What If Davos Actually Worked?

Later this week, the world's elite will once again gather in Davos, Switzerland at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting. For those of us not attending, you can think of the Davos conference as a kind of Olympic Village for the powerful. In any given year, there will likely be no greater concentration of influence, sheer talent and wealth than at Davos.

Which makes it all the more disappointing that, by many accounts, little is actually accomplished there.

World-class networking opportunities aside, there's considerable gloom surrounding this year's events, even from the normally supportive media. "Who needs a World Economic Forum?" the BBC asked, while the U.K.'s Telegraph grimly wondered , "Does all the talking make a difference?"

Even the WEF's founder, Klaus Schwab, alluded to the weariness of the tone at Davos this year by warning that the economic recovery may be hindered by "global burnout syndrome." "We have in the world a situation where the political system and the institutions are just overwhelmed by the complexity which they have to face," Schwab told Reuters last week.

This may explain why, sprinkled amid jargon like "Global Risk Response Mechanism" and "Inclusive Growth," the WEF's theme this year is the dreary "Shared Norms For A New Reality."

But what if Davos actually worked? Below, we've suggested -- okay, not entirely seriously -- a few ways the world could benefit if the Davos attendees dropped the rhetoric and got down to business:

• Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, slated to be the conference's opening speaker, would realize that his country can't use Davos to solicit private investment shortly after imprisoning a billionaire in a trial widely viewed as a sham . Many Davos attendees would be dumbstruck upon their first introduction to the concept of "hypocrisy."