On this edition of Parallax Views, Peter S. Goodman, global economics correspondent for the New York Times, joins us to discuss his invaluable, informative new book Davos Man: How the Billionaires. “Davos Man”, coined by the late political scientist and Clash of Civilizations author Samuel P. Huntington, refers to the ultra-wealthy attendees of Klaus Schwab’s annual World Economic Forum conference in Davos, Switzerland. Peter has covered a number of these conferences and offers his insights on what drives “Davos Man”, why “Davos Man” should be looked at from a conspiratorial lens, and more. We also discuss Donald Trump and Bill Clinton’s relation to Davos and the billionaire class, Silicon Valley tech giant Marc Benioff, the multinational investment management corporation BlackRock and its CEO Larry Fink, the potentially false promise of shareholder capitalism, Milton Friedman and stakeholder maximization, immigration, labor exploitation, Jeff Bezos and the ideology of “Davos Man”, Amazon labor organizer Chris Smalls, tax avoidance schemes, the Syrian refugee simulation at Davos, and much, much more.
