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That is the question this year about Davos. In such troubled economic times, expected participants are dropping like flies.
For some, you can blame Washington politics. (Sheila Bair, Larry Summers, Barney Frank and Austan Goolsbee all bowed out as the nomination process for Treasury Secretary designate Timothy Geithner drags on in the Capitol.)
For others, the collapse of Wall Street and corporate America landed squarely on their Davos plans. (John Thain and Greg Fleming both scrapped trips as they left, or were forced to leave, Merrill Lynch, now a unit of Bank of America [BAC
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].) Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs [GS
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] is sending his deputy. Andrew Liveris of Dow Chemical [DOW
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] bowed out as his company's acquisition of Rohm and Haas came to a head.)
See excerpts from exclusive Thain interview.
And then there are those who are dropping out in the 11th hour. (New York Governor David Paterson, whose state is facing a 15-billion dollar budget shortfall, pulled out Monday, facing criticism that this is not the time to be gallivanting around the Alps.)
Here's the one I don't get: Rock star Bono, a longtime Davos staple, also is missing from the roster this year. Somebody do me a favor and ask him if he, too, is a victim of the credit crunch.
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