Don't worry; the wealthy elite really DO get it

[Rage for Order]

They totally feel our pain.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/01/24/a-hefty-price-for-entry-to-davos/

What’s the price tag to be a Davos Man?

Just to have the opportunity to be invited to Davos, you must be invited to be a member of the World Economic Forum, a Swiss nonprofit that was founded by Klaus Schwab, a German-born academic who managed to build a global conference in the snow.

There are several levels of membership: the basic level, which will get you one invitation to Davos, costs 50,000 Swiss francs, or about $52,000. The ticket itself is another 18,000 Swiss francs ($19,000), plus tax, bringing the total cost of membership and entrance fee to $71,000.

But that fee just gets you in the door with the masses at Davos, with entry to all the general sessions. If you want to be invited behind the velvet rope to participate in private sessions among your industry’s peers, you need to step up to the “Industry Associate” level. That costs $137,000, plus the price of the ticket, bringing the total to about $156,000.

Of course, most chief executives don’t like going anywhere alone, so they might ask a colleague along. Well, the World Economic Forum doesn’t just let you buy an additional ticket for $19,000. Instead, you need to upgrade your annual membership to the “Industry Partner” level. That will set you back about $263,000, plus the cost of two tickets, bringing the total to $301,000.

And if you want to take an entourage, say, five people? Now you’re talking about the “Strategic Partner” level. The price tag: $527,000. (That’s just the annual membership entitling you to as many as five invitations. Each invitation is still $19,000 each, so if five people come, that’s $95,000, making the total $622,000.) This year, all Strategic Partners are required to invite at least one woman along in an effort to diversify the attendee list.


Much more at the link

[lonestarnot]

1. mmm. hmm. Totally.

:sarcasm:

[Rage for Order]

2. The ticket is only part of it. Don't forget the other "necessities"

One large investor is renting a five-bedroom chalet this year just outside of Davos for himself and his staff. The cost? $140,000 for the week. A car and driver, which the World Economic Forum will organize for you, is about $10,000 a week for a Mercedes S Class.

A first-class fare from New York to Zurich is running at about $11,000. But a private plane using NetJets will cost about $70,000 round trip, according to one executive who has used the service. Helicopter service from Zurich to Davos? $3,400 each way. (The forum provides a free bus service for those worried about their environmental footprint.)

Of course, many companies have dinners for clients, with dinners on multiple evenings for some firms.

At the Posthotel, for example, the restaurant is charging a minimum of $210 a head. A cocktail party for 60 to 80 people for just one hour? That costs about $8,000. Two hours? $16,000.

The bigger parties, like one that will be given by Google on Friday night for several hundred people, can run more than $250,000 for the evening. (In years past, Google has flown in the band and bartenders; one year, the company had an oxygen bar.)

[spooked911]

3. jesus, I had no idea

that is insane and disgusting.

It's definitely another world, and I'm sure they feel like "masters of the universe".

[blindpig]

4. People have no idea how great the disparity is.

And for this these parasites inflict murder, misery and environmental mayhem globally. What a deal for us, we do all the work and they live like gods.

[leveymg]

5. Particularly the insulated elites, who live entirely within floating bubbles, high above everyday

problems confronted by us, the ground-bound non-elites.

We're ants. Our elected officials also enter a bubble when they get to Washington, and similarly lose their sense of perspective.

[blindpig]

10. right and right

Though only those with a propensity for toeing the line are allowed to advance to positions of real power. This is easily done with money donated, money denied, money for opposition.

Ants? Mebbe so, small but fearsome, let us be the fire ants of their nightmares.

[leveymg]

11. The Red Ant Peril.

[Hydra]

6. Pay to play

And when it's all about controlling access to such wealth...

[LiberalEsto]

7. I'm sure it's all tax deductible

so we the taxpayers are actually picking up the tab.

[socialist_n_TN]

9. Good point. I'm sure it is, at least here in the States...........

Fucking disgusting, but not at all surprising.

This system is Satanic. Yeah, I said it.

[HughBeaumont]

8. You know what's even sadder?

The Davos attendees wipe their ass with that kind of money. In terms of net worth, that's what many of them make in one month or even two weeks. Some, even days.