Taking The Temperature of the Room

Michael Arrington of TechCrunch is visiting Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum.

Arrington says there’s fear in the air.

There is a clear consensus among attendees that the worst is yet to come, and that we are facing the worst economic outlook of the last few generations. Some of the CEOs I’ve talked with (and most of the big company CEOs are here) are flat out scared about what kind of economic shock will hit them next. Part of being here, clearly, is to be around like minded people that they can commiserate with.

In a separate report, Associated Press shares some quotes from attendees.

• “Don’t let’s lose sight of what creates wealth. It is open markets, it is capitalism.” – Rupert Murdoch, chief executive of News Corp.
• “The size of the problem confronting us today is larger than in the 1930s.” – Billionaire philanthropist George Soros.
• “Governments can borrow. Banks cannot. The reason they cannot is because no one trusts them. Why should they trust them? They weren’t transparent. They lost trillions of dollars. They created instruments even they didn’t understand.” – Laura Tyson, economist

I’m reminded that as things become more bleak, they also brighten. It’s a general dynamic of life on earth. Balance. Yet, in media balance is hard to find. Media zooms in to examine the details in purposefully narrow confines. So here we are, day in and day out with the same sad business news over and over again. For me, it’s becoming a nauseating circus ride.
In effort to move to more stable ground, far away from the Cotton Candy stands, I’m on the hunt for good news. Help out, will you? What good things are you up to? What are you building?