John F. Harris - Davos Elites Fear They're on a Toboggan Ride to Hell // 26 Billionaires Own The Same Wealth As The Poorest 3.8 Billion People
DAVOS,
Switzerland—Populist movements around the world, left and right, disagree in
detail but are united around one big idea: The political and economic elites
running modern societies are very powerful people who know what they are doing. What they are doing is
often bad: greedy, exploitative, short-sighted - but they are doing it with
purpose and confident control. A different
possibility, however, hung in the alpine air this week at the annual convening
of elites here at the World Economic Forum: These alleged masters of the
universe came off nearly as perplexed and anxious about the future as the
populist forces inveighing against them. They have money. They
have entourages. They have commanding views, both literal (from
mountain chalets here) and metaphorical (from government offices and CEO suites
back home).
That doesn’t mean they
have a clue.
Foreboding about the
future was a prevailing theme at this year’s Davos, sometimes even with a dash
of dystopian prophecy. This brooding was accompanied often, in speeches and
interviews, by a rueful acknowledgment that government leaders are desperately
improvising—often with bleak results—to meet the political crises of the
moment, much less the long-term technological and climatological challenges of
the age. In key Western
capitals, governance is failing. China is exploiting. Global temperatures are
rising. Tech titans are groveling. Prospects for economic downturn are
rumbling.
Little wonder that,
instead of triumphant optimism about the forces of globalization sometimes
associated with Davos, some voices here made it sound like modern life is on a
toboggan ride to hell.
“Everybody agrees that
there are dark clouds on the horizon, and there are risks,” said United Nations
Secretary-General António Guterres in an address here on Thursday. That specific line was
on the global economy. But it was woven into a speech that spoke to a much
larger set of anxieties about the world. On climate change, he said, “I believe
we are losing the race. ... And we have this paradox: The reality is proving to
be worse than scientists had foreseen, and all the last indicators show that.”
When it comes to the
prospect of technologies like artificial intelligence to prevent terrorism and
humanitarian crises, Guterres lamented, the solutions require “more and more
interrelated” actions among nations “but at the same time the response is more
and more fragmented.” Guterres sounded more
downbeat than most voices. But the general theme of people being buffeted by
their circumstances rather than master of them was reinforced in part by who
was here. In other years,
Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg would be treated like royalty. This year, she was
the one bowing, acknowledging in speeches and interviews that Facebook had made
mistakes in not preventing data breaches and manipulation of audiences by
Russian agents. But she said overall that Facebook is a force for good and
current leadership is in the best position to fix the problems with social
media. The world is “in a fundamental phase of rewriting the rules
about tech,” she told Die Welt.
Good luck with that.
But there aren't too many effective models of governance at a moment of
implacable conflicts within and between countries—a fact that was highlighted
even more by who was not at Davos. Not Donald Trump, who
stayed at home while he is presiding over Washington paralysis in the partial
government shutdown. Not British Prime Minister Theresa May, trying to dig out
from London paralysis over a plan to implement Britain's exit from the European
Union. Not French President Emanuel Macron, facing street protests from “yellow
jacket” activists calling for economic justice.
One shouldn’t
overstate the dour mood at Davos. It still featured a nonstop flow of lavish
corporate parties, filled with the likes of JPMorganChase CEO Jamie Dimon and
actor Matt Damon. Anthony Scaramucci returned for his annual wine-tasting
party. None of these gentlemen seemed particularly downbeat... read more:
The gap between rich and
poor is fracturing society, poisoning politics and fueling public anger,
according to a new report from anti-poverty nonprofit Oxfam, which found that
last year just 26 people owned the same amount of wealth as the poorest 3.8
billion people. This figure is down from 43 the year before.
The Public Good or Private Wealth? report, published
Sunday, found that the wealth of billionaires has increased by $900 billion in the
last year, or $2.5 billion a day. This bonanza has not been felt by the poorest
half of the world, which saw its wealth decline by 11 percent. Since the 2008
financial crisis, the number of billionaires has doubled, according to the
report, and the very rich along with corporations are paying lower taxes than they have in
decades. At the same time, 3.4 billion people are living in poverty on
less than $5.50 a day, and women are often hardest hit. Men hold 50 percent
more of the world’s wealth than women, according to the report... read more;
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/oxfam-report-wealth-inequality-poverty-tax_us_5c408586e4b027c3bbbeb91d
