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We want to post this bookmark leading to Davos co-founder Klaus Schwab's astonishing keynote remarks at the opening of this year's World Economic Forum.  By using this technique, we are inserting a placeholder in the Conversation of a Generation.  That's because we frankly don't know what to make of Professor Schwab's assertion that capitalism, in its present form, has outlived its usefulness.

 CBC correspondent Terry Milewski posted one of the most pertinent commentaries on the Schwab analysis, reporting that the Davos doyen remarked:  "Capitalism, in its current form, no longer fits the world around us... A global transformation is urgently needed and it must start with reinstating a global sense of social responsibility."

Remarkable as the professor's words were, considering that he has presided over this annual celebration of the western democracies' economic success story for 40 years, it isn't clear that his diagnosis carried the day in 2012.  Bill Gates, for example, told the BBC that the economic system that made him the richest man in the world, is a "phenomenal system". 

"We're going through a tough period, but there is no other system that has improved humanity," the Microsoft founder told the BBC.  Amen to Bill's assessment.  But despite his brilliant success and his stellar philanthropic role model, Gates won't have the last word on the subject. After all, about the time Davos was getting under way four decades ago, the blue chip Club of Rome declared the widsom of "limits to growth".  Despite the veracity of this prognosis and the widespread promotion of its message by the club's leading disciples, including Canadians Pierre Trudeau and Maurice Strong, the lemming-like swarm still went over the cliff in 2008.

Only time will tell if this year's Davos diagnosis makes any difference.  Professor Schwab's declaration was overtaken by competing voices before the conference concluded.  But as a signal event his words are worth remembering for what they represent.