The original purpose of the World Economic Forum was quite remarkable: it gave an organic structure to an international forum outside multilateral organizations such as the UN or WTO. It has since spread its ambitions to other conferences that focus on regional issues. However, it has transformed itself from being a place for debate and discussion to an arena where a Hollywoodesque celebrity culture meets retail news, a place where peacocks fan their feathers to show their mountain-sized egos at a Swiss mountain retreat.
Somehow debate, discussion and the presentation of alternative views in the search for consensus has given way to a herd mentality of affirming the status quo, perhaps in fear of being trash-talked by media coverage of the event. Alas, globalization’s retreat at Davos this year was an eye-opener. If all of these “leaders” in their respective communities (be it politics or business or social affairs or planning) are collectively ill-equipped to take stock of the present economic disaster and the forthcoming tsunami of unemployment, then are we not in deep trouble? How is it not time for a reality check given the massive devaluation of savings, pensions and investments in the developed world? Whatever happened to thinking further ahead than tomorrow’s headlines, or three months from now? Have we simply bet our future on the whim of a politician and a 30-second burst of hollow commentary in front of microphones and cameras?
It is hard to imagine that the current mess will turn around and the future of the world will be bright before the next Super Bowl weekend in 2010. The World Bank and the IMF are forecasting up to 40 million more people will lose their job. American unemployment statistics report monthly increases at a rate of half a million people. Against such a background, it is impossible to set aside reality.
What I hope will happen by next year is a process of realization, even though the more convenient default - denial and short-term thinking - has currency. This realization will be about accepting the end of a remarkable era: the end of the Baby Boomer Generations I and II, the start of an evolution (or devolution, depending on one’s mindset) towards the Global Age, and the necessary economic readjustments in the inevitable shift in global trends and formulas. All are priced to move as many have lost their lease or gone (financially or intellectually) bankrupt. Projecting raw military power and the ability to destroy the world is best kept at home. The centers of finance will shift and the concentration of money will align itself with true formation of capital and assets (and not mere pumping more credit into a bubble that has burst.) There will be a need to reinvent finance to support real productive economic activity and rather old-fashioned, contemplated development (rather than the real economy serving the financial sector’s aims).
It will be a mere slow start of a realization during 2009 but it is perhaps the potential starting point and a bright spot of sorts to turn the corner and search for true debate and a new formula. Clearly the one-size-fits-all tale and the assumption that the masses are mere simpletons have crashed. It remains to be seen how fast such a realization shall lead to a convergence of commonalities with a cool and unprejudiced head - certainly not in a mere twelve months. Another certainty is the stark fact the a disingenuous imperial zeal to force the rest of the world to follow impoverished thoughts and absurd borrow-to-spend schemes has made a massive retreat. This failed lot is besieged by a man-made mountain of debt of its own making and that ought to be alarming enough to redraw and amplify the lines and borders between reality and fiction.
Please e-mail PostGlobal if you'd like to receive an email notification when PostGlobal sends out a new question.
Email This Post to a Friend | Del.icio.us | Digg | Facebook | Email the Author
