“So, 2012 will be an extremely difficult year. The global economy is likely to slip into recession, as Europe and Japan are mired in deep recession and emerging economies stall. Black swan events, such as a sovereign default in Europe, an emerging market crash, a surge in oil prices due to conflict in the Middle East, and a selloff in Japan or the U.S.’s sovereign debt market, will haunt the fragile global economy.

At the annual World Economic Forum in Davos we again saw familiar faces from the West, but some different characters from emerging economies. Some of the last year’s bunch went to jail amidst the revolutions engulfing the Middle East. They were discussing how to fix capitalism. Apparently, the same people who blew up the world and got their governments to bail them out are now again making millions and talking about how to fix things. Not many people see the irony in this. The tragedy of the global financial crisis is that it didn’t sweep away the old order.

During an economic boom people who are good at ingratiating themselves with the establishment tend to rise to the top. After a boom of two decades, leaders are already two to three generations into such a process. These people pretty much make a living by just looking the part. This is why the global crisis will last for years to come, until a new generation of leaders rises through a competitive process.” — Andy Xie