Davos Summit: a Moral Sham?

The Davos summit, an annual retreat “where money comes to find morality and politics comes to meet money,” is the capital of capitalism—yet the world's economic crisis is only spoken of in whispers there, writes Julian Glover in the Guardian. Instead, moguls press the flesh with Middle East oil magnates and Chinese or Russian officials—anyone who can buoy the West's wobbly economy with a nod or a phone call.

Davos tycoons do seek ways to battle poverty, even if it's "from the back of a blacked-out Audi limousine" before they party the night away with Coca-Cola, Google, and other corporate hosts. It may all seem hypocritical—“a way for billionaires to shed a little guilt about being rich"—but at least it pays homage to “ideas and principles,” Glover writes. "The homage is public and, in its way, sincere." (More Davos stories.)