Global economy is booming but the global elites in Davos are not celebrating
As the wave of capitalist populism led by Donald Trump sweeps through a world brimming with economic optimism, elite globalist politicians, CEOs and bankers are chilling in the Swiss Alps – but are in no mood to celebrate, analysts say.
With stock markets booming, oil prices on the rise again and the risks of a rapid economic slowdown in China easing, the global economy is in better shape than it has been in years.
A Davos logo is seen before the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Jan. 15. /Reuters
Meanwhile, many high-profile globalists, who last year gave Trump no chance of winning, made their annual trek to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland this week with a very different outlook.Trump’s victory, less than half a year after Britain voted to leave the European Union, was seen as a slap at the principles the Davos elites hold dear, from globalization and free trade to multilateralism.
Trump, whose inauguration fittingly coincides with the final day of this year’s Davos gathering, “is the poster child for a new strain of populism that is spreading across the developed world and threatening the post-war liberal democratic order,” a Jan. 15 Reuters analysis said. “With elections looming in the Netherlands, France, Germany, and possibly Italy, this year, the nervousness among Davos attendees is palpable.”