Tom Friedman at Davos, the World Economic Forum

Here’s Tom, writing from Davos:

Everyone is looking for the guy – the guy who can tell you exactly what ails the world’s financial system, exactly how we get out of this mess … But here’s what’s really scary: The guy isn’t here. He’s left the building.

No, Tom. You’re wrong about that last point. The guy didn’t leave the building. He wasn’t invited to the party. Though he knocked on the door and offered to contribute his ideas, as he has done many times over many years, he was kept out. Again.

Davos is for the elite. Heads of state and CEOs of global corporations, billionaires and celebrities and special guests, and scores of sycophants who report on the elite, their comings and goings and pronouncements. Tom attends regularly. That’s his scene. Those are his people.

Here’s what Tom and his friends want us to believe:

There is no magic bullet for this economic crisis, no magic bailout package, no magic stimulus. We have woven such a tangled financial mess with subprime mortgages wrapped in complex bonds and derivatives, pumped up with leverage, and then globalized to the far corners of the earth.

They believe it too, apparently. And they think they know what’s best for all of us. They must know – right? – because they’re heads of state and CEOs and billionaires and celebrities, and their thoughts are reported in the New York Times.

But their worldview doesn’t have to be ours. We can do much more than sit around and wait for them to supply the answers, and we must do more because sitting and waiting and expecting magic leaves us lost, powerless, and just as uncertain as the elites at Davos.

Income security for all is not magic – and that’s good for several reasons. First, it seems that Tom and his friends don’t believe in magic. Even though they didn’t invite us to their party, we want them to appreciate our ideas and join us in realizing income security for all.

Second, with magical solutions generally, and on stage invariably, the end result is the restoration of the status quo. The magician waves the wand and says the words, and everything goes back to normal. In reality, however, with our economic and political situation, that’s not good enough. The status quo wasn’t working very well. Too many of us were hungry, homeless, without health care. All of us were living with serious threats and uncertainties, most notably terrorism and climate change.

Third, and perhaps most fundamentally, the search for magical solutions maintains a fundamental and dangerous illusion: someone else is responsible, and he or she will take care of things and solve our problems for us.

Tom likes quotes, and here’s one from Einstein: “You can never solve a problem on the level on which it was created.” Income security for all is a new way of thinking. That’s what makes it so important and necessary.

That’s also why this idea and its advocates are not at Davos. Income security for all will upset the status quo. When everyone has a basic income for food and shelter, everyone will be more able to demand a stronger democracy, real equality of opportunity, greater social and economic justice. These are universal values, professed by ordinary Americans and the elites at Davos, so we can hope and expect that some of those elites will sacrifice willingly, will invite us to their party, will join us in our cause and campaign.

Another reason the Davos crowd might welcome income security for all: These ideas are not just for Americans. Versions can be enacted in any country, and the people at Davos are from around the world. Perhaps someone from somewhere will bring these ideas to next year’s forum.

Steven Shafarman

Tags: Tom Friedman, welfare

---

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 1st, 2009 at 9:48 am and is filed under economic growth, recession.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Both comments and pings are currently closed.