By Doug Casey
February 1, 2024
International Man: It's that time of the year when a bunch of out-of-touch, self-anointed elites gather at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
It's where they discuss the big issues of the day. The most influential world leaders attend, as do the CEOs of the largest companies, leaders in the mainstream media, and top academics. Central bankers attend, too, along with a wide assortment of celebrities.
What do you make of Davos and the people who attend it?
Doug Casey: It is unquestionably the world's greatest gathering of narcissists, opportunists, and fools-at least outside of the UN. But the UN is really just for mid-level bureaucrats who think it's a big deal to live high off the hog at government expense and pretend they're big shots. Davos is for people with private jets.
For 30 years, I sponsored a conference called the Eris Society that met every year for three days in Aspen, Colorado. It was for people who had done something outstanding but might not know each other to meet. It might have evolved into a libertarian-oriented Davos, but for a lack of corporate sponsorship and my limited organizational skills. And the fact is absolutely nobody took libertarian ideas seriously in those days. Anyway, I can understand how Schwabenklaus' WEF might've started.
If I were invited-and there's zero danger of that-I'd treat it like an African safari, to see the exotic wildlife. But the regulars are not the kind of people that I'd want to associate with. Or that any decent human should associate with. But, truth be told, a few years ago, I actually went to a WEF lookalike. You might enjoy the first-hand observations ( link).
International Man: A big theme this year was using the so-called "climate crisis" to advance totalitarian policies that people might not otherwise tolerate.
For example, there was a push to gaslight people into accepting a social credit system disguised as a carbon tracking system to help save the planet.
What is your take?
Doug Casey: I have no doubt that most countries will adopt something like a social credit system. What we have now is tantamount to one, with the ubiquity of credit cards and the hoops you have to jump through to even open a bank account, much less be approved for a loan or mortgage.
The world has a momentum and a life of its own. It's clear that this is a trend in motion and building momentum. Of course, governments are going to insert their grubby fingers further into the matrix. Artificial intelligence will enable them to correlate and utilize teratons of data to control their subjects.
Quite frankly, I don't think there's anything we can do about it other than drop out of the system, which doesn't work for most people. But the problem with the Davos crowd is that they're very interested in controlling other people. They're professional busybodies. Stay away from them. They're dangerous.
Most of them are real criminal personalities. They like to control other people, which is a sign of sociopaths. It's going to be hard to reverse the momentum that's built up in the world.
International Man: The Davos crowd was also very concerned about the plebs exposing themselves to "dangerous misinformation." It seems they are worried about losing control of the narrative and are looking for ways to suppress speech they don't like.
What is really going on here?
Doug Casey: It's been said that no man is more a slave than a slave who thinks he's free.
If you're going to control the masses, it's important to have intelligence agencies, police, and other forms of physical coercion. But it's much easier and more economic to control people psychologically. Getting academia, entertainment, and the media to march in lockstep is just as important as controlling the apparatus of the state. The bad guys-and by that, I mean the anti-personal freedom, pro-government control types-now control the whole deal.
It's a dangerous game in the long run because if people at some point discover they've been bamboozled with lies and half-truths, the result will be anger. But that may take 50 or 100 years if China and the USSR are examples.
It's in the best interest of the controllers, "the deciders," to limit the number of provocateurs offering alternate explanations. If enough people start thinking critically and asking questions, the anger could spread. I'd like to think the population would be out in the street with torches and pitchforks, ready to string these people up by their heels.
But that's unlikely. The average American is sedated by psychiatric drugs and/or thinks it's righteous to be Woke. The powers-that-be control the narrative and aren't about to change the status quo.
International Man: Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) and other attendees discussed the "Disease X" pandemic. It was essentially a bunch of globalists war-gaming their strategy to centralize power and reduce civil liberties during the next pandemic.
What do you think of this?
Doug Casey: Everybody's concerned about their personal health, and in recent years, everybody's been programmed to worry about the health of the planet as well.
It's interesting that one sub-theme of the great movie V for Vendetta was the government's use of a pandemic to control the population. It's a great vehicle for spreading fear. Fear keeps people in line.
Fear of dying from something that you can't do anything about yourself-a disease- is a great control device. You have to rely on the medical authorities. The problem is that they all follow orders, at least if they want to keep their licenses. Old Yeller (HarperClas... Best Price: $1.25 (as of 04:37 UTC - Details)
The public, who know even less about science than they know about economics, have been told that the earth is going to be drowned from melting icebergs, and it's all their fault. They better do what they're told. Fear is a great thing to keep them in order.
International Man: Javier Milei-Argentina's Anarcho-Capitalist President-went to Davos and appeared to ruffle some feathers.
When asked why he attended the WEF conference, he said: "To plant the ideas of freedom in a forum that is contaminated by the socialist Agenda 2030 that will only bring misery to the world."
What do you make of Milei's appearance at Davos?
Doug Casey: A lot of libertarians have been skeptical of Milei, since almost all politicians just say what they think the audience wants to hear. But I've been a believer since he identified as an AnCap, not just a conservative or somebody unhappy with certain aspects of the system. The fact that he openly identified as an anarcho-capitalist told me that he might indeed be the real deal.
The fact that he walked into the maw of the beast just after the Schwabenklaus identified libertarians as the problem (𝕏 link) and gave a flawless speech calling out these people for who they are, took real moral courage. He's not just talking the talk but walking the walk.
I urge everybody to both read and listen to his speech to see what I'm talking about (𝕏 link). It's by far the most important speech anyone has given so far this century. And it may mean Argentina will be the best place in the world to be for the years to come.
Reprinted with permission from International Man.