Get sick, get well
Hang around a ink well
Ring bell, hard to tell
If anything is goin' to sell
-- Bob Dylan

Friday, January 24, 2014

More from Davos


From Bloomberg
Filipino mogul Enrique Razon loathes rubbing shoulders with fellow billionaires in Davos. “It’s loaded with bloated self-importance,” the casino and cargo-terminal owner said in an interview today in the Swiss village, where he was wrapping up his second trip to the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting. “I’m here to do business, not save the world.” 
 Razon, who controls a $4.7 billion fortune, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, is one of at least 80 billionaires in town. Most have spent their time attending panels on the state of the global economy, debating income inequality and attending parties with bankers.

Bill & Melinda are there

Gates insists the world's a better place than it used to be. For him and his 84 friends, maybe. The world’s 85 wealthiest people hold as much wealth as the poorest 3.5 billion, or half the world population, according to a new report from global anti-poverty group Oxfam.
The global economy has become so skewed in favour of the rich that economic growth in many countries today “amounts to little more than a ‘winner takes all’ windfall for the richest.” 
Telling the world's poorest that they are better off that they were 50 years ago, just won't cut it. As for Gates' own benevolence -- Injustice Facts Tweets, "100% of Bill Gates' donations are tax write-offs, 94% of his donations go to paying staff and corporate research, 4% goes to needy people."

See my note to Cong. Eric Cantor about his Davos junket.

No comments:

Post a Comment