English Chess Forum

Events held on Thurs. 26th Jan.
07:30 Brekky -21st c. economic growth
10:30 Coffee (white) - debate with Presidents of Guineau, Nigeria & S. Africa, chaired by Gordon Brown.
11:30 Free Trade Brunch - David Cameron's address on competition and failure of Doha free trade talks
11:55 London Olympic aperitif served up by Boris Johnson in the main hall
12:30 Open Forum Luncheon on responsible leadership in crises with Ehud Barak, ex-ECB president Trichet and Gordon Brown!
22:00 Nightcap at Belvedere Hotel

_________________
To find a for(u)m that accommodates the mess, that is the task of the artist now. (Samuel Beckett)

Permanent economic growth is not possible on a planet with finite resources, unless of course we reach a recycling rate of 100%. They obviously haven't had their Weetabix!

I don't really see why that follows, there can always? be economic growth through gains in productivity. Today's i-phone probably only uses the same amount of natural resources as the 1970's calculator - surely that represents economic growth?

Since the demise of the standalone calculator and the rise of the mobile phone the number of consumers in the world has grown.
The major problem is that only China (with its 'one-child policy') has tried to break the link between economic and population growth.
A minor one is that WEF members "are nursing a collective sore head after a night(cap) of networking".

_________________
To find a for(u)m that accommodates the mess, that is the task of the artist now. (Samuel Beckett)

Your iPhone may use the same amount of natural resources as the calculator, but that's still depleting the earth's resources. Each new iPhone made brings us closer to depleting whatever it's made from.

By the way, I'm not saying I'm against producing stuff, it's just that the reality of it is that stuff produced = resources used.

Also the fact that the world economy runs pretty much exclusively on oil, a resource for which discoveries have been decline since the
70s, and since the 90s production has outstripped discoveries.

The year of global peak oil extraction was 2005 (for the USA, some time in the early '70s). Lots of little fields and a few medium-sized ones are being discovered -- but no giant ones.

Other than oil, the future availability of copper, cobalt, lead, nickel, platinum, tin, titanium, and zinc is problematic. The iphone uses some of these.

There is no economic growth for the future -- just statistical sleight of hand. At some stage in the not-too-distant future we will become a scavenging society.

Speaking of Davos, what a colossal waste of time -- a bunch of impotent has-beens (like Gordon Brown), never-has-beens and pontificating talking heads. I suppose they get comped for food and board, so it makes it worth their while. But otherwise nothing ever comes out of Davos. Real decisions are made elsewhere.

Tend to agree with the above, but one thing comes out of the WEF (and climate change conferences) - a lot of hot air.
"The consensus among global economic leaders is that the most dangerous phase of the Eurozone crisis may be over...", said one pundit.
Don't think that will satisfy the ravening wolves (markets) for more than a few days.
Just another excuse for a junket.
And, the Chinese leaders didn't attend as it clashed with their lunar New Year bash.
Obama seems not to have bothered either.

_________________
To find a for(u)m that accommodates the mess, that is the task of the artist now. (Samuel Beckett)

Obama's absence from Davos is explained by the FT's Gideon Rachman in a column entitled 'Davos consensus under siege'.
The US president is on the campaign trail and cannot be associated with the World Economic Forum as he has to show his allegiance is only to the stars & stripes and the American way.
Prospective (socialist) French president, Francois Hollande, is also campaigning on a similar but Gallic theme.
They are opposites but both attracted to an anti-Davos-consensus rhetoric for home consumption.

_________________
To find a for(u)m that accommodates the mess, that is the task of the artist now. (Samuel Beckett)

Head of European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, was hailed as "the hero of the hour" at Davos for his bank funding scheme, which will last 3 years!?
It will be used to prop up the euro and the EU's ailing economies.
Flash (Gordon Brown) claimed to have saved the world, sorry world's banking system, but the troubles keep coming.
Why should Super Mario (Draghi) have any better success when he too is throwing good money after bad (debt) to the wolves of Wall Street?

_________________
To find a for(u)m that accommodates the mess, that is the task of the artist now. (Samuel Beckett)