| Davos Class? |
 |
 |
|
The growing global pressures, and the increased focus given to inequality, poverty and corporate greed by the Occupy movement the tendency has been for the business world to shift the blame towards the governments. Reform is “not just about corporations and greed. It’s about decision-making,” said Alcatel-Lucent CEO Ben Verwaayen. “Why does it take Europe (and its leaders) two years to come to a conclusion that they knew they had to face anyway?” Voices have also called on the governments to be stronger in regulating business. According to the chief of the International Trade Union Confederation, Sharan Burrow, “we’ve lost a moral compass” and if governments don’t invest in social protection now, “nobody will like the social unrest that will follow”. However, the way in which governments tackle the economic crisis is also important. During the conference, former investor and philanthropist George Soros accused Germany of imposing its own views on the rest of Europe with regards to policies meant to rescue the euro. “The problem is that the austerity that Germany wants will push Europe into a deflationary death spiral”, he said. “The economy will contract and tax revenues will fall. So the debt burden ... will actually rise, requiring further budget cuts and setting in motion a vicious cycle”. Apart from this all, Susan George, a fellow of the Transnational Institute, defines the ones attending the World Economic Forum as the Davos Class, “because, like the people who meet each January in the Swiss mountain resort, they are nomadic, powerful and interchangeable. Some have economic power and usually a considerable personal fortune. Others have administrative and political power, mostly exercised on behalf of those with economic power’’. Furthermore, “the sole response of the Davos Class is to keep the old world order ticking over a bit longer, with a free pass for all the institutions which created the crisis to begin with. It won’t work, not even on their own terms’’. Sources:  |
The annual World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland took place last week and brought together around 2,600 business and political elites. Europe’s debt crisis and the slow down rich country economies were among the most prominent issues addressed by participants. During the forum, some of the world’s top CEOs claimed that although capitalism is worsening inequalities, there is no better alternative. “Capitalism may be the worst form of systems, except for every other system,” said David Rubenstein, co-founder of the Carlyle Group, reminiscent of Winston Churchill’s infamous assessment of democracy.