“Long Live Freedom, Damn It”

“The case of Argentina is an empirical demonstration, asserted Argentina President Javier Milei, “that — no matter how rich you may be, or how much you may have in terms of natural resources… or how many bars of gold you may have in the central bank — if measures are adopted that hinder the free function of markets, free competition, free price systems, if you hinder trade, if you attack private property, the only possible fate is poverty.”

Before concluding, Milei praised business leaders as “heroes” who should not be afraid of the “political caste” and “the parasites that live off the state.”

President Milei then raised his battle cry: “The state is not the solution. The state is the problem. Long Live Freedom, Damn it.”

The world’s leader in virtue signaling now is facing a torrent of trust issues, reports James Freeman in the WSJ.  World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab, the world’s top scold, is facing questions about his own conduct.

The Bigger They Are …

Schwab’s annual gatherings in Davos, Switzerland, have been headline events. For years, the event in Davos has been a platform for global capitalism. There, global leaders (politicians and activists) had an opportunity to persuade American CEOs to stop being capitalists.

Mr. Schwab’s shtick has been to tell CEOs that to rebuild trust, they must stop focusing on the needs of shareholders and instead serve a larger universe of vaguely defined “stakeholders” like him who may have no stake in the businesses but do have strong opinions about climate and diversity. He’s no longer running the forum but still faces questions about the many years when he did.

The Forum’s guiding principles, according to the Forum’s website, are based on “legitimacy, accountability, transparency, and concerted action.”

Investigating Misconduct by Klaus Schwab 

It seems that over the past decade there has been a pattern of workplace misconduct, reports the WSJ. included are “unauthorized spending by him and his wife, bullying behavior, and inappropriate treatment of female staffers…”

A Schwab spokesperson rejected the findings, stating that the Forum’s most senior public face always treated women respectfully and that he and his wife never sought to gain financially from their roles at the organization that consumed much of their lives…

Reportedly, a Forum spokesman declined to comment.

 A Need to Rebuild Trust 

Schwab’s inappropriate behavior, according to investigators, extended to personal intervention in the results of the Forum’s high-profile Global Competitiveness Report, which ranks countries on factors ranging from financial stability to corruption.

One recent year, for example, investigators found that Schwab said he approved of the methodology but wanted changes because he was worried about India’s poor score and the U.K.’s climb up the ranks post-Brexit.

Schwab is accused of leaning on employees to bump up India and demote the U.K. so that Brexit supporters wouldn’t be able to cheer the country’s move up the rankings. Through a spokesman, Schwab justified his intervention in Forum research: It was necessary to protect the integrity of high-profile reports.

Another Bites the Dust

While the Forum investigates the need to build back trust, it might also explore Mr. Klaus’ chilling effort during the pandemic panic to reorder global society.

From Klaus Schwab (June 2020):

To achieve a better outcome, the world must act jointly and swiftly to revamp all aspects of our societies and economies, from education to social contracts and working conditions. Every country, from the United States to China, must participate, and every industry, from oil and gas to tech, must be transformed. In short, we need a “Great Reset” of capitalism.

James Freeman wonders if the Forum wouldn’t be prudent to listen to the likes of the president of Argentina? Milei’s wise oratory might just help the Forum to regain the “trust from people all over the world.”