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Wednesday Morning Rant

"Rebuilding Trust"

Ever since the Davos crowd finally figured out that they - not just the WEF, but the "elite" in general - are pretty well reviled the world over, they've been trying to pay lip service to "restoring trust" in the masters of the universe among the global rubes. It's risen from a talking point to a primary focus among their clique.

Back in 2021, a woman called Ngaire Woods out of Oxford spoke at the WEF's "Great Narrative Meeting" about a years-long trend in trust:

... the good news is that the elite across the world trust each other more and more. So we can come together and design and do beautiful things together. The bad news is that in every single country they were polling, the majority of people trusted their elite less. So, we can lead, but if people aren't following, we're not going to get to where we want to go.

In 2021 - a bit before the conference quoted above - the WEF had restoring trust as a theme for its big annual conference in Davos, specifically about COVID. In 2022, they backed off a bit, but "trust" was still a big thing - restoring trust through agricultural policy, restoring trust in the future, restoring trust in global trade. In 2023, the Davos theme was "Cooperation in a Fragmented World" but the primary current within that theme was - you guessed it - trust:

We see the manifold political, economic and social forces creating increased fragmentation on a global and national level. To address the root causes of this erosion of trust, we need to reinforce cooperation between the government and business sectors, creating the conditions for a strong and durable recovery. ...

The "global elite" as represented by the WEF has been worried about trust for a while, and making recommendations regarding how to rebuild trust as a major component in their annual agenda for years now. This year, it finally reached top billing. It is the theme of the entire 2024 agenda:

"Rebuilding Trust"
The 54th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum will provide a crucial space to focus on the fundamental principles driving trust, including transparency, consistency and accountability.

So what do the big brains at the WEF think will help "rebuild trust?" What do our elites think needs to be done? Well, they laid it out at their Davos conference this year in the opening remarks delivered by a Swiss bureaucrat:

* An open and transparent exchange is a priority -- among states, but also with and between organisations in the multilateral system: we must strengthen the UN and other global and regional institutions ...
* ... We must prevent power politics from destroying the basis of our existence. Real progress and a societal rethink are urgently needed, especially on issues of ecological transformation. ...
* ... a renewed respect for the UN Charter, other international treaties and other globally agreed measures. ...

So, more of the same. More "internationalism." More third-party control. More Muh Climate Change. More concentration of more things into the same hands that have made such a mess of it: theirs. They just need to refocus and redouble their efforts to defeat objections by the non-elite and stymie those who oppose them - those like the Dread Populists. From the same opening address:

Some sections of the public distrust all of us gathered here, and all political and business leaders in general.

'Rebuilding trust' is not just a task for states and politicians. Business leaders also have a role to play here. It is clear that increasing social inequalities are fuelling populism, even in prosperous countries.

If the perceived elite celebrates itself a class apart while many families can barely make ends meet, distrust grows. The international community and governments can put forward the finest proposals, but should not then be surprised if they are no longer heard or understood.

They just don't get it, not even when they acknowledge that they're a cloistered elite that is alien to and disliked by those they deign to rule. Not only do they not get it, they can't get it. Too much is tied up in not getting it. This will do nothing toward their stated goal of "Rebuilding Trust." The same people doing more of the same things will not result in trust or improvement. When you are a failure and your ideas have failed and, time and again, your predictions and plans are not just wrong but catastrophically destructive, doubling down is no way to improve conditions.

The Davos crowd and their ilk are not hated by the normals because of some kind of envy. They are not distrusted because of inborn skepticism among the non-elite. They are distrusted because they stand - as they must stand - on their records. Their records are not good. Their records are not successful at large. Everything they do not only fails, everything they do increasingly ends in disaster for everyone not in their club. Eventually, people were bound to notice.

So if they want to "rebuild trust," they need to start by considering a strategy that isn't "the same as before, only more."