Searching for an Optimist at Davos

Searching for an Optimist at Davos

(From Slate Magazine, ... went to Davos but could not spot the 'famous optimistic Davos Man'. What's going on in the World? Only big profits for Pharmaceutical Conmpanies in 2009, or will a bit of fresh air and some physical activity do the trick? Will people after the 2010 WEF meeting cautiously ask how your health is and whether you need some help? )

CNBC's Jim Cramer likes to say that there's always a bull market some­where. When one region is down, the theory goes, another is up. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, however, the only bull market was in pessimism. On the Promenade, Davos's main drag, a woman accosted me, asked whether I knew what was in the Book of Revela­tion, and wondered whether I had been inscribed in the Book of Life.
Historically, such apocalyptic thoughts have been rare at this meeting of the world's financial and political elite. A Davos Man is an optimist by nature and profession. Ordinarily, self-assurance is so thick in the resort town, you can cut it with a Swiss Army Knife. But the only place I saw people laughing in the face of danger and wearing exhilarated expressions was on the sparsely populated ski slopes.
Yet many CEOs bore the harrowed looks of survivors of the Donner Party. Once they trickled in, many having endured the indignity of flying commercial for the first time in years, they were treated to an avalanche of doomsaying. Alarmists, from hedge-fund manager George Soros to historian Niall Ferguson, spun elaborate tales of catastrophe. Ferguson boldly concluded that the United States was destined for a decade of extremely lame growth. Economists were universally downbeat, which isn't totally surprising. (They don't call economics the dismal science for nothing.) Those who had successfully predicted the debacle, like Nouriel Roubini, New York University's Dr. Doom, were elevated to prime speaking slots. Last year, the hot topics were sustainability and decoupling—the notion that developed markets could boom even if the United States stalled. This year, failure and depression were the chief subject of discussion.
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http://www.slate.com/id/2210100?wpisrc=newsletter