Billionaire Pledges Laptops for Poor Mexican Kids

FOX ^ | 08/03/07 | Unknown

[Froufrou]

Billionaire Carlos Slim said he doesn't care if he is the world's richest man and promised to donate hundreds of thousands of laptop computers to Mexican children.

The Mexican telecom mogul pledged Thursday to donate 250,000 low-cost laptops to children by the end of the year and as many as 1 million in 2008, saying "digital education" holds the key for Mexico's poor.

Slim is listed by Forbes as the world's second-richest man with holdings worth $53 billion, but some financial analysts say he may have overtaken Microsoft (MSFT) founder Bill Gates as the world's richest.

• Click here for FOXNews.com's Personal Technology Center.

Speaking to foreign correspondents on Thursday, Slim said the ranking meant little to him.

"That's water off a duck's back to me," Slim said. "I don't know if that (the ranking) is correct, if I'm first, 20th, or 2,000th. It doesn't matter. It's all the same."

"I think that what's important is to see that a professional or business activity isn't incompatible with personal or family life," he said.

[jpl]

I haven’t yet, though that isn’t surprising, considering that they were pretty gory people.

[Paperdoll]

:) You completely miss my point and your comments are invalid as to what I posted.

[fr_freak]

Tyke is right; I’ve been there and Mexico is a gorgeous country, not a third world nation. That their upper class is so cavalier about the lower class is something kind of horrific, though.

Which parts of Mexico have you been to? I haven't seen a whole lot of Mexico, but I've gotten out of the tourist zones, and once you do that, you will see plenty of third-world areas.

[Centurion2000]

Billionaire Carlos Slim said he doesn't care if he is the world's richest man and promised to donate hundreds of thousands of laptop computers to Mexican children.

So will these be Dell Tacos ?

[ExTexasRedhead]

Next, he’ll be donating to Al Queda.

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

Thanks froufrou. I’ll look into those, but we’re in Dallas now. Left PBC a few years ago. :)

[BurbankKarl]

oh, are these for the LA School District? We have more than 250000 mexican born children.

[hinckley buzzard]

I'm with you. Enabling these kids to get a glimpse of what the world outside has come to take for granted can only help them raise their expectations of their own leaders. In the long run this could be a revolutionary act. I cannot fathom why freepers would trash someone doing something useful and out of Private funds to boot.

When Newt Gingrich proposed something like this in the 1990's for American poor kids, he was trashed by the liberal snot-noses. Just like what's happening here. Sheesh.

[ViLaLuz]

How will they get the electricity to run the laptops? Most of Mexican poor don’t have electricity.

[WritableSpace]

How about using your money to generate Jobs in Mexico, instead of giving away laptops which won’t help Mexicans make ends meat.