Good morning, delegates! Welcome to Davos. We hope you had a comfortable helicopter ride into the valley. Welcome, also, if you’re following along from elsewhere.
This daily email from Quartz is your guide to all the news and chatter from the World Economic Forum. This year, it’s all about “responsive and responsible leadership,” so let’s all be on our best behavior.
I’m Jason Karaian, your Davos correspondent for the next five days. Also joining me are Quartz’s editor-in-chief Kevin Delaney and reporters Jenny Anderson and Steve LeVine. Email me your news, tips, and Shakira sightings.
It’s snowy, it’s cold, it’s Davos! Amid light flurries, the high temperature today will be a crisp -10°C (14°F). Now is not the time to be proud about footwear—lace up those boots and watch your step. Arctic sea ice may be receding, but Alpine pavement ice is extensive.
What to watch for today
First things first. If you haven’t already, go to the big tent in the parking lot to pick up your all-important badge. The forum’s official app is not the whizziest thing you’ll ever install on your phone, but is essential for browsing the program and navigating the venues. The welcome ceremony kicks off at 6:15pm in the Congress Hall; get there early to catch rare Pokémon before all the other CEOs and heads of state get them first.
Reports, reports, and more reports. The research that companies, consultancies, and NGOs publish on the eve of the forum features rankings of which countries are best at nurturing talent, which are the most inclusive, which institutions are trusted more than others, and so on. (Most of these reports are under embargo, but suffice to say that the trends in inequality, trust, and competitiveness aren’t great.) The WEF’s own ranking of global risks reckons that the most likely disruption this year is from “extreme weather events” and the most damaging is “weapons of mass destruction.” Have a great week!
Pace yourself. It’s been a year since attendees last belted out power ballads in the wee hours at the famous Piano Bar. On the first night of a long week, it’s wise to go easy on the schnapps and save energy for future soirées. Don’t worry: Barry will be at the bar, taking requests, every night from 9pm to 2:30am.
What everyone is talking about
The end of consensus. The Davos consensus is often wrong, but last year’s rejection of free trade, open borders, and other core tenets of the Davos set was epic and comprehensive. That makes this year’s forum more important than ever. But if it pays to bet against the consensus, that means the gloomier the global elite get this week, the better things will turn out during the year, right?
Trading places. Davos is a long way, literally and figuratively, from the swampy partisan battlefield of Washington, DC, which is noisily gearing up for Donald Trump’s inauguration at the end of the week. With many Americans adopting Trump’s “America First” motto and staying home, the most spirited defense of free trade in Davos will come, strangely, from China’s Xi Jinping. This will be the first taste of the upside-down geopolitics that 2017 has in store.
Davos on the Potomac. Heeding Trump’s call to put American workers first, the WEF has just announced that it will host a one-off event in Washington later this year to “explore US investment and job-creation opportunities.” Few organizations have as much experience creating lots of jobs in a short space of time, so the move should put the forum’s organizers in the new administration’s good graces. As a result, will we see president Trump in the Alps this time next year?
Globalization and its discontents. An impassioned defense of globalization by economist Dambisa Moyo—it “has to be all or nothing”—will serve as the rallying cry for delegates keen to double-down on a defense of the liberal world order. “It is not the idea of globalization itself that is problematic,” she writes, “it is that its implementation has not gone far enough.” Strong stuff.
How do you pronounce Davos, anyway? It’s “da-VOHS” if you want to sound like a local, or more likely, a pretentious foreigner. Up to you.
Chart interlude
Defining the elite. Credit Suisse says that anyone with net assets of at least $744,400 is part of the global 1%, a group that now controls 51% of the world’s wealth. Here’s how this exclusive club breaks down by country:
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This is a special edition of the Quartz Daily Brief produced for attendees and others interested in the World Economic Forum in Davos. If you were forwarded this newsletter by a colleague, head of state, or Klaus Schwab himself, you can get your own copy for free by clicking here.
News from around the world
South Korean prosecutors called for the arrest of Samsung vice chairman Jay Y. Lee. Investigators allege he paid over $3 million to a company co-owned by Choi Soon-sil, the confidante of president Park Geun-hye, in exchange for the approval of a merger of two Samsung subsidiaries. Lee is the heir apparent to the entire Samsung Group, and a conviction would threaten the leadership transition.
More US Congress members said they will give Donald Trump’s inauguration a pass. Quartz is updating a running list of who’s out following senator and civil rights icon John Lewis’s announcement that he would not attend the event. “I don’t see this president-elect as a legitimate president,” Lewis told NBC’s Meet the Press.
Beijing said the One China policy isn’t up for debate. In an interview last week, Trump said, “Everything is under negotiation, including ‘One China.’” Not so, said the China foreign ministry on Saturday (paywall.) It called the policy the “political foundation” of the China-US relationship.
Protesters gathered in US cities to denounce anti-immigrant talk. Americans marched to protest Trump’s rhetoric. Some carried signs that read, “Tu, yo, todos somos America,” or “You, me, we all are America.”
SpaceX returned to inventing the future. For the first time since one of its rockets caught fire last September, the company successfully launched 10 Iridium satellites on a Falcon 9 rocket before flying the first stage of the rocket back to a floating platform in the Pacific Ocean.
US troops were formally welcomed in Poland as part of a NATO buildup. The Pentagon has said that the rotation of some 4,000 US soldiers into Poland will send a strong signal to Russia while strengthening ties with NATO allies.
Matters of debate
California ought to be its own country. So says Peter Thiel, the Silicon Valley billionaire. Thiel may make a run for governor in 2018, according to Politico, which means CalExit could follow.
The “globalization bullet train” is broken. It’s the West’s “moral obligation” to “work with the developing world… if they want to keep their interests and competitiveness intact,” according to China’s official media outlet, Xinhua.
It’s time for Republicans to call it a wrap with Trump. The GOP already has all the rationale it needs to start an impeachment process, which could preserve the conservative movement.
Surprising discoveries
Yahoo Japan may cut the workweek to four days. The company embraced a government-led campaign to improve the work-life balance in a culture where “death by overwork” has a name, karoshi.
Domino’s Pizza’s total stock returns since its IPO have outpaced Google’s. An analyst did the math and surprised his Twitter followers with a comparison chart.
Complaining about cow bells will deny you citizenship in Switzerland. Residents of a Swiss village voted to deny the privilege to a Danish citizen and animal rights activist who has repeatedly complained about the sound and weight of the bells.
Abraham Lincoln and Hillary Clinton attracted the winning bids in an unusual auction. The Hall of Presidents and First Ladies Museum in Gettysburg sold off its wax figures. Abe went for $8,500, Clinton got $675, the highest for a first lady.
A Japanese man in Australia was rescued after 16 hours drifting on a surfboard. He told the captain of the container ship that rescued him that a current pulled him away from a beach south of Sydney.
Our best wishes for an inspiring day at the forum. Please send any news, tips, long underwear, and exclusive after-party invites to me at jason@qz.com. The best way to keep up with news while you’re on the go this week is the Quartz app for iPhone and Android.
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