truth, I have been so caught up in this Haiti job that I have for the U.N. that I have not studied his [Obama’s] proposals, and I can’t comment. I will say this: I think he is right to reappoint Mr. Bernanke, for two reasons. One is that I think since this crisis occurred in September of 2008, Bernanke’s decisions have been very good, they have kept the American economy going and given us a chance to heal. Secondly, he said something that is very important to say, that the crisis occurred because regulation in the past had been too lax. So I think the beginning is to confirm him and reward both his acknowledgment of the past lax regulation and his service since the financial meltdown…

Continue reading Clinton: Obama right on Bernanke

The Caribbean Alps?

Marketplace’s Christopher Werth files this dispatch from Davos:

There’s an interesting conversation going on in Davos over the future of Swiss banking in light of international regulation efforts. The discussion (including a panel at the Open Forum, a kind of workingman’s WEF accessible to all as opposed to the global elite), focuses on the vaunted confidentiality rules that keep account information away from investigators and ex-wives.

Niall Ferguson, a Harvard historian and economist, fears the current global clamor for regulation could be a potential boon to Swiss banks, which stand to simply sidestep the global clampdown on tax havens. “If you think back six months or so, it looked as if tax havens all over the world were essentially going to be closed down,” Ferguson told Marketplace. “And Swiss banking confidentiality was going to be one of the casualties of that process. At the moment it seems much less certain that that’s going to happen because all the politicians are focused on the domestic opinion polls and coming up with quick fixes that are going to get them off those domestic political hooks.”

As many countries struggle to accumulate capital, Swiss banks have remained a popular repository for hard currency. This, in turn, means there’s plenty of cash sloshing around in the Swiss economy. So any talk of abandoning the very thing that has led to Swiss banking dominance leads to a visceral response from many quarters.

There is some historical precedent here. During World War II, Swiss banking secrecy (along with its neutrality) made it an attractive draw for millions of wartime Dollars and Reichsmarks. And today, according to economist Paul Collier, author of “The Bottom Billion,” a large chunk of the billions in foreign aid sent to Africa has taken the scenic route into Swiss accounts as a result of corruption within many African governments.

Thus if Swiss banks manage to bob and weave away from new regulations, they could maintain their preeminence as the world’s best tax dodge. But the question Ferguson asks: “Does Switzerland really want the reputation as the Cayman Islands with snow?”

—Christopher Werth in Davos

Signs of contrition?

Felix Salmon of Reuters offers a rather scathing view of the Davos gathering and its culpability in various financial woes. Salmon writes that, “…what I see none of in the programme is an indication that much if not all of the crisis was caused by the arrogance of Davos Man and by his unshakeable belief that the combined efforts of the world’s richest and most powerful individuals would surely make the world a better, rather than a worse, place.”

Salmon blasts the assembly for its ritualized ego-stroking and, as he sees it, startling lack of self-reflection.

“Now that it’s clear that many of them were leading us off that cliff, there’s still no sign of contrition, although you can be sure that a few fingers will be pointed at various past attendees who aren’t here to defend themselves. Is anybody here seriously examining the idea that Davos was institutionally responsible, at least in part, for the economic and financial catastrophe which befell the world in 2008?”

Continue reading Signs of contrition?

'A u-shaped dynamic'

Economist Nouriel Roubini warns that a second global recession is possible if governments retreat too swiftly from their stimulus programs.

In an interview from Davos with Bloomberg Television today, Roubini, an economics professor at New York University, also warned that allowing stimulus programs to linger for too long could result in inflation and, ultimately, a “fiscal train wreck.”

Roubini, who accurately predicted a financial meltdown, is described as either “Mr.” or “Dr. Doom,” depending on the source.

Here’s a piece of the Roubini interview, in which he describes his hopes for a steady recovery, with a caveat:

“My main scenario is one of a U-shaped economic recovery rather than a double-dip W, so I see the high probability of a slow recovery in advanced economies. But I also see risk of a double-dip rising, especially if there’s a policy mistake like exiting too soon from the stimulus, or exiting too late, so that’s a tough choice for policymakers.”

The full interview:

A plea for Haiti

clinton_schwab.jpgWEF founder Klaus Schwab, right, and former president Bill Clinton lead a special session on Haiti in Davos on Thursday. (Photo by Remy Steinegger)


DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — Former President Bill Clinton - his penchant for public speaking unbowed - called Thursday for more help for earthquake-ravaged Haiti, telling the World Economic Forum that the country is determined to escape its troubled past.

“This is an opportunity to reimagine the future for the Haitian people, to build what they want to become, not rebuild what they used to be,” Clinton, a U.N. special envoy to Haiti, told this influential gathering of business and political leaders at the Swiss resort of Davos.

Citing a litany of woes - a lack of food, water, even trucks to distribute what aid has arrived - he called for “cash more than anything else.” But if anyone had some pickup trucks, Clinton said he could use those too.

“I need 100 yesterday,” Clinton said.

Continue reading A plea for Haiti

Sarkozy goes on offense

sarkozy_web.jpgFrench president Nicolas Sarkozy delivers the opening address in Davos on Jan. 27. (Photo by Sebastian Derungs)

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy, in a broad riposte to free-market capitalism, told a room full of international bankers and CEOs Wednesday just what they didn’t want to hear: Brace for bonus curbs, tighter banking regulations and new bookkeeping rules.

It was a brazen posture for the World Economic Forum, a gathering of business and political elite at a Swiss ski resort that in many ways embodies the globalized economy. Many in the crowd — including those whose companies are starting to recover after a crushing year — bristled at Sarkozy’s keynote speech, calling it simplistic and populist. Indeed, it echoed rallying cries of workers from the United States to Europe and Asia. And it was prescient, coming just hours before President Barack Obama’s first State of the Union address, where he is expected to address reforming Wall Street.

“There are remuneration packages that will no longer be tolerated because they bear no relationship to merit,” Sarkozy said, calling it “morally indefensible” when companies that “contribute to destroying jobs and wealth also earn a lot of money.”

The comment drew a lone clap, while the rest of the hall stayed silent.

Continue reading Sarkozy goes on offense

First impressions

blog_opening.jpg(Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images)

Stephen Beard, Marketplace’s London bureau chief, arrived in Davos yesterday. He offers a few observations of the early hours at the 2010 WEF gathering:

At this very early stage of the conference, the general mood is rather muted.

This is my first visit to Davos. Last year, as I understand it, it was very much like a wake. Everyone was still shell-shocked and really didn’t know if the entire global economy was going to go under. Many bankers, of course, stayed away and many of the parties were cancelled.

This year, at least on this first day, it doesn’t seem to be much better. It appears that Davos has not recovered entirely from last year’s crash. There are more bankers on the scene, but still not all of them. Although the conference has a reputation for celebrities and throngs of people, there is really not the kind of crush that I had expected (this even though WEF officials say the attendance is as healthy as ever).

Davos takes its role very seriously. For at least a decade, this annual event has been preaching the gospel of globalization, free markets and deregulation. Even while other economists were predicting in 2005, 2006, 2007 of an impending crash, there were no such warnings coming out of Davos. They missed it completely, and I believe there is still some disorientation from that failing.

So it seems that Davos Man is still struggling to find his footing.

Stephen Beard in Davos

A (slight) breach in protocol

jennings_davos_web.gifPhillip J. Jennings speaks during seminar on compensation at WEF. (Photo by Michael Wuertenberg.)

WEF attendees are a notoriously polite bunch. But on opening day, a Welsh labor leader broke with Davos tradition to voice his displeasure over executive pay. This according to the New York Times.

“Working people are angry,” said Phillip J. Jennings, general secretary of the UNI Global Union, a group based in Nyon, Switzerland. “We are financing the bailout. What we are seeing is obscene.”

When one panel member took umbrage at Jennings’ tone, the Welshman shot back, “I see it as my job to raise the temperature. Sorry.”

It wasn’t exactly a chair-throwing town hall meeting on health care. But by Davos standards, it was still a bit of a dust-up. It may also be a sign of growing populist sentiments within the conference.

Davos piano man

Piano_Man_web.jpgBarry Colson performs at the Tonic Bar in Davos. (Photo by Christopher Werth)

Maketplace reporter Christopher Werth arrived in Davos last night and is trying his best to stay warm. Werth caught up with piano player Barry Colson a few hours ago in the lobby of the Hotel Europe. Colson looked a bit rough around the edges, as you’d expect from a man who works the graveyard shift. Here’s Werth’s dispatch from Davos:

The town of Davos was surprisingly empty last night as delegates began to arrive for the WEF conference. But the Tonic Bar at the Hotel Europe was packed shoulder-to-shoulder until the early hours of the morning.

Barry Colson, whose nightly performance here draws the likes of Peter Gabriel, appears to be top dog in the over-crowded, cut-throat Davos piano bar circuit.

The Halifax, Nova Scotia resident does a month-long stint at the bar each January and has done so for the last 17 years. He’s earned a degree of fame among some of the wealthiest and most powerful people on the planet who (with apologies to Billy Joel), stop by “to forget about the global economy for a while…” It is common for après-seminar partiers to sing and dance along with Colson and his trusty drum machine until 4:30 in the morning.

Colson says that despite talk of austerity at Davos, he hasn’t noticed a big shift in what people like to hear. Irrespective of trade imbalances or housing slumps, the crowds still request “Feel” by Robbie Williams and, predictably, Joel’s “Piano Man.”

Last night, there were over a hundred revelers at the Tonic Bar. Still, in the last few years Colson has noticed a marked drop-off in the crowds.

Just in case, maybe it’s time he learned “Tobacco Road.”

Christopher Werth in Davos


Here’s Colson and an unidentified crooner at Davos, 2008:

What about the robots?

For all the gray matter in Davos this week, the assembled dignitaries aren’t always spot-on with their predictions.

In truth, there are probably more hits than misses. But the misses are so much more amusing. The Washington Post lists a few that caught our eye.

Take CEO Ken Lay boasting in 2001 that his wonderful company Enron was a model of a “21st century corporation.” Within five years, Enron was bankrupt and Lay had been found guilty of fraud.

Or Bill Gates’ 2004 pronouncement that “Two years from now, spam will be solved.”

Our favorite came in 1998 from two scientists who predicted the rise of smart robots and their inevitable global domination. Humans, they said, will be reduced to cuddly pets for their robotic masters.

Of course, the robot prediction hasn’t come true. Yet.

No wine-ing

If you’re searching for a symbol of the new austerity at Davos, look no further than the cancellation of the wine tasting that was once a highlight of the annual conference.

Last year, Klaus Schwab, the founder of the WEF, put the kabosh on the much-beloved tasting. Unlike those tin-eared bank execs and their private jets, Schwab realized that quaffing clarets in Davos was the wrong image to send out to the world.

Attendees (including reporter Gideon Rachman of the Financial Times), had hoped that stabilized markets would mean a return of the wine tasting.

Not so. In light of continuing economic woes, Schwab has cancelled the tasting indefinitely. “The new Puritanism is here to stay,” writes Rachman, who laments the passing of what he labels a “spectacular” tasting.

Yet capitalism and wine always find a way. A group of former (can we say “rogue”?) Davos employees put together their own group that they dubbed the “Wine Forum.”

Rachman was on hand for the premiere tasting at the Zurich Airport on Tuesday night, a perfect time and locale for arriving WEF delegates. If there’s a new austerity in Davos, it certainly wasn’t on display in Zurich. From Rachman:

Jancis Robinson of the FT was mistress-of-ceremonies and the wines were provided by Krug, and Chateaus Cheval Blanc and Yquem. One of the malign results of globalisation is that these wines, which were once affordable to the likes of me, are now global brands cherished by the super-rich and so mesmerisingly expensive. I’ve never understood why the anti-globalisation movement doesn’t make more of this issue. The 1959 Chateau Yquem that we tasted last night now sells for about £1600 a bottle - each gulp that I took would have made a small contribution to paying off my mortgage.

On the ground and on the air

Access to the Conference Centre in Davos is very tightly limited, but Marketplace’s Stephen Beard secured a media pass and is reporting from inside the Forum. He filed a story for Marketplace on Tuesday, and talked with Marketplace Morning Report host Steve Chiotakis this morning, looking at what attendees and observers might expect.

Also on today’s Morning Report, Bill Radke talked to Davos attendee Bill Gross, CEO of the Pasadena company eSolar, about his eco-initiative building solar thermal plants in China, and what message he wants to share at the Forum.

Davos at 40

davos_setup_lighting_tech.jpgA technician prepares the plenary room on the eve of the World Economic Forum. (Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images)

For the next five days, some 2,500 global leaders will meet in Davos, Switzerland, for the 40th annual World Economic Forum. Presidents, academics, CEOs, and a few earnest rock stars will gather in the elegant Alpine ski town with the collective purpose of talking through the world’s problems. The hope is that attendees will leave Davos feeling emboldened to act.

By any accounting, it is an extraordinary critical mass of intellect, power and prestige. But the meeting has earned both praise and scorn for the ideas that echo from its conference rooms.

This year marks a symbolic shift from youth to middle age. Even the title of the conference, (“Rethink, Redesign, Rebuild”) brings to mind someone who’s hit 40 and decides to stagger down the path of self-improvement. Attendees will address a host of problems, including global economic imbalances, salvation for Haiti, and climate change.

Yet, for all its intellectual firepower, there are still plenty of opportunities to socialize. Even in this era of economic woes, Davos is also about hitting the slopes, cutting a few deals and pressing the flesh — sort of an international version of speed-dating, where that guy you just met might be responsible for the economy of Ghana. In years past, tipsy attendees have been spotted at a piano bar singing old Billy Joel tunes. Others have been lucky enough to get an invite to a billionaire’s rented chateau or the coveted Google party.

Continue reading Davos at 40

No limos, please

Pity the poor bankers. As if the world’s derision was not enough.

TimesOnline reports that WEF attendees have been asked to keep their limos and Hummers away from Davos.

It’s not an outright ban on gas guzzlers. If a CEO insists on keeping his Escalade, he will not be turned away at the gates. But the car will not earn one of the magical “green stickers” that allow vehicles into special security areas.

The recommendation seems to be working. “A lot of people have downsized their cars already,” a WEF official told the TimesOnline. “Last year we had a lot of SUVs turn up, but this year we’ve already seen a lot of hybrid cars, vehicles with smaller engines and people sharing minibuses.”

The new policy comes as WEF officials try to lessen the conference’s substantial carbon footprint.

Although the lack of heavy metal is a step in the right direction, some unimpressed environmentalists note that many attendees will still be arriving by helicopters, which get even worse mileage than a Mercedes GLK.

'Simply, to be seen'

Edmund Conway offers a smart, somewhat jaundiced take on the WEF and its prescience in matters of the global economy.

Conway observes that little gets resolved in Davos. But, with a few notable exceptions, pronouncements and policy statements are not the point. It’s more about keeping one’s ear to the ground, making a few stellar contacts, and taking home a half-dozen useful ideas.

“Many of the chief executives go to talk to their counterparts, meet bankers, attend a few sessions and, ultimately, to make their minds up about how they plan to run their companies that year,” Conway writes. “Others are there to do deals, ignoring the vast majority of the open meetings in the Congress Centre in the middle of town and setting up shop in one of the grand hotels which pepper the town. Politicians go there to meet businessmen and women, to hold private meetings with their overseas counterparts and, simply, to be seen.”

Conway also expects that corporate heads may take the opportunity to make a generous commitment to rebuild Haiti. Whatever their motive, it’s hard to be cynical about that.

David Ignatius of the Washington Post asks a similar question (why do we care about Davos?) but delivers a somewhat loftier answer:

“Floating in a ‘networked’ world, you want to believe that there are real people with their hands on the controls,” Ignatius writes. “…That this is a digital empire with its own flesh-and-blood Caesars and Neros. This globalized world is not simply a ‘floating island,’ as Swift described his imaginary world in ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ — it’s a real place, anchored in the snow and ice each January.”

Davos trumps the Tablet

It’s a testament to the power of Davos that even one of the most anticipated tech launches in years won’t be enough to keep some folks in town.

WSJ reports that Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., publisher of the New York Times, is skipping out on the much-hyped unveiling of Apple’s Tablet in San Francisco (presumably on Wednesday) in order to attend the WEF conference in Switzerland.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Sulzberger’s paper has been working with Apple to develop a Tablet-sized version of the NYT iPhone application. Thus Sulzberger’s recusal from the Apple announcement comes as something of a surprise.

Sulzberger will, at very least, probably take the opportunity to talk up the Tablet to the powers-that-be in Davos.

Taking the oath



What a difference a generation makes.

It’s interesting to compare this new “Global Business Oath,” created by the WEF’s Forum of Young Global Leaders, to the more-managerial Code of Ethics adopted at the Davos gathering in 1973.

This latest incarnation appears more focused on good global citizenry than on corporate well-being. It’s also more camera-ready, with language that doesn’t sound as if it was written by committee. At least not too large of a committee.

The oath was drafted over the course of last year by the young (under 40— “young” being a relative term among the business elite) leaders from around the world, anointed by the WEF for their achievements in finance, technology and public service, among other things.

The idea for the oath came at last year’s Davos gathering and was envisioned as a kind of ethical handbook for difficult professional decisions. Here’s a text version of the oath.

The video, from director Peter Bisanz, features a few young leaders who were on hand for a WEF meeting in Dubai. It’s scheduled to be shown at this week’s gathering in Davos.

Cue the protesters

davos_protest_one.jpg

Anti-WEF protesters march in Lucerne, Switzerland on Jan. 23.

Even before the first appearance of Bono, protesters have started to gather in Switzerland in advance of the WEF in Davos.

The relative isolation of Davos (it’s a five-hour train trip from Geneva), along with the overwhelming security presence there, makes it an unattractive target for anti-WEF groups. So protesters, who are usually a mix of environmental, anti-capitalist and pro-labor groups, concentrate their efforts in Geneva or Lucerne.

This year, the Swiss government has assigned 5,000 soldiers to tamp down any potential violence. Officals hope that the massive military presence— both on the streets and in the air— will dissuade protesters, or at least keep the rowdier behavior in check.

A year ago, things got a bit out of hand (see video below). Riot police in Geneva fired tear gas and water cannons after a group of some 400 protesters started throwing bottles. The protesters were angry (probably still are, in fact) over government bailouts of banks and, in the case of one Youtube poster, “the unrelenting agenda of the New World Order,” among other things.

Head of security at Davos found dead

(Reuters) - The police commander heading security at the World Economic Forum was found dead on Tuesday, local authorities said, adding that it looked like a suicide.

The head of the police in the Swiss canton of Graubuenden Markus Reinhardt was found dead in his hotel in Davos, the police of the south-eastern canton said in a media release on its website.

“All indications point to a suicide,” it added.

Reinhardt has headed the canton’s police force since 1984. Police Captain Marcus Suter would become head of the security operation in Davos, the police said.

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Marketplace’s Dirk Mathison is posting items and updates on the World Economic Forum's 40th annual meeting. The conference runs from Jan. 27-31. Reporters Stephen Beard and Christopher Werth are contributing additional items from Davos.