Each year the rich and powerful descend on Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum.
With approximately 1,700 private jets landing to attend the conference the Swiss Armed Forces had to open a military air base to help manage the overflow.
Though only one-fifth the world population, 67 per cent of attendees at Davos, come from North America and Europe; according to Oxfam one per cent of the worlds’ richest own 48 per cent of world wealth. Europe and North America still account for about 60 per cent of the world’s GDP.
Recent studies at the University of California shows that 160,000 families worth an average of $73 million each, own more than one-fifth of all U.S. wealth. The same proportion as the bottom 90 per cent of the nation.
The widening separation between the rich and the poor is gaining recognition. A cure for Ebola could have been found years ago but was seen as mostly a poor man’s disease over in Africa. Now it has become a global threat. This is a powerful argument on why the super-rich must become involved unless they intend to live in fortified, hermetically sealed bunkers.
Currently most governments are under pressure to use tax dollars in ways that benefit the domestic population. After a century of growth narrowing inequality modern globalization has tipped leading to extreme concentrations of wealth and irrational outcomes in the dispersal of funds to combat threats or promote public goods. For this reason the International Monetary Fund and senior politicians on the left and right are beginning to see the necessity of addressing this issue.
Leaders at Davos are investigating the possibility of setting up a global cyber-security body similar to what IATA does for planes. There is a strong need to address the issue of cyber-security as increasingly sophisticated attacks are expected to disable business, nations and necessary infrastructure. Global conflicts are an item at Davos with participants from more than 140 countries expected to attend. Major power plays between Russia and the Ukraine, Middle East conflicts, strained relations between Japan and China are top of the agenda. Sanctions imposed on Iran and Russia by the Western states is bringing increasing protectionism.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko left Davos early to deal with a surge of 9,000 Russian troops crossing the border; the fighting centers at Donetsk.
Elvena Slump
Penticton