From the Black Hole of Davos, Rays of Light Shine Through

"Davos" said a delegate to me as we sipped champagne in the art-nouveau-style lobby of the Schatzalp Hotel "is full of men gnashing and wailing, dazed and confused by the debt-deflationary spiral. As the newspapers have faithfully recorded the Davos sessions have provided little in the way of strategic direction out of this black hole. Instead there have been lots of rather hapless suggestions: 'lets try this...No, hang on, why don't we try that....?' by the very men appointed and elected as stewards, managers and guardians of the financial system.

On a panel entitled "the values behind capitalism" Mrs Indra Nooyi, CEO of Pepsico conspicuously distanced herself and her company from 'the financiers'. The capitalism of "main street", she said, was being declared guilty by association "with the other street" -- Wall Street.

Good for her. Later, just as the US stock market tanked again, she appeared as a ray of light at an event billed 'An Important Dinner for Women'. Present were 100 of the world's most effective women, including Arianna Huffington, Melinda Gates, Christiane Amanpour of CNN, Shriti Vadera (overseeing the British bank bail-out) Dr. Margaret Chan, Head of WHO, Mrs Sarah Brown wife of the British Prime Minister, Ngozi Okonjo Iweala of the World Bank -- and yours truly.

We were gathered together, courtesy of Matthew Freud, to strategise and organise to save the lives of millions of mothers. In other words, to recognise that unlike financiers, mothers lay sound and lasting foundations for any nation's economy. While we can do without financiers stripping us of our savings and assets, we can't do without mothers. For without their prudent management generations would not be fed, clothed, nursed, loved, educated, civilised and sent out into the world.

Comments

[Strepsi]

ANN PETTIFOR: Your bromide about mothers notwithstanding, you and most media seem to mis-recognize Davos. It is NOT about solutions or advice or stewardship. It is a CONVENTION -- where the elite, millionaires, billionaires, former Presidents and Prime Ministers and consultants go, TO MAKE DEALS. They are there, like anyone at any business convention, to swap business cards and make connections and money for themselves. The fact that reporters keep asking them for soundbites on how to improve the lot of the rest of us is irrelevant to them.

[zull2]

It's pretty simple, really. Rich people wanted policy that would make them more wealthy. They found it and decided they didn't need to think it through for a backup plan because they figured it wouldn't matter...they'd be so wealthy that they wouldn't need to care about all the "little people".

Scores of rich people used that policy to make themselves more wealthy. They lined up and kept going. However, the ones who didn't walk away with what they had got crushed when it all came tumbling down, and they realized they had no backup plan. And the only system that has ever been proven to get an economy out of this sort of situation had been trashed by them for the last 30 years. They can't overcome their own remaining egos and admit they were wrong about the policies that made the country strong and gave almost everyone good paying jobs. On some level, too, they think that maybe if they stick around, they might get one last big win before it falls apart completely.

The closest thing I can think of is that these people have gambling addiction.

[rad21]

Did the Davos attendees pay for the conference out of their pocket? If it was a business expense, (as most likely it was), the poor consumers all over the world paid for the lavish celebrations. Another waste of hard-earned money earned by people with their bare hands.

[kanester]

SoundBite for this article:
Financial "expertise" WAY overrated. Where's all that "talent" WallSt. claims to be overpaying for?

[iblogleft]

What does that tell you about capitalism?

When you remove the cold harsh reality of capital gain at any cost, is it still capitalism?

I would argue, that no, it is not. It means dividing what is and is not socially and legally acceptable to profit on, and becomes social-capitalism. Something in which I believe the public should be educated.

Society cannot function over the long term by getting thrown scraps of corporate "welfare" when it becomes obvious that the greed of capitalism has run amok, and CEO's realize they will be tossed to the wolves if they don't make some goodwill gesture. Not a great way to run an economy.

I agree that a womans perspective is a unique one, and hugely valuable. But I would have to make the case that man or woman, following the historical direction of capitalism, will bring the same results.