Photo: JUR
The annual summit in Switzerland convened again.
DAVOS 2024
The ruling classes and their lackies have once again gathered, as I’m sure everyone is aware.
The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, brought together 3,000 participants from across the world. This included 1,600 business leaders, 350 heads of state and government ministers, and hundreds of academics, civil society leaders, and entrepreneurs.
It was an elitists affair as always, with sky-high lodging fees, champagne nightcaps, and chances to see and be seen by people holding some of the most influential roles on the planet (real and puppet).
Of course, the bulk of this included a roll-call of bosses of Wall Street banks, Silicon Valley tech firms, and the world’s largest management, consulting, and accounting firms.
The Wall Street crowd includes several high-flying Aussie financiers: Morgan Stanley boss James Gorman; the head of Barclays investment bank, Paul Compton; the executive chairman of JPMorgan’s wealth management arm, Andrew Cohen; and the head of Bank of America’s investment bank, Matthew Koder.
WEF chief executive, Borge Brende, Davos was “…taking place against the most complicated geopolitical and geoeconomic backdrop in decades”.
But these were literally the exact introductory phrase he used at the same briefing a year ago.
This year’s dominant themes included: geopolitical instability, economic uncertainty, and – above all else – the conundrum of artificial intelligence.
The keynote speakers were from “rising powers”, or what the WEF more buoyantly calls “…the new voices globally”, rather than the line-up which we are used to seeing (more on that later).
The star billings included Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, and the leaders of Qatar and Kenya, with a distinct lack of Western voices highlighted.
‘Climate change’, economic woes and the challenges artificial intelligence poses, were all hot topics at each event across the week, with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaking (and mentioned frequently).
The OpenAI CEO told this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos that his industry needs more power — both figuratively and literally.
Altman had plenty to say about the future of his industry, notably claiming that AI needs some sort of axis-shifting, Copernican “breakthrough” when it comes to energy innovation.
Argentina’s newly elected maverick, President Javier Milei, was also highlighted.
Milei called on business and political leaders at Davos to reject socialism and instead embrace “free enterprise capitalism” to bring an end to world poverty.
Also included as key highlights from the event are the following:
‘The generative AI revolution is only just beginning’.
Generative AI is poised to “transform roles” and “boost performance across functions such as sales and marketing, customer operations, and software development”, says the WEF.
In the process, it could ‘unlock’ trillions of dollars in value across sectors from banking to life sciences.
‘Sustainability is a business imperative’.
Navigating the suicidal ‘net-zero economy’ has become more complicated over the past 12 months, but the WEF says companies “that take courageous action” can ‘accelerate value creation and reposition themselves ahead of competitors’. They have challenged leaders to push forward with the vision.
‘Better women’s health is correlated with economic prosperity’.
The WEF says investments addressing the women’s health gap could add years to life and life to years —and potentially boost the global economy by $1 trillion annually by 2040.
‘A comprehensive approach to transformation is most effective’.
Four essential elements for transformation success —will, skill, rigor, and scope — could give leaders a ‘better chance at outpacing the competition in a time of constant disruption and change’, says WEF.
Indeed, much of the summit was spent with chats like this preparing businesses for chaos to come.
‘Don’t overlook India’s potential’.
India is transforming rapidly as one of the fastest growing large economies in the world.
When it comes to technology, talent, healthcare, and other areas, its future in 2024 — and beyond — is “worth paying attention to”, highlights the WEF talking heads.
Aussie No Show?
Interestingly, there was a lack of Australian personalities present for the summit.
Outside of the usual talking points, this is one development that is particularly telling.
AUSSIE NO SHOW?
In perhaps the most surprising news, there wasn’t many Australian personalities present at Davos 2024.
Reports suggest that many of the business class, as well as the government, have decided to ‘tone down’ their representation this year, or just flat out refuse to attend.
According to an article by the Australian Financial Review: “Australia’s business and political elite has turned its back on the annual gathering of world leaders and corporate chieftains in the Swiss alpine town of Davos this week, despite the organisers claiming record participation.”
The reports says the Australian government is not fielding any minister at the World Economic Forum’s annual summit, with most senior official representative being Davos regular and former PM, Kevin Rudd.
Rudd is currently working at the Australian ambassador to Washington, and caught up with other Australian Davos regulars such as BHP boss Mike Henry, Rio Tinto chief Jakob Stausholm, South32’s Graham Kerr and, of course, Fortescue executive chairman Andrew Forrest.
The only public-sector representative present was eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant.
Photo: WEF
The other Australian accent at the table was Tom Palmer, the US-based CEO of Newmont, and Mathias Cormann, in his capacity as Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
When he was finance minister, and previously the federal government representative flying the flag.
But that’s about it for the Aussies. No scientists, no ‘thought shapers’ or ‘young climate champions’. In fact, apart from French President Emmanuel Macron, no other G7 leader attended the summit.
Even the Australian National University, which usually sends people, has stepped back this year.
This is interesting in contrast to the dozens of Australian personalities that attended last year:
Perhaps the WEF has too much ‘heat’, perhaps our exposes worked to get their attention, or perhaps they are transitioning power elsewhere, such as COP Climate Summits hosted by the United Nations.
Either way, it was a very underwhelming summit this year. Reports suggest because this may be because the WEF is losing its credibility on the world stage, but as always, we should take that with a grain of salt.
Perhaps the unpredictability of the future, and more people awakening, has confused the WEF agenda.
Or maybe they will get back to ‘full steam’ once a plethora of ‘disinformation’ bills hit multiple countries, ensuring that no ‘conspiracy theories’ — or any information for that matter — is leaked to the public.
No doubt for the foreseeable future, at least, the WEF will still be here trying their best.
KEEP UP-TO-DATE
For more TOTT News:
Facebook — Facebook.com/TOTTNews
YouTube — YouTube.com/TOTTNews
Instagram — Instagram.com/TOTTNews
Twitter — Twitter.com/EthanTOTT
Bitchute — Bitchute.com/TOTTNews
Gab — Gab.com/TOTTNews
Photo of Gorman, Twiggy and Rudd look like a piss up get together at the local. Bunch of wanna be, would be, was be, money and power hungry I wanna be seen and heard dudes.