Partying and Pontificating at Davos 41

At one of the first sessions of Davos 2011, Nouriel Roubini, the economist famed for predicting the financial crisis, raised his water glass. The economy, he said, was like his glass: "half empty, half full."

As they have for 41 years, members of business and political royalty scaled the Swiss Alps to hear fellow wise men make similar pronouncements. The roughly 2,500 attendees listened to heads of state defend the euro in doth-protest-too-much moments, and they got in a little skiing. Davos is the rare event that can "bring billionaires to stay in three-star hotels," says Adrian Monck, managing director of the World Economic Forum. Thread counts don't matter much, since little sleeping gets done. After days filled with private meetings that have more to do with dealmaking than the WEF's professed goal of "improving the state of the world," most attendees get down to serious partying.