RANT: RICH MAN, POOR MAN, BEGGAR-MAN, THIEF

 

Davos Billionaires on golden-egg hunt

I’VE COME TO THE CONCLUSION that we’ve gone too far down the rabbit hole to turn around and we’re faced with the prospect of entering a wonderland with little hope of finding our way back any time soon. And, unlike for Alice, mad-hatters and red queens are the least of our worries. All we can do now is chase the rabbit faster and faster, knowing we will never catch up….

 

AS I WAS TYPING THIS, I was listening to Yo-Yo Ma performing Bach’s “Six Cello Suites”, recorded at a “BBC Proms” event in 2015. At the same time, multi-tasking, I happened to be online researching the WEF’s (World Economic Forum) listing for Canadian politicians who “graduated” from its “Young Global Leaders” (YGL) program. (Justin Trudeau and Chrystina Freeland are two examples; Jagmeet Singh, the NDP Opposition leader, is a third.) One directory had helpful categories listing graduates under headings like: “Government”, “Media”, “Think Tanks”, etc., and there was one for “Activism and the Arts”, and... huh! What a co-inky dink! Yo-Yo Ma’s name is there—as a 1993 alumni of the WEF’s “Global Leader for Tomorrow” program (forerunner of the current YGL program). Who would have thunk it? SO, I TOOK IT AS A SIGN I was to write about the World Economic Forum, subject of everyone’s favourite conspiracy theory surrounding the cabal of elites seeking world domination from atop their alpine aerie in Switzerland.

 

FOR THOSE WHO ARE UNFAMILIAR with the WEF, it’s a talk-shop for rich mucky-mucks, founded by Ernst Biofield* look-alike, Klaus Schwab (below), way back in 1971. It’s where those in positions of power come, mostly by private jet, to meet and greet, network and to meditate on ways of making more money and how best to advance their careers, be they  politicians, NGO heads, think tank big-brains, media stars, or whatever. Annual memberships range from $62,000 to $650,000, while admission for non-members to the recent five-day, rich-gasm hook-up was a paltry $29,000! (I assume they got free parking with that.) So, Davos (in Switzerland where the annual retreats are hosted) is not for you or me, or for ninety-nine percent of the world’s population. “Jeeves! Remove the riff-raff! At Once!”

 

AS I UNDERSTAND the Forum’s YGL program, it began in 1992 as a year-long series of events, talks, group tasks, Zoom-calls and research assignments designed to hone and highlight the skills of the registrants, mostly under the age of 38, and to network and strengthen ties (some might call it "grooming")among rising stars drawn from the world's business, social and political elites.  BESIDES the YGL training program, the WEF provides research and policy papers, multi-media presentations, webinars, conferences, and Public-Private Partnerships(P3) mediation. But it’s best known for its annual Davos schmooze-fest.

 

I THINK IT’S JUST SWELL that our betters have a place where they can all hang-out together and talk shop, or cry into their Eisbock beers about how much tax they almost had to pay that year or laugh about the company they gutted in an asset grab, or which legislation they'd like to promote in their country to limit free speech, and so on. But, kidding aside, these guys and gals from the globe’s upper echelons—from the private sector, government, academia, NGOs and the (bought and paid for) media—don’t make the trek up the mountain to Davos for their health or for the scenery or because they’re want to meet up with their BFFs to ski or canoodle or play pickleball, or whatever. They’re there to advance their interests or the interests of their companies or governments. But are they ever there to advance our interests?  Not if you read the proposals and wishcastings found in their fancy brochures and annual reports. Their plans sound great until you look under the hood to see where all the strings are being pulled and whose jerking them around. Klaus Schwab and the Davos crowd ain't your daddy.

 

Davos looks to influence..EVERYTHING!

TAKE A LOOK, HERE, at a list of this year’s attendees to the Davos May 22-26 spring confab. It’s a bit of an eye-opener. I don’t know if government officials or elected representatives pay the same hefty entrance fee that corporations pay, but I was interested to learn that Canada, under Justin Trudeau (an “alumni” of the YGL program don’t forget), gave the WEF’s “Partnership” program almost $3M dollars in 2020-21. The funds came from Global Canada’s¹ International Development Assistance for Multilateral Programming department. IN ITS ANNUAL REPORT², the WEF states it gets its funding from the annual event admissions and membership fees, while over half its revenues comes from “partnership” services it provides “to further multi-stakeholder dialogue and public-private partnerships between business leaders and policy-makers, civil society and other leaders of society.”  So, the WEF acts as a facilitator for P3 projects, collecting a good hunk of change for their efforts. These days, a lot of P3 projects are in “green” development and clean energy where there’s a ton of money to be made siphoning off revenue streams flowing into various green initiative programs.

AS ERNST KLAUS SAYS in a 2015-16 WEF Mission Statement “…we seek to drive public-private co-operation in the global public interest. We are united by the belief that today’s pressing problems present an opportunity to build a better future across sectors and boundaries.” And in a web publication called “A Platform for Impact”, it states:

 

“Over 1,000 of the world’s most recognize leaders in their thirties are engaged as Young Global Leaders, and close to 10,000 outstanding young people in their twenties contribute as Global Shapers, active in more than 400 cities around the world.”

 

SO, I GUESS MY POINT is that these people aren’t in Davos networking, putting deals together, mentoring up-and-coming global leaders, promoting agendas for radical change (eg. “The Great Reset”, global digital IDs, “wearables")for the benefit of mankind. These are un-elected, privileged elites whose main job is to preserve their privilege. I DON’T EXPECT anyone reading this to accept what I say at face value and the best that I can hope for is that some will adopt a more skeptical view when reading various tracts, screeds, forecasts, prognostications and other promotions and publications published by the WEF, or when their P3s and other schemes are promoted. These people have influence and great power, and they will use all the tools in their toolbox to advance their agenda. Maybe next time, their alpine conference centre will get snowed in and hunger will force them to eat each other. "Survivor: Davos!" Man I'd pay a whole wad of cash to see that episode! 

One can only hope.³

 

Cheers, Jake.

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*The evil movie villain based on a character in Ian Fleming’s famous spy thriller Thunderball. In it, Blofield heads a world-wide criminal organization known as SPECTRE, which stands for: “Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion.” That’s one secret cabal you don’t want to mess with—unless you’re James Bond!

 

1 “Global Affairs Canada”: The name sounds like some sort of shipping company. I prefer the old-school name: “Ministry of Foreign Affairs.” At least you knew what you were talking about.

 

2 AS NEAR AS I CAN FIGURE, if I’ve done the math and exchange figures right, the annual budget for the World Economic Forum is roughly $162M in revenues with $161M in expenses. Looks like they run a tight ship. I wonder if they’ll let us on board. 

[And to rub salt in the wound, the WEF is registered as a "non-profit" organization, with all the tax breaks that come with such a designation. It's a sweet gig if you can get it. Ed.]

 

3 FOR ANOTHER CHEEKY CONSPIRACY, did you know that the Bilderbergers met recently in a hotel in Washington, D.C.? One of my fav politicians, Nurse Ratched Chrystina Freeland, Canada’s own Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister (and WEF YGL grad) attended the closed-to-the-public affair, along with corporate CEOs, high-ranking government officials, European Commissioners, MPs, senators, Prime Ministers (Netherlands, Finland), Ukraine’s ambassador to the US and the Sec. Gen. of NATO (I wonder what those two talked about?) Also dropped by was Netherland’s King Willem-Alexander (A king! Who knew?), hedge-fund CEOs, Big Oil, Big Pharma, Silicon Valley execs (Natch!); even the Director-General of UNESCO and the National Security Director of the United States, Jake ("The Snake") Sullivan, and the still-alive Darth Vader Henry Kissinger! Quite the A-list of 120 or so of the world’s elite movers and shakers gathered for another love-in, whose progeny I’m sure will benefit us all. No transcripts of any discussions were published, though a list of key topics for the four day, June 2-5 event was provided. These wowsers need only a four day conference in order to rule the world! (The WEF needs five.)

 

The key topics for discussion this year are:
1. Geopolitical Realignments
2. NATO Challenges
3. China
4. Indo-Pacific Realignment
5. Sino-US Tech Competition
6. Russia
7. Continuity of Government and the Economy
8. Disruption of the Global Financial System
9. Disinformation
10. Energy Security and Sustainability
11. Post Pandemic Health
12. Fragmentation of Democratic Societies
13. Trade and De-globalisation
14. Ukraine

 

 

 

[Comedian Russell Brand has a strong critique of WEF goals and practices here and his imitation of WEF spokesman, Klaus Schwab here is hilarious.]

 

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