Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Being in Davos

This week is the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Swiss resort town. (You know it's a sweet spot when the billing is notably named for the posh town and not the event itself. The Forum is simply known as Davos.) Considering the climate, I wonder what the bankers and financial analysts will say and to whom will they be saying it? The likes of themselves? Will there be a lot of understanding among these? Will they pat each other on the back in affirmation that they did the best they could do? Will they speak among themselves of the big ticket items bought after respectively receiving their multi-billion dollar bonuses? Will they sit in natural hot springs sipping champagne and noshing on caviar after a day of insightful sessions?

Besides the bankers and financial analysts from Morgan Stanley and Charles Schwab, there will be quite a few distinguished guests, including World leaders. Among these are: Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. These sessions should also be interesting.

Arianna Huffington will be attending the conference and it looks like she will be chairing a few really interesting sessions on technology and social media. She is without doubt a pioneer of social media. Her sessions should be quite interesting too. But I would most like to hear the bankers and financial analysts at Davos talk about the lapse of ethics and deregulation in the form of free trade and globalization that have brought us to this global economic crisis. I have a few question to asks. Do you?

2 comments:

CJ said...

I would have so many questions Judith that I would not know where to begin.

Like how could you continually beg for money then act the same old way then expect the government to bail you out.

What I heard today was that the after the Big Boys got their loot, and began to reorganize their financial institutions--they kept some of the same managers that got them in trouble in the first place. I would want to know what the logic is behind that?!!!

Judith Ellis said...

CJ - These are men of privilege and prominence who use other people's money to prop themselves up in very large ways while their companies tanked. I don't think the American people are very pleased at all.