Mexican tycoon overtakes Bill Gates as world's richest man http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2117330,00.html All on the backs of the humble Mexican peasant. Hurrah for privatisation of a nation's economic infranstructure! NOT.
Re: Mexican tycoon overtakes Bill Gates as world's richest m Is the antipathy towards Carlos Slim based on something specific, or is it just envy? I ask in part because one would think that we'd applaud highly successful capitalism in a country with as much borderline as we have with Mexico.
Slim has monopolized or restricted competition in much of Mexico's commercial sector, thereby keeping prices for goods and services high and the average wage low. So that is where most of the anti-Slim feelings arise from. IMO
>I ask in part because one would think that we'd applaud highly successful >capitalism in a country with as much borderline as we have with Mexico. Who are you referring to in "we'd" ? You think there are only "Americans" on this board discussing things? And if you think "highly successful capitalism" includes being practically gifted the national telco by your buddy the President, then you're clearly in the "Halliburton deserves no-bid contracts" cheerleader camp.
Drew, First of all, my question was serious. Second, I'd say you answered it. It would be my suspicion at this point from the lack of subtance in your response that jealousy might ahve a greater role in motivating your position than does evidence of mismanagement. More to the point of your question on who is 'we'... Unless you're a communist or a socialist, you don't need to be from the US to appreciate the fact that effective capitalism drives out less desirable (and demonstratedly less effective) forms of social organization. To say it more simply, Levi jeans and television from a free economy did a lot more to tear down the Berlin Wall than did the ICBMs in US silos. [A fact which has been re-validated by the abject failure of US military policy in the Middle East.] So unless you'd prefer living in a communist or a highly socialistic society, you should be glad that capitalism thrives in Mexico - so much so that it has created wealth greater than that of the founder of Microsoft - and that's saying something. As far as whether the business was 'gifted' to Mr Slim or not is almost irrelevant. Maybe that's what it took to make this happen in Mexico on the scale it has, and if so - so much the better (for Mexico and for us all). Japan has it's own way of 'gifting' it's industries so that they become and remain globally dominant, soperhaps 'gifting' in whatever form it takes is a better model to follow than the lazziez faire practiced by the US, at whose expense these newer dominators are emerging. The fact is that no matter how he obtained license to practice in his business, it appears he's done extraordinarily well at managing and growing it, and not by way of subsidy and communistic/socialistic support, but by learning and working the free market, which once again, we should all support. Summarizing - the potential for kudos comes not from how he got his opportunity, but rather what he's done with it. Many who started with a lot more have done a lot less with it. From what I've seen, it's possible he should be congratulated. So my question one last time - is it just envy, or is there a real basis of abuse or misuse that motivates your derrogatory evaluation of Messr. Slim's performance.
At least that's a rational response - Thank You. Now my question though, isn't telecommunications his claim to fame? I know that that Telcel (I believe that's his) has competitors - certainly more than Microsoft does, and I'm not aware of what artificial impediments he's been able to put into the marketplace to damage their opportunity for growth (other than simply being more skilled at bringing his product to market). And as far as what he pays for talent, I assume none of the folks on his payroll are indentured - i.e. they can leave any time to find other work. Since they're accepting the low wages - IS there any other work- and if not, wouldn't he who creates ANY jobs (real jobs, not government dole outs) be better regarded more than one who does not or cannot? What am I missing here? Thx Again.
If you want a home telephone, Telmex is it, a monopoly on MILLIONS of customers. Telcel has very few competitors in fact, for the last couple of years that has been changing but it's still really only Movistar and now Nextel (with a few smaller ones trying). Here's an interesting article (sorry, it's in Spanish) about "Mr. Monopoly" Carlos Slim. http://www.voltairenet.org/article126590.html I for one am still on the fence on him, though of course I would love to hate the rich! Yes, it's alleged that he is in bed with corrupt government officials, yes he employs people at very low wages while he makes billions, yes he has several monopolies, yes sometimes his business practices have been questioned. On the other hand, he does contribute greatly to charity (billions of dollars in Mexico on education and hospitals) and his companies do employ a lot of people. I don't know enough about him to label him good or bad, I just know he's an interesting cat. Here's an article from yesterday's paper sharing some attitudes towards Mr. Slim http://www.yucatan.com.mx/noticia.asp?cx=9$2900000000$3587662&f=20070706
Wow. Extremely insightful readings. Reminds me a LOT of Carnegie - as well as the times during which Carnegie was 'in operation'. Even appears to be moving in the same direction. Truly fascinating. Thx Again.
