The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Tip-Jar Hitters Don’t Do Davos

Posted on | January 31, 2010 | 8 Comments

Maybe next year your contributions to the Galactic Conquest Fund will be enough to send me to Switzerland to hobnob with the bigwigs, but for now, we’ll have to rely on the MSM to tell us what’s going on there with the Masters of the Universe. Associated Press:

The state of the world’s economy, and keeping it on a course of recovery, is the focus of the last day of the World Economic Forum.
The five-day conference, which draws to a close Sunday, has seen much spirited debate on whether more regulation is needed for the financial industry, boosting sagging global employment and finding ways to ensure the nascent recovery is kept on course through 2010.

That’s why I want to go to Davos: So I can find an excuse to use the phrase “nascent recovery” in a news story. Some guys have all the fun. And girls, too. Alison Smale of the New York Times:

DAVOS, Switzerland — If there was one takeaway from the annual gathering of business and political leaders in Davos this year, it was this: trust in governments, corporations and above all banks has become as elusive as sure footing on the icy streets of this Alpine resort.

Oh, yeah, that’s a tough assignment you’ve got there, Alison, braving “the icy streets of this Alpin resort.” Buy yourself a cup of cocoa and send the bill to Pinch Sulzberger. Maybe next week, the New York Times will fly you to Cancun to recover from the trauma. Marcus Walker and Emma Moody of the Wall Street Journal:

DAVOS, Switzerland — Not so long ago, financiers ruled the roost at the glitzy annual gathering of the global economic elite here in the Swiss Alps. At this year’s gathering of the World Economic Forum, the unofficial theme seems to be, “First, kill all the bankers.”
The ire directed at bankers from all sides is palpable, acknowledged Donald Moore, chairman of Morgan Stanley in Europe, as he stood alone reading some charts amidst the hubbub at the forum’s Global Village cafe. Asked which other groups of people have been similarly unpopular in Davos in the past, he said: “terrorists.” . . .
The scorn poured on the industry at this year’s get-together in the Swiss ski resort is a sign of a mounting international backlash against the financial sector.

To say nothing of the backlash against reporters traveling to Swiss ski resorts to hang out in the Global Village Cafe with the “global economic elite” on Rupert Murdoch’s dime. But just wait until next year. Dan Collins is likely to double-dog dare me like he did with the Pasadena trip, and then you’ll have some serious “hubbub”  — Fear and Loathing in Davos.

You know who goes to Davos? David Brooks.

Figure the whole Davos trip, soup-to-nuts — air fare, hotel, etc. — can’t  possibly cost more than $3,650. So if the tip-jar hitters could just come across with an extra $10 a day for the next 365 days, I can be there next year for the World Economic Forum. And won’t Mr. Brooks be surprised to see me?

Aluminum baseball bat, $14.95.

I’m just sayin’ . . .

Category: David Brooks Fisking Day, Economics, Foreigners, humor, Journalism

Comments

8 Responses to “Tip-Jar Hitters Don’t Do Davos”

  1. Theodore Fritz
    January 31st, 2010 @ 1:35 pm

    Aluminum baseball bat? Nah, you know those would set off their metal detectors.

  2. Theodore Fritz
    January 31st, 2010 @ 8:35 am

    Aluminum baseball bat? Nah, you know those would set off their metal detectors.

  3. Chuck Cross
    January 31st, 2010 @ 2:52 pm

    Alumnium baseball bat, for the win.

  4. Chuck Cross
    January 31st, 2010 @ 9:52 am

    Alumnium baseball bat, for the win.

  5. Red
    January 31st, 2010 @ 3:51 pm

    Sorry Stacey;-(
    You’re better at the shoe-leather beat than some of these other “arm-chair quarter backs” if that’s any consolation though it probably isn’t.

  6. Red
    January 31st, 2010 @ 10:51 am

    Sorry Stacey;-(
    You’re better at the shoe-leather beat than some of these other “arm-chair quarter backs” if that’s any consolation though it probably isn’t.

  7. Bill A
    February 1st, 2010 @ 7:15 am

    Hey RSM, some of us TJ Hitters are from Switzerland, and Falls Church too.

    Canton de Vaud, Leysin, let’s see if we cain’t cook something up.

  8. Bill A
    February 1st, 2010 @ 2:15 am

    Hey RSM, some of us TJ Hitters are from Switzerland, and Falls Church too.

    Canton de Vaud, Leysin, let’s see if we cain’t cook something up.