Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search
 

Demeter

(85,373 posts)
19. A handy guide to Davos-speak By Ryan McCarthy
Fri Feb 1, 2013, 08:32 PM
Feb 2013
http://blogs.reuters.com/davos/2013/01/25/a-handy-guide-to-davos-speak/

“The impatience for growth will really take patience” — that’s Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan in a panel on low economic growth, using the particular kind of language particular to the people who inhabit particular places like Davos. A panel called “No Growth, Easy Money — The New Normal?” (those latter three words another terrible Davos phrase) began with the moderator grimly telling the crowd: “Will we ever return to the normal, free world?” This kind of sentence is ostensibly the kind of English you and I subscribe to, but on further examination, not so much.

Are the Davos elite really worrying about their freedom? Well, no. The World Economic Forum has no shortage of silly phrases, but some of them actually do have meaning beyond the euphemistic. What Davos folks mean when they constantly call for a “growth plan” or “restoring growth” is that no one can see any particular industry that’s going to increase the pace at which they get rich. And, as a result, the rest of us will have fewer jobs. Ray Dalio, who runs Bridgewater, the world’s biggest hedge fund, had probably the clearest take on this low-growth world. In a post-crisis, high-debt global economy, Dalio said, economic growth can’t come from debt, as it did during the last few decades or so. Economies are still deleveraging, debt won’t rise faster than income and the primary way large economies can grow is by increasing productivity. What does Dalio actually mean by this? Dalio expanded a bit: the big conversation in politics and economics, he said, will be about how to get more out of workers – growth won’t come from the next Internet, the next real estate boom or any new asset, in other words. This means, he said, hard choices about questions like “How long is a vacation?” or “What is a good life?”

If you unpack this Davos-speak a bit, what Dalio is saying is particularly dire for the rest of us. When the world’s most successful investors tells you economic growth is going to depend on whether or not you take a vacation, it’s time to worry. This is what Tyler Cowen calls “the great stagnation,” a period of declining productivity growth that could hurt living standards. This isn’t good news for those of us who don’t have Davosian savings to rely on. But there’s another troubling phrase that kept coming up: on Friday, Mario Draghi said the ECB’s actions last year had “removed the tail risk” from the Euro, a phrase that was repeated by a handful of panelists on Friday. This a funny way to put it — as my Reuters colleague Felix Salmon has pointed out at length, tail risk is something that is , by definition, improbable, elusive and generally hard to identify. When a Davos luminary, even one as accomplished as Mario Draghi, starts claiming to have identified something largely unidentifiable, take it with a big dose of non-euphemistic skepticism.

Or, to put it in, Davos-speak: retain your “uber-mindfulness-influence”
The Skinny on Edgar--wikipedia Demeter Feb 2013 #1
No banks down--after all, Superbowl! Demeter Feb 2013 #2
Predator Drones Stalk US Borders Without Budget or Strategy Demeter Feb 2013 #3
Student Debt Is More Subprime Than Ever Demeter Feb 2013 #4
END OF FABULOUS FAB: Trader Accused of Misleading Clients Leaves Goldman Sachs Demeter Feb 2013 #5
Jacob Lew, Mary Jo White and Dunbar’s Number By SIMON JOHNSON Demeter Feb 2013 #6
Unemployment claims rise as fragile US jobs market takes hit Demeter Feb 2013 #7
Obama Administration Considers Joining Publishers In Fight To Stamp Out Fair Use At Universities Demeter Feb 2013 #8
EDGAR ALLAN POE The Early life Demeter Feb 2013 #9
Quelle Surprise! Prosecutors Get Tough on Mortgage Fraud….At an Itty Bitty Bank Demeter Feb 2013 #10
Bill Black:Yglesias Pours Geithner, Holder, Breuer (GHB) Banksters Immunity Doctrine in our Drinks Demeter Feb 2013 #11
Breuer Identifies Real Clients on Frontline then Quits Demeter Feb 2013 #24
I am convinced ... AnneD Feb 2013 #70
IRS Anticipates Cheapest ObamaCare Family Plan Will be $20,000 in 2016 Demeter Feb 2013 #12
Yet Another Cost of Doing Business Fine: Lender Processing Services Settles with 46 Attorneys Genera Demeter Feb 2013 #13
EDGAR ALLAN POE Military career Demeter Feb 2013 #14
Not Everyone is Living Longer —By Kevin Drum Demeter Feb 2013 #15
Crazy Ideas FROM ATRIOS Demeter Feb 2013 #16
Groupthink in Davos: The Financial Crisis Is Over Demeter Feb 2013 #17
Davos: Was the Mood Too Good to Be True? Demeter Feb 2013 #18
A handy guide to Davos-speak By Ryan McCarthy Demeter Feb 2013 #19
Stuff about the inaugural speech Posted on January 24, 2013 by riverdaughter Demeter Feb 2013 #20
For even more strongly worded criticism Demeter Feb 2013 #23
I Guess the “One Leader” Part Is Taken as a Given CREEPIER STILL Demeter Feb 2013 #27
JPMorgan Chase Trying To Block Shareholder Vote On Breaking Up Bank Demeter Feb 2013 #21
Banks 'ports in the storm’ during crisis, says JP Morgan's Dimon Demeter Feb 2013 #25
EDGAR ALLAN POE Publishing career Demeter Feb 2013 #22
Richard Koo Debunks “Deleveraging is Almost Done, American Consumer Getting Ready for Good Times" Demeter Feb 2013 #26
Lest you all think I am on a drug-induced posting binge Demeter Feb 2013 #28
Death of Edgar Allan Poe Demeter Feb 2013 #29
Listened to Ray Bolger sing "Bye Bye Blackbird" this morning kickysnana Feb 2013 #30
Congratulations! Demeter Feb 2013 #32
‘There Is A Drone With Assange’s Name On It’ - William Blum / Interview By John Robles Demeter Feb 2013 #31
To End Extreme Poverty, Let’s Try Ending Extreme Wealth By Sam Pizzigati Demeter Feb 2013 #33
The Untouchables Video FRONTLINE examines why no Wall St. execs have faced fraud charges Demeter Feb 2013 #34
2014: TOO LATE TO LEAVE THE U.S.? Wendy McElroy Demeter Feb 2013 #35
Tina Turner 'to become Swiss, give up US passport' Demeter Feb 2013 #36
Character assassination OF EDGAR ALLAN POE Demeter Feb 2013 #37
"We're Going to Kill the Dollar" The Fed’s Plan B By Mike Whitney Demeter Feb 2013 #38
Musical Interlude hamerfan Feb 2013 #39
Oooh! Thanks, Hamerfan! Demeter Feb 2013 #44
America's Baby Bust The nation's falling fertility rate is the root cause of many of our problems. Demeter Feb 2013 #40
A ‘dark money’ push behind Obamacare? By Sasha Chavkin Demeter Feb 2013 #41
Congress Kills Part of the Affordable Care Act Demeter Feb 2013 #55
As U.S. Growth Lags, Some Press the Fed to Do Still More By BINYAMIN APPELBAUM Demeter Feb 2013 #42
The Master Meme By James Howard Kunstler Demeter Feb 2013 #43
Goldman Sachs pay and bonuses rise to £250,000 each Demeter Feb 2013 #45
Have we solved 'too big to fail'? Andrew G Haldane Demeter Feb 2013 #46
The Poe Toaster Demeter Feb 2013 #47
Well, it's still snowing--lightly Demeter Feb 2013 #48
Spoken Word Interlude hamerfan Feb 2013 #49
Musical Interlude II hamerfan Feb 2013 #50
Snoopy Demeter Feb 2013 #51
Mario Draghi has saved the rich, now he must save the poor Demeter Feb 2013 #52
Europe drawn into global currency wars as slump deepens Demeter Feb 2013 #53
The Eurozone and Greece: Is the Crisis over? Demeter Feb 2013 #54
EDGAR ALLAN POE'S Literary style and themes Demeter Feb 2013 #56
FTC gives consumers a peek into how debts are bought and sold: Fuddnik Feb 2013 #57
David Bowie - Lets Dance xchrom Feb 2013 #58
Support for Spain's ruling party falls in corruption scandal xchrom Feb 2013 #59
{i'll believe it when i see it} New measures to lift veil on banks' capital ratios xchrom Feb 2013 #60
The Raven - Read by Christopher Lee xchrom Feb 2013 #61
"Great Rotation"- A Wall Street fairy tale? xchrom Feb 2013 #62
People on working on Commission and "Bonuses" will say anything to make a sale Demeter Feb 2013 #64
Fed officials see brighter global economic outlook xchrom Feb 2013 #63
Fed officials sent to Detox Demeter Feb 2013 #66
Dilbert Gets It (Thanks, Scott Adams) Demeter Feb 2013 #65
Dirty Money: The Finance and Fossil Fuel Web DemReadingDU Feb 2013 #67
It was a brisk morning for paper route Demeter Feb 2013 #69
Cryptography Demeter Feb 2013 #68
Latest Discussions»Issue Forums»Economy»Weekend Economists' Super...»Reply #19