World Economic Forum: Davos 2010

A Silicon Valley venture capitalist stood up at one session and said his problem wasn't managing through a slow recovery — his problem was finding enough people to hire for his portfolio companies. In 40 years in the business, he'd never seen so much raw innovation worth funding. The advent and adoption of new technologies often coincides with economic downturns, responded University of Chicago economist Raghuram Rajan. Based on the Davos party circuit, even well-established players are doing just fine. The must-attend event was once again thrown by Google. The U.S. economy may be limping out of recession, but the web-browser giant still has plenty of money to throw around: waiters dressed in wetsuits served sushi and guests in need of a boost could take hits from tanks filled with pure oxygen.