The Global Elite Are Getting Worried—Finally

Unelected leaders must take some responsibility: David Frum
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 28, 2013 1:46 PM CST
The Global Elite Are Getting Worried—Finally
Participants leave the Congress Center the last day of the 43rd Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013.   (AP Photo/Keystone/Laurent Gillieron)

Today's global elite are "answering to constituents who grow more dissatisfied ... and information-rich," observes Ian Bremmer at the Huffington Post—and as they gather at Davos, they appear concerned about their "increasing vulnerability." That's a very good thing, notes David Frum: "Over the past decade and a half, we've seen one horrendous economic decision after another made not by voters in democracies, but by people who owed their power to their claims of superior knowledge," he writes at CNN.

But since they're not elected leaders, these people aren't facing any consequences—"even though they can (and often do) exercise more power than any elected official." Those behind the euro are still running the European Central Bank, and bankers who fueled our financial mess exited with cushy severance packages. But if they're finally feeling "vulnerable," these leaders might take steps toward competence and accountability. "It's probably too much to expect the Davos gathering to feel any real remorse. But if they at least feel fear, that's a promising start on the way to reform," Frum writes. Click through for the full piece. (More Davos stories.)

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