From DAVOS MAN: How the Billionaires Devoured the World by Peter S. Goodman. Copyright © 2022 by Peter S. Goodman. Published by Custom House, an imprint of HarperCollins.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/01/how-klaus-schwab-built-a-billionaire-circus-at-davos
https://archive.ph/YI8ih
Book:
“HE HAS AN INCREDIBLE KNACK TO SMELL THE NEXT FAD”: HOW KLAUS SCHWAB BUILT A BILLIONAIRE CIRCUS AT DAVOS
The überrich flock annually to the World Economic Forum, where they can schmooze and strike deals under the guise of saving the world. A new book reveals how its founder benefits from this gathering of the global elite.
BY PETER S. GOODMAN
JANUARY 18, 2022
Klaus Schwab, the ringmaster of festivities at the World Economic Forum in Davos, has been known to tell underlings that he anticipates one day receiving a Nobel Peace Prize.
In a surprise to no one else, Oslo has yet to ring.
Schwab’s greatest accomplishment is decidedly entrepreneurial. He has developed the Forum from an earnest meeting of policy wonks into a glittering assembly of the world’s richest people. He has achieved this by ingratiating himself with those who wield power, and especially the billionaire class—a tribe known as Davos Man.
Schwab has constructed a refuge for the outlandishly wealthy, an exclusive zone where they are free to pursue deals and sundry shenanigans while enjoying the cover of participating in a virtuous undertaking. Their mere presence in Davos at the Forum signals their empathy and sensitivity.
In the prevailing pantomime, Davos Man is intent on channeling his intellect and compassion toward solving the great crises of the age. He might have retreated to his mountaintop palace in Jackson Hole or his yacht moored off Mykonos, but he is too obsessed with rescuing the poor and sparing humanity from the ravages of climate change. So he is in Davos—paying fees reaching several hundred thousands of dollars a year for a Forum membership, plus tens of thousands more per head to attend the meeting—posing for photos with Bono, congratulating Bill Gates on his philanthropic exploits, tweeting out inspirational quotes from Deepak Chopra, and still finding time to buttonhole that sovereign wealth chieftain from Abu Dhabi in pursuit of investment for his luxury-goods mall in Singapore.
For the billionaires, participation in Schwab’s charade may be proffered as evidence that they adhere to the ubiquitous slogan of the Forum itself: Committed to Improving the State of the World.
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It is like a modern version of the old folk story:
"Madam, the people need bread."
"No bread? Then let them eat cake."
This is what elites do when they set out to solve problems.
They create a world full of danger
and think the solution is always FORCE THEM TO DO IT.
This is stupidity that verges on madness.
That is… unless this is considered ENTERTAINMENT for Caesar.