Can we talk about the World Economic Forum? You know, that annual schmoozefest in Davos where billionaires, politicians, and self-proclaimed visionaries gather to pat each other on the back and pretend they’re saving the planet? It’s like Comic-Con for the ultra-rich, but instead of debating Marvel vs. DC, they’re deciding how the rest of us should live—without, you know, asking us. And who the hell put these people in charge? Spoiler: Nobody. They just showed up, declared themselves the world’s brain trust, and now they’re pushing agendas that make Marie Antoinette look like a populist.
Let’s start with the origin story, because every bad idea has one. Back in 1971, a German engineer named Klaus Schwab—yes, the man who bears a resemblance to the villain in a James Bond movie where the plot centers on “global stakeholder capitalism”—decided the world needed a forum for European business leaders to discuss management techniques. He called it the European Management Forum, later rebranded to the World Economic Forum in 1987, because why limit your ego to one continent?
Schwab, born in 1938 in Nazi-era Germany (and yes, there are whispers about his family’s wartime industrial ties, founded this thing from his perch as a business professor at the University of Geneva. No elections, no referendums, no “Hey, world, vote on whether this unelected Swiss think tank should shape global policy.” Just a guy with a PhD and a dream of hobnobbing with the elite.
Fast-forward to today, and Schwab’s finally out—resigned in 2025 at age 87 after a whistleblower investigation into, get this, manipulating research, using forum funds for private massages, and making junior staff fetch cash for him like he’s a mob boss in a bad ’80s movie.
Cleared of “material wrongdoing,” sure, but come on—the guy’s been running this outfit for over 50 years like his personal fiefdom, surrounding himself with yes-men while employees mutinied over his iron-fisted style.
Credibility? Schwab’s the poster child for why we don’t let octogenarian academics play God. He’s the one who popularized “stakeholder capitalism,” which sounds noble until you realize it means corporations pretending to care about society while raking in trillions.
Now, who’s running the show post-Schwab? Enter Larry Fink, the interim co-chair and CEO of BlackRock, the asset management behemoth that owns a piece of basically everything on Earth. Fink’s the guy who preaches ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) investing while his firm hoards fossil fuel stocks and influences policy without a single vote from you or me. Credibility check: BlackRock manages over $10 trillion, more than the GDP of most countries, but Fink’s idea of “saving the world” is telling retirees to work longer because pensions are toast.
Then there’s the other interim co-chair, André Hoffmann, vice-chairman of Roche, the pharma giant. Nice gig if you can get it, peddling drugs while co-chairing a forum that lectures us on health equity. And the president? Børge Brende, a former Norwegian minister who’s bounced around government and NGOs like a pinball. Solid resume, but zero elections to this role. The board’s a who’s who of billionaires and power brokers: Mukesh Ambani (India’s richest man), Marc Benioff (Salesforce mogul), Al Gore (remember him? Still cashing in on climate alarmism), and Christine Lagarde (European Central Bank president, because why not mix unelected bankers into the mix?).
These folks aren’t elected; they’re selected by… well, themselves. Credibility? About as much as a fox guarding the henhouse. Critics slam the WEF for corporate capture, lack of transparency, and being a neoliberal echo chamber where the rich get richer while preaching austerity to the masses. And oh, the ideas they peddle! “You’ll own nothing and be happy”—that’s straight from a WEF-linked essay, folks.
No cars, no homes, just rent everything from corporations like BlackRock, who conveniently own all the real estate. Social credits? Digital IDs for “all the wrong reasons,” like tracking your every move under the guise of security. And eat bugs? Yeah, they’ve pushed insect protein as the future while these elites feast on Wagyu beef flown in on private jets – hypocrisy that makes your eyes water.
They’re out-of-touch fossils, average age pushing 70, with quite honestly no skin in the game. These 80-year-old billionaires won’t live to see the dystopia they’re building—climate lockdowns for thee, but not for me, as they jet to Davos emitting more CO2 in a week than your family does in a year.
Sure, they had some interesting guests at the latest Davos in 2026—heads of state, tech whizzes debating AI and disinformation. Elon Musk even showed up to troll them, predicting robots will outnumber humans while calling the whole thing an “unelected world government.”
But underneath the glitz? The same narrative: more surveillance, more corporate control, less freedom for the little guy. It’s not about progress; it’s about preserving their power.
Look, I’m not against wise elders chiming in—hell, I’m getting up there myself. But these geriatrics have zero accountability. Dismantle this farce in its current state. Reform it through actual elections: Let real leaders—elected ones, with diverse ages and backgrounds—take the wheel. Bring in younger, brighter minds who actually have to live in the world they’re shaping. Otherwise, it’s just a cabal of self-interested elites gaslighting us into bug burgers while they laugh all the way to the bank.
New rule: If you’re going to lead the world, get elected first. Or at least stop pretending you’re not the problem.
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