Davos Man

1. Davos Man: The Global Elite Who Rig the System

The wealthiest, most powerful people on earth used their money and influence to separate themselves from the pandemic, riding it out in their oceanfront estates, mountain hideaways, and yachts.

Defining the elite. Davos Man, a term coined by Samuel Huntington, describes a global elite so enriched by globalization that they are effectively stateless, their interests and wealth flowing across borders. They gather annually at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, a meeting ostensibly committed to "Improving the State of the World." This gathering serves as a validation of their status and a platform for promoting their self-serving agenda.

Power and influence. This group, predominantly white and male billionaires, wields unsurpassed influence over the political realm through lobbying, campaign finance, and control of narratives. They promote the idea that policies benefiting them will ultimately benefit everyone, a notion the author calls the "Cosmic Lie." Their power comes from their ability to shape the rules of the global economy in their favor.

Self-serving agenda. While publicly championing social causes and philanthropy, Davos Man's primary objective is the relentless expansion of their own wealth and territory. They exploit crises, evade taxes, weaken regulations, and diminish public services, all while presenting themselves as benevolent agents of progress. The World Economic Forum, despite its high-minded mission, functions largely as a lobbying operation and networking event for this elite.

2. The Cosmic Lie: How Tax Cuts and Deregulation Benefit Only the Rich

Davos Man’s most cunning innovation is how he has successfully cast himself as a concerned global citizen, while pervading the idea that his continued victories are a requirement for society to achieve any wins at all.

The core narrative. The "Cosmic Lie" is the demonstrably false idea that cutting taxes and deregulating markets will not only enrich the most affluent but also "trickle down" benefits to the masses. This narrative, promoted by Davos Man and his collaborators, has captured decisive force across major economies over the last half century. It serves as the intellectual infrastructure for policies that exacerbate inequality.

Historical context. This idea is not new, tracing back to the Robber Barons of the late nineteenth century who justified their wealth as an inevitable byproduct of progress. However, Davos Man has weaponized it, turning it from a defensive justification into an offensive tool to secure more wealth. They argue that their prosperity is a precondition for broader progress, essential for vibrancy and innovation.

Real-world impact. Decades of implementing policies based on the Cosmic Lie have shown the opposite result: wealth has flowed overwhelmingly upward, leaving ordinary people with stagnant wages and diminished economic security. This has been achieved through:

• Financing politicians who champion their interests
• Deploying lobbyists to eviscerate financial regulations
• Defenestrating antitrust authorities to allow mergers
• Squashing the power of labor movements

3. Global Pillage: Exploiting Trade and Labor for Shareholder Gain

We are living in a world designed by Davos Man to direct ever-greater fortune toward Davos Man.

Shaping globalization. The post-WWII global trading system, initially designed to promote peace and shared prosperity, was hijacked by Davos Man to maximize shareholder value. The rise of Milton Friedman's doctrine that a company's sole responsibility is to increase profits provided the intellectual justification for prioritizing shareholder interests above all others. This led companies to relentlessly seek lower costs globally.

Amazon as archetype. Jeff Bezos and Amazon embody this mode, leveraging global trade and technology to build an empire while squeezing workers and gaming the tax system. Amazon's success relies on:

• Tapping low-wage factories worldwide
• Relentlessly pressuring workers for productivity
• Using market dominance to crush competitors
• Aggressively avoiding taxes

Unequal distribution. While globalization has delivered consumer benefits and lifted some out of poverty globally, its gains have been overwhelmingly captured by Davos Man. This has come at the expense of workers in wealthy nations, whose wages and job security have been undermined by global competition and weakened labor power. The resulting anger has fueled political backlash against trade and globalization.

4. Tax Evasion: Starving Governments of Resources

Over recent decades, the billionaire class has ransacked governments by shirking taxes, leaving societies deprived of the resources needed to combat trouble.

Systematic avoidance. Davos Man employs armies of accountants and lawyers to legally minimize their tax burdens, often stashing wealth in offshore havens. This systematic tax avoidance deprives governments of trillions in revenue needed for public services and investments. Examples include:

• Corporate use of foreign subsidiaries to shift profits (Salesforce)
• Billionaires using complex structures to make income disappear (Bezos)
• Private equity executives benefiting from preferential tax rates (carried interest)

Historical precedent. Wealthy Italians, like Gianni Agnelli of Fiat, perfected techniques of hiding wealth overseas decades ago, contributing to cynicism and undermining governance. This historical pattern of elites prioritizing personal enrichment over public contribution is a precursor to modern Davos Man's global strategies.

Impact on society. The resulting lack of government resources weakens the state's ability to provide essential services like healthcare, education, and infrastructure. This exacerbates inequality and leaves societies vulnerable to crises. When the pandemic hit, many nations found their public health systems underfunded, a direct consequence of decades of tax avoidance by the wealthy.

5. Crisis Profiteering: Turning Disasters into Opportunities

This is how Davos Man has managed to turn every crisis into an opportunity for his further enrichment, finding in dire public health emergencies and financial conflagrations a justification for public relief, and implanting in every bailout a mechanism that steers public money his way.

Exploiting instability. Davos Man views crises not as setbacks but as opportunities for further accumulation of wealth and power. They leverage their influence to ensure that public rescue efforts disproportionately benefit them. The 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic are prime examples.

Financial crisis bailouts. Following the 2008 crash, caused in part by reckless financial speculation, governments unleashed massive taxpayer-funded bailouts. These rescues primarily benefited large financial institutions and their executives, while ordinary homeowners received minimal aid.

• Banks deemed "Too Big to Fail" received billions (JPMorgan Chase)
• Executives received bonuses and firms bought back stock
• Foreclosures soared, creating opportunities for private equity (Blackstone)

Pandemic profiteering. The COVID-19 pandemic became another moment for the wealthy to thrive. While millions lost jobs and livelihoods, billionaires' collective wealth soared. Public relief programs, like the CARES Act, were shaped by lobbying to include provisions benefiting the rich and large corporations.

• Tax cuts for real estate investors were inserted into relief bills
• Large companies received loans intended for small businesses (PPP)
• The Federal Reserve's bond-buying programs stabilized financial markets, benefiting investors (BlackRock)

6. Health Care Decimation: Prioritizing Profit Over Public Health

If you consider profit to be the endgame of health care instead of health, some people are going to be left out.

Financializing health. Private equity firms and other financial interests have aggressively moved into the healthcare sector, viewing it as a lucrative market impervious to economic downturns. Their focus on maximizing profits often comes at the expense of patient care and worker well-being.

Cost-cutting measures. New corporate owners of hospitals and medical practices implement severe cost-cutting measures:

• Diminishing staffing levels and resources (Dr. Lin's hospital)
• Consolidating facilities and reducing hospital beds
• Engaging in practices like "surprise billing" to extract more money from patients

Pandemic consequences. Decades of prioritizing efficiency and profit over preparedness left healthcare systems vulnerable when the pandemic hit. Lack of protective gear, insufficient hospital beds, and stretched staff exacerbated the crisis.

• Hospitals resisted canceling elective procedures due to revenue concerns
• Private equity-owned facilities threatened closure unless they received bailouts
• Nursing homes, often run for profit, became death traps due to understaffing and lack of resources (Sweden, Italy)

7. Undermining Democracy: Buying Influence and Controlling Narratives

Davos Man’s domination of the gains of globalization is how the United States found itself led by a patently unqualified casino developer as it grappled with a public health emergency that killed more Americans than those who died in World War I, World War II, and the Vietnam War combined.

Capturing governance. Davos Man actively works to capture the levers of democratic governance through campaign finance, lobbying, and placing allies in key government positions. This allows them to tilt laws and regulations in their favor, ensuring their continued enrichment.

Controlling the narrative. Beyond direct political influence, they shape public discourse through media ownership, funding think tanks, and promoting concepts like "stakeholder capitalism." This creates a facade of social concern while diverting attention from their self-serving actions and undermining trust in government and other institutions.

• Billionaires own major media outlets (Benioff/Time)
• Think tanks promote pro-business, anti-regulation ideas
• "Stakeholder capitalism" is presented as a substitute for government regulation and labor power

Weakening public trust. The perception that the system is rigged, fueled by visible inequality and the apparent impunity of the wealthy, erodes public trust in democratic institutions. This creates fertile ground for populist movements that exploit anger and resentment, often misdirecting blame towards immigrants or other marginalized groups instead of the economic elite.

8. Brexit and Populism: The Backlash Fueled by Inequality

Davos Man’s relentless plunder is the decisive force behind the rise of right-wing populist movements around the world.

Economic roots of anger. Decades of stagnant wages, job losses due to globalization, and cuts to public services (austerity) have created deep-seated grievances among ordinary people in many countries. This economic insecurity, not just cultural factors, is a primary driver of populist backlash.

Exploiting discontent. Opportunistic politicians, like Donald Trump and Italy's Matteo Salvini, weaponize this anger, blaming problems on immigrants, global institutions, or the "establishment." They offer simplistic, often contradictory, solutions while deflecting blame from the economic elite who benefited from the policies that caused the distress.

• Trump blamed China and immigrants for job losses
• Salvini blamed migrants for Italy's economic woes
• Brexit campaigners blamed the EU bureaucracy for Britain's problems

Davos Man's role. While populists often rail against the "global elite," some Davos Men actively fueled these movements for their own gain. For example, hedge fund managers who wanted to escape EU financial regulations supported Brexit, using nationalist rhetoric to gain popular support. This highlights how even anti-elite movements can be co-opted by a subset of the elite.

9. Pension Plunder: Squeezing Retirement Savings for Private Gain

This wealth transfer might be one of the largest in the history of modern finance: from a few hundred million pension scheme members to a few thousand people working in private equity.

Targeting retirement funds. Private equity firms have aggressively targeted public pension funds, which hold the retirement savings of millions of workers, as a source of capital. They promise high returns but often deliver mediocre performance while extracting exorbitant fees.

Fee extraction. Private equity employs complex structures and opaque accounting to charge a wide array of fees, siphoning off billions from pension funds. This practice has been described as one of the largest wealth transfers in modern finance, benefiting private equity executives at the expense of retirees.

Political influence. The private equity industry lobbies heavily to maintain favorable regulations and tax loopholes (like carried interest) that maximize their gains. They also cultivate relationships with pension fund managers, sometimes through questionable means, to secure investments. When public pensions face shortfalls, politicians like Mitch McConnell blame generous benefits rather than the fees extracted by financial firms.

10. Vaccine Nationalism: Prioritizing Profits Over Global Health

The protection of Davos Man’s profits took precedence over the saving of lives.

Publicly funded research. Much of the foundational research for life-saving drugs and vaccines, including COVID-19 vaccines, is financed by taxpayers through government grants and institutions. However, pharmaceutical companies, run by Davos Man aspirants, privatize the benefits by securing patents and pricing medicines to maximize shareholder returns.

Pandemic pricing. The COVID-19 pandemic presented pharmaceutical companies with an unprecedented opportunity to profit. Despite public funding and a global health emergency, companies like Pfizer priced their vaccines based on market demand, not global need.

• Wealthy nations pre-ordered vast quantities, often paying premium prices
• Poor countries were largely shut out, dependent on limited donations (Covax)
• Companies resisted calls to waive patents or share technology to boost global supply

Inequitable distribution. The result is a stark global divide in vaccine access, with wealthy nations rapidly vaccinating their populations while billions in poor countries face years of waiting. This inequity is a direct consequence of prioritizing corporate profits and national self-interest over global public health, exacerbated by trade restrictions and lack of international cooperation.

11. Debt Extraction: Squeezing Poor Nations Amid Crisis

So long as some countries lacked vaccines, the coronavirus was supplied a chance to yield variants that would require additional immunization.

Burden of debt. Many developing countries carry heavy debt burdens, often spending more on servicing foreign loans than on essential services like health and education. The pandemic exacerbated this crisis, decimating their economies and reducing their capacity to pay.

Davos Man as creditor. Financial institutions, including major asset managers like BlackRock, are significant holders of this debt. Despite the global health emergency, they have largely resisted calls for meaningful debt relief, prioritizing their returns.

• The Institute of International Finance, representing creditors, argued against debt suspension
• Larry Fink of BlackRock took a hard line in negotiations with Argentina, fearing a precedent for other debtors
• Creditors used tactics to pressure governments, prioritizing their ability to borrow in the future over immediate human needs

Impact on vulnerable populations. The insistence on debt repayment forces poor governments to cut essential services during a crisis, directly harming vulnerable populations. This highlights how the financial interests of Davos Man can directly undermine global efforts to combat pandemics and alleviate poverty.

12. Resetting History: Reclaiming Democracy and Distributing Wealth

We can either have democracy in this country or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.

The core conflict. The concentration of vast wealth in the hands of a few poses a fundamental threat to democracy. Davos Man has demonstrated the capacity to use wealth to manipulate political processes, ensuring rules favor the rich and undermining the public interest. This has fueled anger and instability globally.

Beyond cynicism. Accepting extreme inequality as inevitable is a renunciation of historical possibility. Societies have previously faced similar concentrations of power (Robber Barons) and used democratic tools to reshape the economy for broader benefit (New Deal). The current crisis demands a similar response.

Tools for change. Reclaiming democracy from Davos Man requires deliberate action to redistribute wealth and power. Potential strategies include:

• Reviving and enforcing antitrust laws to break up monopolies (targeting Big Tech)
• Modernizing tax codes to focus on wealth and increase rates for the rich (wealth taxes, higher capital gains, increased enforcement)
• Establishing new forms of social insurance (universal basic income, job guarantees)
• Promoting community wealth building by directing local spending towards local businesses and cooperatives

The path forward. This is not about dismantling capitalism but reshaping it to ensure its benefits are widely shared. It requires overcoming the political power of Davos Man, who will resist changes that threaten their wealth. The fight is not just economic; it is a battle for the future of democracy itself, demanding thoughtful use of the tools available to the public.

Last updated: May 3, 2025