Davos Debrief

Globophobe has been sitting in the cafe-bar of a hotel
on the Davos Promenade, sipping a heisse schoggi
and musing about this year's World Economic Forum
Annual Meeting. Now lest you think that Globophobe
has gone glam and is making like the idle rich, please
know that we're here only because we have no
Internet service in our humble digs (once the meeting ends,
an Internet connection is notoriously difficult to get in this town)
and this 60s-70s-vintage lounge (complete with the muzak
of such favorites as "Cuando, Cuando, Cuando" and the
rock-and-roll theme from the Peanuts TV specials) offers
reliable wi-fi service. It's not free, but you aren't compelled
to buy a drink to occupy a chair. It is nearly 6 pm, Davos time,
and Globophobe has been sitting in the same seat working
since 10.30 am!

But enough of our travails. What did we think of this year's
globo-jamboree which ended on Sunday? I suppose that
without the flashy celebrities of the order of 'Brangelina',
there may have been fewer moments of spectacle or
electricity (ie no Sharon Stone spontaneously pledging
USD10K for mosquito nets). What we found most interesting
was a noticeable shift to discussing not just the impoverished
in Africa but also the erosion of the middle class and the plight
of regular workers, those who might actually be hurting from
globalization and not just those who are losing out because
they are so poor and remote that they are untouched by globalization.

Also, we sensed that the international community is perplexed
by what Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive chairman of
the Forum, calls the world's "schizophrenia" - favorable global
economic conditions coupled with underlying instability and
dysfunctionality, particularly on the geopolitical front. How can
things be so bad when we feel so good? To the investment
banker who might ask that question, we say: why not holiday
in Darfur? Or perhaps a few days in Baghdad will put things in
perspective? (On second thought: maybe a trip to Washington,
DC, will do the trick.)

There was also a lot of stuff on Web 2.0, avatars, etc. which
seemed as remote as the wi-fi discussions of five or six years
ago, but probably will be old hat and in common use five or
six years from now. (We tried out Second Life but can't say
we were bowled over. One of our friends contends that
avatar play is for, in his words, "lame-ass losers with no life,"
the LALs, apparently a well recognized consumer segment
with consistently high spending on online shopping.)

We posted some commentary on Davos during the meeting
and hope you will read those entries. If more idle thoughts come
to mind as we sit "un-idle", we may just post more comments.

Tomorrow, we descend the mountain.