Knives Out In Davos
The chief complaint about Davos this year was that there weren’t enough bankers to bash. “I’d like to congratulate Stephen Green,” said Tony Blair at one session, gesticulating towards the HSBC chairman. “We must congratulate him for being one of the few bankers willing to come out in daylight hours.”
Nonsense, if it was bankers you were after, Davos had them in spades. Over there, that grumpy looking chap, that’s Gordon Brown. He’s got three - or is it four? - big british banks. And that’s Angela Merkel. She’s got a couple, and that man over there from the US - he’s got stakes in loads of them…
If the humour was dark, so, too was the mood. The hope was that politicians and business leaders would come together at the World Economic Forum to forge a common approach to shaping the post-crisis world. The reality came closer to common abuse. The Russians attacked the Americans, Turkey had a bust-up with Israel, the globalisers took on the protectionists, casual dressers sneered at the tie-wearers, and everyone had a go at the bankers.
What else could you expect? The annual event has long been the epicentre of globaloney, and now that these self-styled global governors are faced with a major crisis, most of it their own making, they are clueless. The best they could offer were vague calls for “better” regulation, “improved” institutions and “more pulling together”.
The overall effect was of a crash inquiry into an airline that intends to keep flying. There was no serious intention to rebuild in a different way. Davos Man was subdued, but still partying.
The knives are out, but if you don’t like what you’ve seen from Davos Man, wait till you see Nationalist Man get to work. We certainly got a glimpse of him. In the absence of any strong delegation from the US, this year’s cast list was dominated by a mix of journalists, academics and authoritarian leaders. As Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin remarked: “This is Davos under the Russian flag.”
Neither he, nor the Chinese premier, Wen Jibao, could resist having a pop at an unnamed country’s inappropriate macroeconomic policies. And the Chinese delegation was visibly displeased and alarmed by the suggestion of Timothy Geithner, President Obama’s newly confirmed Treasury Secretary, that China has been manipulating its currency.
For all the drama on display elsewhere in Davos, the tensions between the Chinese and Americans look to be by far the most significant in the long term.