Conspiracy Theories and the World Economic Forum's Messaging

What's the agenda of the World Economic Forum? And what was The Great Reset? Just asking questions. 

Every year, there's a big gathering of global elites in Davos, Switzerland: world leaders, titans of industry, Hollywood celebrities. It all started in 1971, thanks to Klaus Schwab—a German economist and business professor who launched what was then called the European Economic Forum as a place to discuss best business practices and promote a theory he'd developed called "stakeholder capitalism," the tenets of which Schwab laid out in the original "The Davos Manifesto." It insists that a company's CEO must serve not only shareholders but entire "societies" and "assume the role of a trustee of the material universe for future generations." 

While critics have for years lampooned Davos for its brigade of private jets dropping billionaires in an idyllic Swiss mountain town to lecture us about climate change, the WEF and Schwab himself attracted unprecedented attention amid the lockdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic following the July 2020 publication of his ominously titled book The Great Reset. Countless articles, podcasts, and videos theorizing on the real meaning of the Great Reset followed, including one produced by the co-host of this podcast. But you might notice there's another name underneath Schwab's. Thierry Malleret was his co-author on The Great Reset, and again on the follow-up The Great Narrative, and he joins us on the show today. 

Malleret is an economist who's worked as an adviser for major investment banks and governments. He conceived of—and planned—the program at Davos for several years before parting ways with Klaus Schwab. And he's also an author, most recently of a very interesting book we're going to discuss at length called Deaths at Davos, a dark satire of what's going on within the WEF.

Sources referenced:

• Zach Weissmueller: Forget the Great Reset. Embrace the Great Escape
• Davos and Beyond: A Timeline of the Highlights (1973 "The Davos Manifesto")
• Deaths at Davos by Thierry Malleret
• COVID-19: The Great Reset by Klaus Schwab and Thierry Malleret
• The Guardian: Mutiny Erupts Among WEF Staff Over Role of "Mr Davos"
• Leadership and Governance | World Economic Forum
• Lowest Number of S&P 500 Companies Citing "ESG" on Earnings Calls Since Q2 2020
• Principles for Responsible Investment signatories, 2006–2023 2022–23 ANNUAL REPORT
• The SEC: Green Regs and Spam: Statement on the Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors
• Davos Manifesto 2020: The Universal Purpose of a Company in the Fourth Industrial Revolution | World Economic Forum
• The New York Times: A Friedman doctrine—The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits
• Reason's Ron Bailey: The Limits of The Limits to Growth
• UN: World Population Prospects (2024 Revision)
• Just Asking Questions w/ Johan Norberg: The Truth about Sweden's COVID policy

Chapters:

• 00:00 "coming up…"
• 00:58 Introduction
• 03:27 The point of Deaths at Davos
• 04:50 What did Klaus Schwab think?
• 05:40 Others are meant to continue the story
• 07:46 What's the future of WEF-like organizations?
• 12:10 Is the WEF vision of the West dying?
• 13:51 Debating "Stakeholder Capitalism"
• 30:16 Malleret's critique of libertarianism
• 45:40 Will stakeholder capitalism lead to corporatism?
• 51:26 A disagreement about Sweden and COVID
• 54:16 Reacting to "Great Reset" conspiracies
• 01:01:26 The final question

• Producer: John Osterhoudt

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