Despite the blue skies over the Swiss ski resort of Davos, the recent annual reunion of the World Economic Forum, which is usually a kind of festival where political leaders and CEOs meet and commit to working together to solve global problems, was decidedly combative and bleak.
The audience applauded enthusiastically when Nassim Taleb, author of The Black Swan, said it was time to punish bank executives and force them to return their bonuses. Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin responded angrily to Michael Dell of Dell Computers when the latter gave a cheeky suggestion that Russia may need assistance in technology.
Turkey prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan walked out of the discussion with Israel president Shimon Peres. He said that he was talking about Israel “in a manner that does not match the spirit of Davos.” Klaus Schwab, the German-born professor who founded the event in which business executives mixed with presidents and prime ministers, was pale and seemingly shocked when he called a press conference soon after, and along with Erdogan, tried to calm spirits.
However, Schwab should not be surprised because what he described as “the spirit of mutual understanding, and positive and constructive spirit of Davos” is not completed this year. The WEF had an impossible task: to forge harmony out of the tension, particularly with regard to the financial crisis. Instead of doing this, Davos became the place where the anger against Wall Street rose to the surface. Obviously, the spirit of financial cooperation is low. This year’s Davos Forum, with the slogan, “Committed to Improving the State of the World,” is an example of what happens when the world economy gives no reason for global cooperation and goodwill.
