This Historian Took A Room Full Of Billionaires To Task And Now He's Going Viral

It's a gathering that has been happening since 1971, with a stated mission of "improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic, and other leaders of society to shape global, regional, and industry agendas."

But by 2019, Davos seems to have become a bit odd, at least for first time invitee Rutger Bregman.

But it's entirely possible that Bregman's first visit to Davos will be his last as well after he delivered the conference's most talked-about speech, one that definitely didn't make him any friends among his ridiculously wealthy hosts.

However, over his first few days there, the experience left him a bit disillusioned.

In one of his speeches, to a room full of tech company executives, he mentioned taxes and "one American looked at me as if I was from another planet," he told The Guardian. A plan started to form in his head.

"I more or less ignored the question asked by the moderator and gave my speech instead. It was mainly to ease my own conscience: Someone has to say what needs to be said," he recalled.

What he did say sure grabbed people's attention.

"This is my first time at Davos and I find it quite a bewildering experience, to be honest" he said. "I mean, 1500 private jets have flown in here to hear Sir David Attenborough speak about how we're wrecking the planet. I hear people talking the language of participation and justice and equality and transparency, but almost no one raises the real issue of tax avoidance and of the rich just not paying their fair share."

"It feels like I'm at a firefighters conference and nobody's allowed to speak about water," he said to scattered applause.

Bregman pointed to a statement earlier in the conference from Michael Dell, the billionaire computer maker, asking where a top marginal tax rate of 70% had ever worked.

"During Republican President Eisenhower...the top marginal tax rate was 91% for people like Michael Dell. The top estate tax for people like Michael Dell was more than 70%. I mean, this is not rocket science. We can talk for a very long time about all these stupid philanthropy schemes, invite Bono once more, but come one, we've got to be talking about taxes. That's it, taxes, taxes, taxes. All the rest is bulls*** in my opinion."

Although it might seem unlikely that he'll be invited back after that speech, he's open to the idea.

"I would definitely go. I would just give the same speech. It is going to be a dilemma for them," he told The Guardian. "If they don't invite me, it will prove my point. If they do, I'll say the same thing all over again."

h/t The Guardian