Davos Man

by Peter S. Goodman

The global economy appears certain to emerge from the pandemic in a more unequal state. Here is the central problem as the world contemplates life after a public health disaster made more lethal by the predation of Davos Man: how can democratic societies attack inequality when democracy itself is under the control of the people who possess most of the money? Absent a sudden urge on the part of billionaires to voluntarily participate in the equitable redistribution of wealth, how can communities take on entrenched economic injustice? How can they promote the sort of economic growth that holds the potential to broadly improve living standards? These are enormous questions with no obvious answers. But solutions have to be explored. The alternative is to accept the continued degradation of democracy.