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Most attendees at the WEF took Sunday off, but some participants still had a lot (of nothing) to say
By DON MORRISON
And on Sunday they rested. By tradition, the World Economic Forum doesn't schedule any panel discussions on this day of rest. So the 5,000 participants (or is it 10,000?) were free to ski, relax by the fire and catch up on their e-mail. Some intrepid souls took the first option, indicating that this is not a gathering of geniuses after all. Driving snow, 100 km winds and zero visibility made skiing, to put it gently, a challenge.
How reassuring, then, to discover that there were a few early evening panels after all. Three prominent Russian politicians -- Rao Ees Rossli chairman Anatoly Chubais, Finance Minister Mikhail Kasyanov and New Force leader Sergei Kirienko -- discussed their country's future. But what the discussion demonstrated was how the icy hand of Acting Prime Minister Vladimir Putin can reach even into Davos. When a member of the audience asked the panelists to give their impressions of the relatively unknown Putin, they all declined. The moderator helpfully rephrased the question, but they still refused to answer. One of them later explained: "In the old days, we were all terrorized by the KGB [which Putin used to head]. But nowadays, politics is everything in Russia. We were simply reluctant to say anything that would get in the papers back home and cause a stir." No wonder some Russians are asking whether they're really better off under democracy.
At dinner with a group of journalists, U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers was similarly unhelpful about how long the U.S. boom could last. "Modern macroeconomic science," he opined, "has established beyond a doubt that the future growth of the U.S. economy will be between one and six per cent." Thanks a lot, Larry. I'd rather be skiing.
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