The Davos Bubble and Yellow Vests

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Two surveys came out on the eve of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
One of them was about inequality.

Even as Davos saw a record 1,500 private jets arrive this year, 50 percent more than last, and Oxfam reported that the richest 26 people in the world now own as much wealth as the bottom half of the world’s population, that half—some 3.8 billion—saw their wealth decline by 11 percent. According to Axios, wealth held by the world’s billionaires has grown from $3.4 trillion in 2009, right after the Wall Street-generated market crash, to $8.9 trillion in 2017.
...As former U.S. Federal Reserve vice chair Alan Blinder once told me, when historians look back on the late 20th century, “they will marvel at the equanimity” with which those in power accepted “the shift from labor to capital, the almost unprecedented shift of money and power up the income pyramid.”

In response, the sycophants at Bloomberg rushed to the defense of the wealthy.
Their reason to doubt Oxfam? 2018 economic growth numbers "look healthy".
So how can things be bad if the GDP is going up?

The other survey to come out was by a shameless group of corporate brown-nosers.

Amid low confidence that politicians will fix the problems, these people are turning to companies, with 75 percent saying they trust “my employer”, compared to 48 percent for government and 47 percent for the media.

“CEOs now have to be visible, show personal commitment, absolutely step into the void, because we’ve got a leadership void in the world,” Richard Edelman, head of the communications marketing firm that commissioned the research, told Reuters.

A "study" comes out on the eve of Davos saying that people are in love with CEOs and want them to run the world. What are the chances of that?
The survey had a separate category for the better-educated, higher-earning “informed public”.
You have to contact the firm to get the methodology of the study. It isn't publicly available.

When you are surrounded by yes men, eager to tell you whatever you want to hear, it's easy to believe pretty much anything.

On the other end of the spectrum are the Yellow Vests in France who have an interesting new strategy.

France’s anti-government “yellow vest” protesters are to put forward a list of candidates to run in upcoming European Parliament elections, it said on Wednesday.

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I'm not sure whether this is a good thing, or a bad thing, but it shows that the movement still has legs. This isn't gonna go away.

Interestingly, the tax policies of the anti-globalist/populist Trump and the globalist/neoliberal darling Macron have the exact same outcome, benefiting the exact same 1%.
What does that have to do with Davos?
Davos is the capital of the McResistance.

If you are looking for the central hub or nexus of opposition to Donald Trump's presidency and insight into the minds of his most vocal critics at home and abroad, look no further than the 2019 meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
I have written previously that Davos serves as an annual reminder that the smartest people in the world are actually all morons. This was putting it too kindly.

That covers the fake #Resistance, but what about the fake populism?
Well, Davos has that covered too.

So when Schwab publicly throws globalism under the bus, sounding like a leftist university professor while he’s at it, it’s worth paying attention. In the run-up to the 2019 World Economic Forum, Schwab wrote an article in which he declared that “Globalism is an ideology that prioritizes the neoliberal global order over national interests.”

Schwab, like the broader Davos set, is trying to adjust to the age of populism. But that’s not to suggest they’re surrendering to it. Quite the opposite: Schwab’s anti-globalist shift is a hijacking attempt. It shows how corporate elites are trying to accommodate nationalist populism while still maximizing their own personal gains—which, of course, come at the expense of the very masses they’re attempting to appeal to.

The theme of WEF is “Globalization 4.0”.
Do you think these people have any interest at all in compromise? In sharing a tiny share of their wealth?

As professor Mark Blyth explained, the Hamptons are not a defensible position.

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Comments

Govt isn't going to fix it and neither will their companies. They are people who lay them off and have them train their replacements from India before they go.

The yellow vests are what will fix this if they can find enough people to step up in each country.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

Amanda Matthews's picture

@dkmich

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I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa

WoodsDweller's picture

... is that we need to provide our guillotines with flotation to transport them to low-lying beaches.

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"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone

@WoodsDweller

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is worth listening to. As far as I can tell he's got his points straight.

The Gilets Jaunes give me hope.

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NYCVG

@NYCVG
make a good bumper sticker.

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The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

Pluto's Republic's picture

...they all gather in one small place.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato

@Pluto's Republic
We could use a plan

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Bollox Ref's picture

@Pluto's Republic

Who will make our nature films?

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

@Bollox Ref @Bollox Ref
omelets and breaking eggs ...

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The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

@Pluto's Republic @Pluto's Republic
is further evidence of their delusional frame of mind.

My grandfather wouldn't permit all of his children to fly on one plane, and he was only worried about accidents.

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The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

@Pluto's Republic
almost too good an opportunity to pass up. All the eggs in one basket.

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travelerxxx's picture

@QMS

1500 private jets in one place

And they seem to not stop to think who maintains those jets and whether or not those have yellow vests under the seat of their vehicles. Do they not consider who prepares their luxurious meals, manicures the lawns of their opulent estates, cleans the toilets in their palaces, trims their oh-so-perfect hair? Perhaps most of their servants are bribe-able, but not all.

Oh, yes, they are most certainly quite vulnerable.

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@travelerxxx
who were stunned and shattered when their slaves abandoned them. They sincerely believed their own propaganda about their beneficent paternalism towards their childlike chattels.

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The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

@UntimelyRippd
Too shiny to see thru, only reflections are seen. Greed is, after all, quite myopic.

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@travelerxxx
seems some feel captive of their own handlers.

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travelerxxx's picture

@QMS

Is it they feel captive of their handlers, or is it their servants? I can imagine that they may feel somewhat hemmed-in by their attorneys, PR people, and CPA's, but want them to awake suddenly from their peaceful slumber with thoughts of doubt on whether they can truly trust the black-clothed goons guarding the front gate. Or even the smiling face of the cook bringing them their exclusive French country breakfast...

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...when it comes to our captured political class (understatement of the year), but I'm noticing there are folks around the country that are beginning to focus upon the core subject of enforcement and tightening of current antitrust/monopoly laws, as a key issue, for the coming Presidential election cycle (Elizabeth Warren is doing this, for one), and I'm slightly hopeful about that. I think it's a much more important subject than many realize, especially when it comes to the U.S., and it's turbocharged ride down our inverted totalitarian superhighway.

Then again, after watching what happened to the ridiculously weak Dodd Frank bill, from the get-go, seeing it more or less finally vaporize before us (it wasn't much more than vapor to begin with) over the past few years, it makes me wonder if there will ever be any truly substantial (and then properly enforced) legislation that puts a saddle on the oligarchic, corporate hell in which our world now finds itself fully submerged.

But, one may hope...nah....who am I kidding?

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"Freedom is something that dies unless it's used." --Hunter S. Thompson

Cassiodorus's picture

@bobswern is that the people who refuse to vote for our captured political class have nobody to represent them, and that (in the US for instance) the Republicans appear far stronger than they otherwise would be were someone competent out there daring to oppose them. Seriously, folks, why isn't Joe Biden pushing a broom in some restaurant after hours?

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"The war on Gaza, backed by the West, is a demonstration that the West is willing to cross all lines. That it will discard any nuance of humanity. That it is willing to commit genocide" -- Moon of Alabama

@Cassiodorus

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

@Cassiodorus The reason nobody's really "daring to (properly) oppose" the Republicans is due to the basic fact that there really aren't two major political parties in the U.S., to begin with. There's just one party: The Money Party.

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"Freedom is something that dies unless it's used." --Hunter S. Thompson

@bobswern Money is like guns. It's just a thing. It's when it's used as a weapon that people get hurt, and that's what capitalist do.

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@Cassiodorus giving a speech praising republicans.

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the richest 26 people in the world now own as much wealth as the bottom half of the world’s population

Where is Robespierre now that we need him?

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

Lily O Lady's picture

@The Voice In the Wilderness

sent to Madame la Guillotine to part company with his head. He lost control of his movement and it rolled right over him. We need to do better than he did.

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"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"

@Lily O Lady
Maybe this procedure is more appropriate.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

@Lily O Lady
Maximilien Robespierre screwed up when he turned on the left-wing Hébertists.
Thus when the right-wing went for him, Robespierre had no one on his side.

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@Lily O Lady
HA!

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Daenerys's picture

Fuck no!!

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This shit is bananas.

no matter their political or national stripe, they recognize the tribe they belong to. For the rest of us, we're just living in bordered exploitation zones called nations, servants paid enough (sometimes) to cover our own upkeep, at least until we're not needed anymore.

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Anja Geitz's picture

A "study" comes out on the eve of Davos saying that people are in love with CEOs and want them to run the world.

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

WaterLily's picture

@Anja Geitz They clearly don't understand the precariousness of their situation. I'm finally, honestly starting to believe we're close to the boiling point. Let them keep taunting us and see what happens.

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Anja Geitz's picture

@WaterLily

In New Zealand and where ever else their ill gotten gains have secured for them when all hell breaks loose, I'm not really seeing the precariousness of their situation. Ours, yes. There's, not so much.

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier