Posted on 04/18/2007 8:58:18 AM PDT by Shuttle Shucker
A popular saying in Mexico goes like this: You can't get out of bed in the morning without putting money into Carlos Slim's pocket. Carlos Slim Helú, 67, is el jefe of the Mexican telecommunications industry. He is probably the richest man most Americans have never heard of. That may soon change. In Forbes magazine's annual ranking of the world's richest, released last month, Slim was third. Since then, Forbes estimates that Slim added $4.1 billion to his fortune, surpassing super-investor Warren E. Buffett (while now trailing Gates by about as much). Some Fun Facts about Slim: *His Carso Global Telecom controls 90 percent of Mexico's telephone land lines. By contrast, his América Móvil controls a mere 72 percent of Mexico's cellphone market. *Slim's wealth is equivalent to about 7 percent of Mexico's entire annual economic output.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Isn’t it remarkable how Mexico is still one of the few developed countries still NOT authorizing companies to use the WiMax wireless broadband spectrum to offer (scarce) telecommunications services in Mexico? Notice how Mexico remains completely absent from this list of countries allowing WiMax to fortify their economies?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Deployed_WiMAX_networks
But wireless broadband technologies such as WiMax, xMax and Ultra Spectral Modulation would make Carlos Slim’s phone monopoly less dominant, in both the land-line and the cellphone sectors.
Why isn’t our own USTR in Washington D.C. using the World Trade Organization’s Doha Round to finally abolish Mexico’s requirement that landline telecommunications services be no more than 49% foreign-owned? Could it have to do with how AT&T owns a hefty percentage of Carlos Slim’s TelMex?
Carlos Slim has been a ‘friend’ to our last few presidents. No one is going to go against him.
http://www.achievement.org/newsletter/2004/013_small.jpg
Pure slime.
Is Carlos Slim a Chavez ally? Slim sure did get along well with Mexico’s Leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the former Mexico City mayor who narrowly lost the presidential election and earned the nickname “ObraGore” last summer for his tantrums and protests.
“The people have the government that they deserve”
-Ben Franklin
That’s actually a popular saying in Mexico, where Slim is detested by many:
“El pueblo tiene el gobierno que merece.”
Really impressive character there. I wonder why he doesn't invest more in his own country to help bring he standard of living up for his fellow Mexicans?
Our tel-com companies made their own decisions about doing biz in Mexico. To this date, I know of few outsiders who have 'legally' prospered doing business in Mexico to provide goods and services to the Mexicans.
Mr. Wall is insightful and on the front lines, back from Iraq and now in Mexico once again.
We should send him the bill for all of the healthcare for the illegals who come to this country because of him f’ing up the Mexican economy.
>>>I wonder why he doesn’t invest more in his own country to help bring he standard of living up for his fellow Mexicans?<<<
He does when he can acquire the related opportunity at rock-bottom prices AND if there’s tremendous profit potential.
And according to the OECD, his phone monopoly charges about the highest rates of all the dozens of member nations...
Slim owns CompUSA, and TelMex also has operations in California.
Isn’t it peculiar how TelMex could own & operate 100% of its US-based operations but a U.S. company could only own and operate 49% of its operations in Mexico in the land-line sector?
Interesting post & comments. Thanks to all.
Thank you for your interest in helping Mexico finally achieve its potential to alleviate immigration pressures at our border.
By the way, here’s Mexico’s official “response” to the Carlos Slim pillaging & plundering:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1819340/posts
Talk’s cheap, though.
The Mexican Government Sponsored way of doing business. Like another poster said, the US tax-payer is now stuck paying for his greed. Why is that?
For now. He goes with the power. If Hitler was alive, he’d be selling him industrial ovens.
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