The Global Power Elite Has Always Hated Free Markets

Recently by Robert Wenzel: Is Ignorance Bliss?

      This is very serious. The elitist power grab is going right at the heart of capitalism. Of course, they have always been for central control, with them in control, but now they are calling out capitalism, directly. as an inferior product.

On Friday, I attacked Larry Summers for blaming the current crisis on capitalism. I thought he was a lone wolf attempting to see how far the anti-capitalist agenda could be pushed. I was wrong.

It appears Summers simply fired the first shot in a new aggressive move by elitists to discredit capitalism outright. The elitists are gathering in Davos, Switzerland right now for the 2012 World Economic Forum.

Check out this horrifying report from AFP on the Summit (my emphasis):

Economic and political elites meeting this week at the Swiss resort of Davos will be asked to urgently find ways to reform a capitalist system that has been described as "outdated and crumbling."

"We have a general morality gap, we are over-leveraged, we have neglected to invest in the future, we have undermined social coherence, and we are in danger of completely losing the confidence of future generations," said Klaus Schwab, host and founder of the annual World Economic Forum.

"Solving problems in the context of outdated and crumbling models will only dig us deeper into the hole.

"We are in an era of profound change that urgently requires new ways of thinking instead of more business-as-usual," the 73-year-old said, adding that "capitalism in its current form, has no place in the world around us."

Some 1,600 economic and political leaders, including 40 heads of states and governments, will be asked to come up with new ideas as they converge at eastern Switzerland’s chic ski station for the 42nd edition of the five-day World Economic Forum which opens Wednesday.

From a press release on the Davos forum:

The Davos Open Forum celebrates its 10th anniversary with a programme including a top-level debate on the future of capitalism

As I pointed out in my comment on Summers, capitalism has nothing to do with the current crisis. It is the interventionist measures (especially central banking) that have caused the current crisis. These measure have distorted capitalism and yet these elitist schemers, who are largely to blame for the crisis, have the chutzpah to blame the crisis on capitalism and to call for more interventions that will benefit no one but the elitist themselves.

Folks, it looks like they are going for the BIG GRAB. Not good. Not good at all.

Among those expected to be in Davos are:

  • IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde
  • Greenpeace Executive Director Kumi Naidoo
  • World Bank President Robert Zoellick
  • Bill Gates
  • UK Prime Minister David Cameron
  • U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ)
  • Nouriel Roubini. Professor at Stern School, NYU, Chairman of Roubini Global Economics
  • Ehud Barak, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence of Israel
  • Gordon Brown, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (2007-2010)
  • Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the European Central Bank (2003-2011)
  • Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer, Facebook
  • Sean Parker – Napster, Plaxo, Facebook, Causes, Spotify & Airtime
  • Peter Voser, Chief Executive Officer, Royal Dutch Shell
  • Ed Miliband, Leader, Labour Party, United Kingdom
  • Paul Polman, Chief Executive Officer ,Unilever
  • Vikram Pandit, Chief Executive Officer Citi
  • Yasuchika Hasegawa, President and Chief Executive Officer, Takeda Pharmaceutical
  • Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, Chairman of the Board, Nestlé, Switzerland
  • Nabil Elaraby,Secretary General of the League of Arab States.
  • Bill Gross, Founder of Technology Incubator Idealab
  • Michael Dell
  • Xavier Sala-i-Martin,Professor of Economics at Columbia University.
  • Tony Blair Office
  • Congressman Darrell Issa
  • Raila Amolo Odinga, Prime Minister of the Republic of Kenya.
  • Neelie Kroes Vice President of the European Commission, "responsible for the Digital Agenda for Europe".
  • Pete Cashmore, CEO and Founder of Mashable.com.
  • Joseph E. Stiglitz
  • Paul Allen
  • Goodluck Jonathan,President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
  • Michael Porter, Bishop William Lawrence University Professor, Harvard Business School. Director, Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness.
  • Shadi Hamid Director of Research at the Brookings Doha Center & Fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution.
  • Bruno Ferrari,Secretario de Economía de México
  • Mabel van Oranje, CEO of @TheElders. Co-chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations

And apologist reporters for the elitists:

  • Tina Brown, editor-in-chief of The Daily Beast and Newsweek.
  • Andrew Ross Sorkin New York Times Columnist & CNBC Squawk Box
  • Maria Bartiromo, Anchor CNBC Closing Bell
  • Alan Murray, Wall Street Journal Deputy Managing Editor and Executive Editor Online
  • Thomas L. Friedman NY Times columnist
  • Felix Salmon, Reuters
  • Henry Blodget, Business Insider

Here are the Strategic Partners of the Forum:

  • ABB
  • Abraaj Capital
  • Accel Partners
  • Accenture
  • Adecco Group
  • Adobe Systems Incorporated
  • Aetna
  • Agility
  • Alcatel-Lucent
  • Alcoa
  • Apax Partners
  • ArcelorMittal
  • AUDI AG
  • Bahrain Economic Development Board
  • Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company
  • Bain & Company
  • Bank of America
  • Barclays
  • Basic Element
  • Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
  • Bombardier
  • Booz & Company
  • BP Plc
  • BT
  • Burda Media
  • CA Technologies
  • Chevron
  • Cisco
  • Citi
  • Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, LLC
  • Clifford Chance
  • Credit Suisse
  • Deloitte
  • Deutsche Bank
  • Deutsche Post DHL
  • Dogus Group
  • DuPont
  • Ernst & Young
  • Eskom Holdings SOC Limited
  • Fluor Corporation
  • GDF SUEZ
  • GE
  • Goldman Sachs
  • Google
  • Hanwha Group
  • HCL Technologies Ltd
  • Heidrick & Struggles
  • Hewlett-Packard Company
  • HSBC
  • Huawei Technologies
  • IHS
  • Infosys
  • Intel Corporation
  • JPMorgan Chase & Co.
  • KPMG International
  • Kudelski Group
  • Lenovo
  • LUKOIL
  • Mahindra Satyam
  • ManpowerGroup
  • Marsh & McLennan Companies (MMCo)
  • McKinsey & Company
  • Merck
  • METRO GROUP
  • Microsoft Corporation
  • Mitsubishi Corporation
  • Morgan Stanley
  • National Bank of Kuwait
  • Nestlé
  • Nike Inc.
  • Nomura Holdings
  • Novartis
  • NYSE Euronext
  • Omnicom Group
  • PepsiCo
  • Prudential
  • Publicis Groupe
  • PwC
  • Qualcomm
  • Reliance Industries
  • Renault-Nissan Alliance
  • Roland Berger Strategy Consultants
  • Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC)
  • Sberbank
  • Siemens
  • SK Group
  • Standard Chartered
  • Swiss International Air Lines
  • Swiss Re
  • System Capital Management
  • Takeda Pharmaceutical
  • Tata Consultancy Services
  • The Boston Consulting Group
  • The Coca-Cola Company
  • The Dow Chemical Company
  • The NASDAQ OMX Group
  • The Olayan Group
  • Thomson Reuters
  • Troika Dialog
  • UBS
  • Unilever
  • VimpelCom
  • Visa Inc.
  • Vision 3
  • Volkswagen AG
  • VTB Bank
  • Wipro
  • WPP
  • Zurich Financial Services

Reprinted with permission from Economic Policy Journal.

2012 Economic Policy Journal