Video

As global markets fell - so too did the snow in Davos. The weather descended on the Alpine resort along with delegates from across the globe for the World Economic Forum with the founder of this yearly private gathering calling for calm. SOUNDBITE: Professor Klaus Schwab, World Economic Forum founder saying (English): "What I want to see is not pessimism now. I want t o see pragmatic optimism. We can solve the issues. Let's sit together with the power of collaborative innovation and let's plan and change our future." Klaus Schwab's sanguine approach is not universal. Reuters Economics Columnist, James Saft, says the crisis is no blip and will take time to put right. SOUNDBITE: James Saft, Reuters Columnist saying (English): "Its a crisis that is essentially about the banking system, its about solvency i.e. people's ability to repay their debts and its fundamentally abbout the fact that people just borrowed tremendously too much money over the past ten years. That is now coming unstuck. That means those debts are going to have to be repaid or written off. It is looking as if it is taking on a self-perpetuating thing i.e. we are going to go into a recession in the United States and I would not say at all that it is going to be a blip." A U.S. recession and global economic slowdown this year is now firmly in investors sights. Shares on Wall Street fell sharply on Tuesday - confirming the reaction of Asian and European markets the day before. The World Economic Forum organisers in Davos are now hoping the crisis doesn't derail attention away from pressing global issues. SOUNDBITE: Professor Klaus Schwab, World Economic Forum founder saying (English): "I would hope people pay only attention to the lets say crisis but also look at long term issues such as climate change, particularly water. I think water will play a major role here and still we have the issue of poverty. I mean we have a short-term issues at the moment but we still have many unresolved long-term challenges." Davos is all about the future - global warming, security, water and poverty - but they are not so critical that they take priority over the present - according to James Saft. SOUNDBITE: James Saft, Reuters Economics Columnist saying (English): "More people are going to be poor this time next year than now if we have a recession. More people are going to be hungry this time next year than are now if we have a recession and, you know, dealing with the immediate problem at hand cant take a back seat to medium term issues no matter how important and critical those are." Whether the Forum likes it or not it goes ahead with global markets cooling at alarming rates and delegates hoping for a ray of sunshine in an increasingly frosty climate. Stuart McDill, Reuters, Davos