A yearly event for the Business, Government, Academia and
International organizations is held at the World Economic Forum high in the
showy Swiss resort of Davos-Klosters.
These organisations aim to shape the global, regional and industry
agendas and address pressing global challenges. This year’s theme is 'Mastering
the Fourth Industrial Revolution'. However, the meeting has been
overshadowed by fears of China's trending down of growth and plummeting oil
prices on the world market. China's Vice President, Li Yuanchao, countered by remarking
that China would address the recent slowdown in its economy. With the global
financial market in a cautious mood it is expected that about ten central bank
Governors will descend on the upmarket ski resort. It is hoped that the forum
will provide them with a platform to lay out their ideas on requirements to
help the global economy this year.
France's Prime Minister,
Manuel Valls, started off the European session by remarking that security and
terrorism are one of the biggest challenges currently facing the European
region. He called for a pooling of resources and also sharing more information,
including a common programme of oversight of flights and airports. Wolfgang
Schauble, Germany's finance Minister, called for a new Marshall Plan to tackle
Europe’s refugee crisis, saying billions must be spent. Meanwhile, his boss
Chancellor Angela Merkel, remains below the radar, smarting from a refugee sex
scandal backlash from opposition parties at home in Germany. US Treasury
Secretary, Jack Lew, has hinted in the opening session that markets have over-reacted
to the oil price slump and China’s slowdown. While the contribution from HSBC
boss warned that it is hard to raise money for green energy right now. Alexis
Tsipras, Greece’s current Prime Minister, appeared sombre in his presentation
he called for a new co-ordinated growth strategy and for Europe to diminish the
inequalities between North and South.
High on the agenda at Davos will be the future of the European Union
and the Schengen Agreement. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has told Davos that
Europe business and community leaders should campaign in the upcoming
referendum for Britain to remain in the European Union; recent polls show that
52% Britons opting for leaving the EU has placed the future of the union in
doubt. With a UK referendum expected this year on its political relationship
with Europe, whether to remain in or opt out Europe, nerves can hardly be
calmed. However, David Cameron is wooing the doubters in Davos by insisting
that he is 'confident' the UK will remain in a reformed European Union if he
achieves the deal he is seeking for a new relationship with Brussels.
It is expected that some of the world’s influential charities such
as Oxfam as well as the Bill and Melinda Gates Trust will be there; they will
rub shoulders with Hollywood heart-throbs, Political powerhouses and the
growing billionaire class. This year the guest list is a little less white than
the Oscars; the impressive guests include Rachel Whetstone, Justin Trudeau,
Will.i.am, Sheryl Sandberg and Leonardo DiCaprio. Yet, missing from the
Davos list are the pied political pipers
of the squeezed middle such as Bernie Saunders, Jeremy Corbyn and Russel Brand
who will not get a foot in to embarrass the money grabbing capitalist billionaire
class present at Davos.
As to the volunteers of Kingston- Mouth, we will be watching the
drama unfold on our couches from afar, on television and social media,
clutching our Poundland crisps and drinking organic carrot juice. However, our
lower middle class voices will not be silenced. Statistics from Oxfam bear testament to the
fact that the squeezed middle class numbers and quality of life are evaporating
rapidly from the planet.
Since the last economic crisis, the billionaire class has ridiculed
the poor, so it’s time to return the favour to the Davos cavorting class. According
the Oxfam Charity that examines global poverty, this year the richest 1% in the
word will own more than all of us. Yes
I, will repeat: the cumulative wealth of us the 99 % will not match the wealth
of a handful of mostly tax evading billionaires. Subsequently, the middle
class among us are dwindling rapidly. Luckily, Winnie Bynyiami, Oxfam’s CEO,
will have a voice at the table at Davos. Although it is likely that her voice
will be drowned out by the greedy billionaire class worried about her dwindling oil stocks and shares on the Capital market.
Wealthy moneybags such as George Soros, Warren Buffett and the Kotch
Brothers won’t choke on their glasses of champagne when Oxfam breaks the news
to them that 62% persons like themselves wealth is equal to half of the world’s
population wealth. They will be engrossed in scientific lectures about how
robotics can lower the cost of labour and increase their already incredulous
bottom-line. I hope that whenever the
first sets of robotics are delivered they resemble Bill Gates, Will I Am, Brad
Pitt and Angelina Jolie. While I am at it, might I take a swipe at British
Billionaire Richard Branson who is busy in the American desert blowing up Space
crafts in the American desert? He is fixated on landing millionaires on space
stations in the stratosphere while the poor are starving in UN refugee camps as
a result of terrorism, civil wars, drought and famines. Neither is he
interested in the fact that most of the world’s poor are living on an income
less that US 1.25, down from $2 a day before the last economic
recession. His focus is solely to grow the Virgin Empire. The trump change that
is left on his aircrafts goes to charity and he is very noisy about it.
The Russian property grabbing
billionaire class, such as Roman Abramovich and Yuri Milner, have an open
yearly invite to sit cosily at the table at Davos and they might have one eye
on the table and another on the lucrative property market in London. A word of
advice to them, if they are bothered to make it to Davos, stick to property
acquisition and refrain from criticising President Putin openly. They really don’t want to get on his wrong
side or they might end up sipping a glass of expensive vodka laced with
plutonium by the KGB. We strongly advise that you confine your criticisms to
your expensive yachts moored on the Chelsea Harbour or the French Riviera. As
you swan around Europe laundering billions, remember those Russians living on
less than 9,662 roubles ($169) a month. Please also remember that the number of
Russians living on the official poverty line surged to nearly 23 million at the
end of March 2015.
The Qatari Royal Family and the House of Saud are also in for it.
Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani of Qatar and H.M King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al
Saud of Saudi Arabia have a combined wealth of 80 billion dollars. Their idea
of a good charity is to spread Wahhabism (radical Islamic ideology) across the
world. While they are buying expensive F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets at a cost of
$94 million each from the US, these oil rich Middle East Royal families invest
in high end sky scrapers in Europe, forcing up the price of real estate in
London making it almost impossible for the Middle class to own a home . Turning
up at Davos is beneath them as it’s too cold and definitely too high up in the
hills of Switzerland to moor their luxurious yachts. Their version of human
rights is to publically behead its citizens who oppose their exclusive rule by
dictatorship and prevent women from driving in public. Despite this, they are
the darlings of Europe and the US, the two main pillars of Capitalism and
democracy in the word. They defiantly don’t have to turn up in Davos as they
have the entire EU and US envoy doing the bidding on their behalf. Even with
oil plummeting to an all-time low of $32.26 dollars a barrel, they are so rich
that they won’t break into a sweat no matter how hot the desert gets.
You might be wondering why Kingston-Mouth has stooped so low to
berate the Billionaire classes who turn up at the Word Economic Forum in Davos.
These forums do not improve the lives of the poor and squeezed middle class
from Beijing to Bangladesh. We see the gap between the rich and the poor
getting wider; there is no trickle-down effect.
We emphatically do not believe that there is a tremendous passion to
end poverty when billionaires and world leaders meet; based on the legacy
of deception that Adam Smith has left us. We do not expect the likes of
Christine Lagarde, President of the IMF who receives a tax free salary of US $467,940
to close the gap between rich and the
poor; the best she can achieve during her tenure is a face lift and an expensive hair extension.
If we had a choice between wiping out
poverty or wiping out billionaires which one do you think we would choose?
This article was written by Donovan Reynolds CEO and edited by Ann
Smith Managing Editor of Kingston-Mouth .com.
Donovan Reynolds is an Independent Blogger and Human Rights Activists
who is of a Jamaican descent and a legal academic that has an interest in Human
Rights, Culture and International Development Issues.
No comments:
Post a Comment