Politics
JUST IN: Klaus Schwab Abruptly RESIGNS As WEF Chairman
Klaus Schwab, the founder and longtime chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF), abruptly resigned on Tuesday, asking the Swiss government to accept his stepping down.
A transition will see Schwab take a non-executive role with the global powerhouse he founded in 1971 and has grown into a $500 million non-governmental advocacy organization supported by more than 1,000 corporations worldwide. The controversial think tank is best known for its annual meeting in Davos where critics accuse Shwab and his colleagues of conspiring to circumvent the authority of elected officials and steer global economic policies to suit their own agenda.
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The National Pulse reported on the planned departure of Schwab, 86, who has appointed his children to high-ranking positions within the WEF while his wife Hilde oversees the WEF’s foundation and its awards ceremonies in Davos. Stepping back from day-to-day operations will mean Schwab cedes control over the organization’s efforts to advance international economic cooperation and various policy agendas, including the lowering of tariffs that were popular when enacted by former President Donald Trump. The WEF has claimed that tariffs bias superpower economies against environmental progress and greenifications of the global economy.
“In the case of Trump’s trade war, a possible way to affect the trade policy of the US would be to introduce a political cost for the Republican party,” the WEF wrote in 2018, adding their investigations “suggest that retaliatory tariffs were likely to have a negative impact on the local economy of affected counties” controlled mostly by Republicans.
The Pulse notes that potential replacements to Schwab include European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde, a former leader of the International Monetary Fund, Salesforce Co-CEO Marc Benioff; International Red Cross chief executive Peter Maurer; and former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair who drew heavy criticism in the aughts for supporting the U.S. War on Terror.
Whoever is selected to replace Schwab, critics have plenty of reason to doubt that the direction of the WEF will change. Other corporations and nonprofits buttressing the organization with annual donations include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, and Google, all of which have been targeted by conservatives at some point for hard-left policies that supporters of President Trump say have failed to deliver since the 1980s. The blowback against globalization has even led to a wave of centrist agreement in Congress, according to the New York Times, as both Republicans and Democrats grow more comfortable with supporting the populist policies that have given rise to nationalist, protectionist sentiments in recent years.
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