Former Vice President Al Gore listens to singer Pharrell Williams...



[snip]

...talking, of course, about the annual confab at Davos, Switzerland, ...

[snip]

"The purpose," said former vice president and climate-change entrepreneur Al Gore, standing with hip-hop star Pharrell Williams, "is to have a billion voices with one message, to demand climate action now."

OK, so how about you flying commercial, for a start?

This year's ration of ridiculousness and hypocrisy is so prominent, even the media have noticed.

It's pretty obvious that people who can pay $40,000 to attend Davos and fork over $43 for a hot dog, $47 for a burger or $55 for a Caesar salad — all actual prices at this year's World Economic Forum — would seem to be in a poor position to lecture the rest of us.

Even so, Bloomberg highlights remarks by subprime mortgage billionaire Jeffrey Greene that "America's lifestyle expectations are far too high and need to be adjusted so we have less things and a smaller, better existence. We need to reinvent our whole system of life."

Greene, according to Bloomberg, "flew his wife, children and two nannies on a private jet plane to Davos for the week." How's that for "less things"? His remarks are more than a little ironic, given one of the main themes of Davos this year: "Income inequality," or getting the rich to pay their "fair share."

[snip]
 

NEW YORK -- U.S. stocks fell modestly Friday, pressured by underwhelming corporate news including guidance from economic activity bellwether UPS and as materials stocks fell after bearish notes.

Major indexes, however, rose for the first week in four, boosted in part by the European Central Bank's decision Thursday to further stimulate euro zone growth.

Materials shares weighed on the S&P 500, falling 1.6 percent after Goldman Sachs (GS) cut its price target on various miners including a 42 percent downward revision to Freeport McMoRan (FCX) stock to $18. Goldman separately slashed forecasts on commodity prices including aluminum, copper and nickel.

UPS (UPS) was among the largest drags on the S&P 500 after a gloomy outlook, alongside Exxon Mobil (XOM). On Friday Credit Suisse (CS) cut Exxon to "underperform."

Declines were capped by bullish investor sentiment after Thursday's move from the European Central Bank, which detailed a bigger-than-expected bond-buying program to lift the region's sagging economy and fight deflation.

"From where we're sitting, we're sensing continuation [from last year], the trend is still the upside," said Gordon Charlop, a managing director at Rosenblatt Securities in New York. "The corrections and the volatility will be a little more pronounced, a little more dramatic, but the trend remains intact."

The Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI) fell 141.38 points, or 0.79 percent, to 17,672.6,the Standard & Poor's 500 index (^GPSC) lost 11.33 points, or 0.55 percent, to 2,051.82 and the Nasdaq composite (^IXIC) added 7.48 points, or 0.16 percent, to 4,757.88.

For the week, the Dow rose 0.9 percent, the S&P gained 1.6 percent and the Nasdaq added 2.7 percent.

[snip]

• Global economy hopes raised after European stimulus
• The 5 mansions of the billionaire who wants America to live a 'smaller' existence
• More homeless camps are appearing beyond downtown L.A.'s skid row
• In Iowa, Cruz imagines ‘reigniting the miracle of America’
• In Iowa, Santorum previews ‘blue collar’ pitch for 2016
• The United States Is Imploding, On The Eve Of Destruction.
• Fired US McDonald's workers allege racial discrimination