You may delay, but time will not.
-- Ben Franklin
Interesting notes from the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting:
Regarding Europe: The Finnish Finance Minister was blunt, “Stop the illusion that the public sector creates growth. All of the growth comes from the private sector. All we can do in government is structural reform, infrastructure, trade and education of workers."
Regarding Technology: For the first time, I heard genuine opposition to the power and attitude of the technology sector. It came in several forms, starting with privacy and protection of personal data.
Regarding Climate Change: I felt a much more optimistic tone about climate change at this Davos than in previous years. The hot breath of next November’s meeting in Paris is on each nation’s neck. The U.S. deal on carbon with China was seen as a major plus.
Agriculture and Food Security: The key to the problem is the improvement of output from the family farm, which accounts for 70 percent of total output. Food experts suggest a two-pronged strategy. First, the efficiency of the small holder farmer who is working one-to-two hectares must increase.
Media and Entertainment: Some of the mainstream media owners expressed discomfort with their born-digital competitors who “use speed at the expense of facts and scale at the expense of depth,” with the motive of monetizing larger audiences.
Rising Inequality of Income: The Oxfam report on the first day of Davos said that 1 percent of the world controls as much of the assets as half of the world. The thesis is that with such concentration of wealth, the growth of economy is stunted by lower propensity to consume.
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