Economic Masterminds Weigh In at Davos

It was deja-vu all over again. Arriving in Zurich to a HUGE hug from Heinz. Do you remember Heinz from last year? He lives in Davos. We rent out his friend’s apartment. He is the loveliest man. He picked me up from Zurich so that I could make it to Davos in time for air this morning. We caught up on the past year during our two-plus hour drive. When we arrived just past 10:30 p.m., we stopped by to see my producer Yvette Michael. We caught up on the rundown for this morning and Murphy's Law, the trouble began.

Heinz's car died. We tried to recharge the battery with no success. After a half hour in the freezing cold, we called a taxi and I made it to the hotel just before midnight. Now, the hotel, that's an entirely different story. Can you say "The Shining?"

So I arrive at the front desk, check in and I get escorted to my hotel room. The woman taking me to my room takes me down one tiny elevator that looked like someone got stuck in it and scratched the paint (maybe even aluminum) off the walls as they faced a bad case of claustrophobia. No joke! It gets worse. She presses the button. -2. Yes, we were going down two levels below street level. Are you feeling my pain? As we exit the elevator I'm thinking "redrum." Seriously scary. After walking through a very long corridor, we enter a set of doors, leading to yet another elevator. This time we take it back up to zero. Can you say  insane asylum? The room scary! Need I say more. I'm now thinking do they lock the doors behind you. Not exactly the best way to get a good night’s sleep. You can only imagine the exciting e-mails I was sending my poor producer Yvette after midnight.

Fast forward to this morning and the task at hand. I got to our location at 8a.m. I interviewed some great guests from 9am Swiss time (3am U.S. time) through a half hour ago.

Sir Martin Sorrell of WPP talked about the seismic shift in media. The world he said has changed for good. Large old school media companies must adjust to declining ad revenues and serious monetization issues on the internet.

Thomas Donahue of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce told me that banks are hoarding cash at record levels. He said that they have $850 billion in cash. I haven't verified the number but it's entirely possible. He works endless hours here to raise funds to help represent the over three million companies the commerce speaks on behalf of. It costs the Chamber approximately $4 million dollars a week. A top priority is free trade. He is very concerned about protectionism in the new Administration and believes the U.S. economy will turn things around.

Richard Edelman, the public relations czar and good friend, said trust is lacking. At an all-time low according to a survey they conducted. He applauded Starbucks and Walmart for the work they are doing to create social activism and said it is essential that Executives get out in front of the public. He said it is a big mistake to hide behind the news. I couldn't agree more.

Bob Greifeld of Nasdaq talked about regulatory oversight and why they created an index that monitors all of the companies that have received government funds. It's a way for us as taxpayers to see how are investment is performing. Very smart move. Let me not forget one of the more interesting points he made about the failed bid to buy the London Stock Exchange. He said they were skating on very dangerous territory considering the potential leverage the deal would have required. A fascinating lesson learned in an environment where leverage has become the prick in the ballon that burst this bubble.

Ken Rogoff, former IMF Chief Economist and Harvard economics professor, told me off camera that we were in the 4th or 5th inning of this global financial crisis. He said the consequences for innaction could be much more dire than the Japanese contraction in the 90's. Watch him. He is fascinating and world renowned. He also told me that the lines to watch the panels here at the WEF are as deep as he has ever seen. In some cases, fifty to one hundred people are being turned away from panels on the financial crisis and how to cure it. Not surprised!

The list goes on and on. Between us, Richard Gelfond of IMAX told me he received a special invite to a party this evening hosted by Vladimir Putin. I am dieing to hear more about that. Wish I was invited! Interviewing Putin would be so fascinating.

Another behind the scenes piece of gossip. There have been some big time cancellations from some domestic companies in anticipation of this trip but there have also been some International cancellations that few know about. What about Yushchenko? The Ukranian President. He was scheduled to come back this year (remember he met Condeleeza Rice in a closed door meeting last year offsite) but cancelled at 6:30pm last night. He was expected to come here with 46 members of his cabinet and security team. Fears over the escalating tension with Russia over Gazprom and the instability in his country lead him to cancel the trip outright. Stay tuned!

One other note, the predictions, reports, outlook, conversations are all very, very bleak. It's hard to find a bull among the bears. Given the record low confidence the other day it makes you wonder if the bearish sentiment is too bearish although I certainly am a bear.

As always, Steve Forbes joined me. He's a gem! He raises such good points. Clearly he's angry about the FASB rules and mark-to-market accounting, would like to see a return of the Uptick rule and wants to see some tax cuts in the way of corporate tax cuts. He said the fact that a company like Pfizer with $28 billion in cash needs to borrow money for a year between 7-9% is a disgrace. Frankly, a sign of the dangerous times we live in.

More from Davos in a couple of hours. It's just past 5pm local time. I'm on my way to the Congress Center to see Putin speak. Anxious to see what the crowds are like. Also curious to see what the security is like. It's unbelievable.