January 20, 2004
World Economic Forum begins at Davos.
The BBC
reports on the opening of the annual economic meeting at Davos, Switzerland. Over 2,100 business leaders, politicians and such are expected to gather. Large anti-globalization protests are also expected, as has become usual, and, in fact, have already begun in other Swiss cities.
The troubled dollar, stalled trade talks and the Iraq war are top of the agenda as world leaders arrive in Davos for the annual World Economic Forum.
... "Partnering for Prosperity and Security" is this year's theme for the World Economic Forum (WEF), and it is probably more an expression of hope than a description of fact.
The forum's five-day agenda is a reflection of all the world's troubles: the aftermath of the Iraq war; the war on terror; the shaky recovery in the global economy; transatlantic tensions over trade and security; global warming; corporate governance and many others.
Debating the issues will be company bosses like Michael Dell, Bill Gates, Cisco's John Chambers, Sony's Noguyuki Idei and Sir Martin Sorrell of advertising giant WPP.
UN secretary general Kofi Annan, US attorney general John Ashcroft, Iraq administrator Paul Bremer, presidents like Pakistan's Pervez Musharraf and Nigeria's Olusegun Obasanjo and former US president Bill Clinton are among the politicians coming to Davos.
Campaigners come from organisations as diverse as the World Wide Fund for Nature, poverty action group Oxfam and the African Women's Development Fund.
... US commerce secretary Donald Evans, European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet, and Wolfgang Clement and Heizo Takenaka - the economy ministers of Germany and Japan respectively - are expected to discuss the sharp decline of the US dollar over the past year.
And one of the sessions in Davos will discuss "what if the dollar fell by an additional 20%", although none of the government officials is scheduled to speak at the event.
They're beginning to confront the serious consequences of the dollar's fall, but they're still being optimistic. They should be discussing what if it falls 80% this year, which would make it worth about two to the euro. And it's curious that they continue to refer to it as the "fall of the dollar", and not as the "rise of the euro." But everything is seen in American terms, as though this five percent of the world actually represents the entire planet.
They're also expected to discuss the problems getting world trade talks going again, but since the basic issue is simply the refusal of the wealthy nations to give up their dominant positions, and since they clearly are not planning to budge, I wouldn't expect any serious progress here.
Although it is supposed to be a "world" meeting, it would seem to be almost exclusively men. At least no women are mentioned in the article, and it's very unlikely that their views or needs will be seriously considered. Obviously no real solution to any problems can be found if at least 50% of the world is not represented. And it's almost all white, although there will be some people from Asia, Africa and so on there. But certainly dominated by white Euro-Americans. As usual.
And, last but not least, it certainly is strange that it's always held in Switzerland, the money-laundering capital of the world. Hmmnn.
For more perspective on it, the BBC is also presenting an ongoing
diary on the gathering by Mike Rake, KPMG international chairman. (KPMG is an international accountancy and consulting group.) He will continue to report all week. His initial comments on the American economy are already rather interesting.
On the subject of economics, the recent conflicting data from the US will unquestionably fuel debate about the pace of recovery in leading countries around the world.
Contrary to conventional wisdom, America is not creating anywhere near the number of jobs that it should be at this stage of the economic cycle, baffling the legions of high-brow number crunchers in the process.
Economists lost for words!
Not I suspect for very much longer. Opinions about how America can continue to re-write the text and record books about its jobless economic recovery will be an abundant commodity at Davos.
Economists, well some of them, are just unable to predict an end to the jobless recovery phenomenon in the US.
A "jobless recovery?" Actually, up until now "recovery" was measured in terms of jobs. But the very language used seems to be changing. The economists are basically stuck in the 20th century, and have no real idea of what's going to happen during the 21st century. The BBC also
reports that the Chinese economy grew the fastest of any in the world last year. But I wonder if many Chinese, if any, will be at Davos.
