Newsletter - Thought leaders
The Davos Bubble?
Matthias Caesar, Locatech GmbH and the GALA Board
Fearing the loss of jobs, skeptical about Europe, criticizing capitalism – more and more people wonder what the results of the ever-expanding free market system will be. Is globalization in a crisis?
Let’s take a look at the latest theory of the leaders in Davos.
Each year in Davos, the World Economic Forum rallies behind a new hero. These days it is China with its fabulous 9.9% growth rate. This reminds the good ole boys in Davos (meeting socially over a glass of nice red wine) of an old theory called the “inverse bi-annual early indicator”. The theory says whomever is elevated to the Weissfluhgipfel (9333 feet) near Davos during the forum will tumble all the way down to the valley station within two years. In 1993 Mexico was the hero, two years later, in 1995, Mexico was close to bankruptcy. That very same year the “Asian tiger” was the love child at the forum, while in 1997 we witnessed the currency crisis. 1999 was the time to praise the .COM billionaires, yet their stocks were worth only fractions two years later. 2001 was when Laurent Fabius, French Finance Minister of the time, exultingly proclaimed “Europe is back”, yet 2003 brought recession to Europe. Choosing “real” stars like Richard Gere and Sharon Stone for stars in 2005 might well result in a lack of their presence in motion pictures in 2007!
Well, now it’s China. The cheer and enthusiasm is enormous but the brains behind our theory already fear the “Big Crash” in 2008. What do you think? Count the numerous demonstrations and commotions in China last year. Or take a look at your history books to check out when and where in Europe fast-paced growth during the industrialization era led to political disaster.
So I guess we will just have to continue doing our jobs so that at least it is not for “Lost in Translation” that the world we live in ends in globalization turmoil in 2008.
I would like to ask the GALAxy readers, are we heading for the burst of another Davos-hero bubble? And as citizens of the globe (= global citizens?), how can we create and adapt in such a way as to shape “globalization” intelligently?
Send your approximately 250 word responses to
by April 15.Matthias Caesar is the General Manager at Locatech GmbH and a member of the GALA Board. He can be reached at Matthias.Caesar@locatech.com.