Davos: The rich are worried

"I can't wait to see how the incoming administration deals with AI (artificial intelligence)," said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, in a less-than-gracious reference to the fact that the Trump team hasn't got a clue about the real driving force in the changing world economy.

What was striking was that Kerry didn't have to clarify his remark for the 2,000 "global leaders" - politicians, bureaucrats, business representatives and public intellectuals - who are in the Swiss alpine town of Davos for the annual World Economic Forum (WEF). They all know what he's talking about.

This year's Davos gathering is actually focused on the rise of populism and simple-minded attacks on globalization (Donald Trump, Brexit et al.). That's only to be expected, since the world's ultra-rich are potentially threatened by that sort of thing. 

The headline event on the first day of Davos was an hour-long speech by China's President Xi Jinping in which he laid claim to the leadership role on free trade, globalization and the struggle to contain climate change that is being abandoned by the United States under Trump. His main concern was to fight the rise of protectionism: "No one will emerge as a winner in a trade war," he said.

But Xi didn't go into the sources of the anger that fuels the populist revolt . John Kerry did get into it. "Trade is not to blame for job losses," he said. Automation is.

Quite a few American manufacturing jobs did go abroad in the early stages of globalization, in the 1980s and 1990s, but that's old news. Eighty-five percent of the almost 6 million American manufacturing jobs that disappeared between 2000 and 2010 did not go anywhere; they just evaporated. The workers were replaced by tireless, uncomplaining machines...