`Out of Control' Wall Street Chiefs Spurned Davos Warnings, Chose to Party

[marmar]

from Bloomberg:



`Out of Control' Wall Street Chiefs Spurned Warnings at Davos

By A. Craig Copetas

Oct. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Once upon a time, the World Economic Forum was the ultimate Wall Street jamboree.

Now, in the riptide of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, WEF officials and delegates say many of the chief executive officers who gathered in Davos, Switzerland, over the last five years didn't listen to warnings from their peers. Davos organizers also say they failed to play tough with the financial-industry bosses, opting to accept their funding and let them turn Davos into a rave-up for Wall Street excesses.

``The partying crept in,'' says Klaus Schwab, the 70-year- old WEF founder and executive chairman. ``We let it get out of control, and attention was taken away from the speed and complexity of how the world's challenges built up.''

The fallout has left the WEF riddled in buyer's remorse, with officials throughout the organization asking what they have wrought and, like Wall Street, whether they offered too much of a good thing.

Schwab says the delegates treated him like ``Cassandra'' whenever he questioned the logic of their wisdom on asset-price bubbles in housing, stocks and other financial instruments.

WEF Chief Operating Officer Kevin Steinberg says the vast sums of money that rolled in from Wall Street celebrities for marquee billing in Davos contributed to complacency among forum organizers and often obliged them to publicly massage the viewpoints, wishes and status of their superstar guests.

``We catered to what the financial leaders wanted: solo speaking slots, luxury hotels and VIP treatment we wouldn't afford anyone else,'' Steinberg, 38, says. ``We gave them a soapbox. It was all political. We try to minimize the politics, but can't.''

`Psychological Denial'

In his office outside Geneva, about a three-hour drive from Davos and overlooking the French Alps, Schwab says the WEF began issuing warnings in 2003 to investment banks, insurance companies and hedge funds about the systemic risk gnawing at the foundation of the global economy. .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=a5JnfkstutpI&refer=home

[Karenina]

1. Mea Culpa?

:rofl: