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BS: Richest man in the world is a Mexican

03 Jul 07 - 06:41 PM (#2093446)
Subject: BS: Richest man in the world is a Mexican
From: Riginslinger

MEXICO CITY (AFP) - Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim Helu has overtaken Microsoft founder Bill Gates as the richest person on the planet, according to the Mexican financial website Sentido Comun.


03 Jul 07 - 08:29 PM (#2093509)
Subject: RE: BS: Richest man in the world is a Mexican
From: Ebbie

In 2006, Forbes listed him as #3 in the world.

But as they say, making the first million is the hardest.


03 Jul 07 - 08:34 PM (#2093514)
Subject: RE: BS: Richest man in the world is a Mexican
From: Amos

I am not sure what the point is. I am sure there is a lot of dubious story behind his rise to fortune, just as there is behind Gates'.


A


03 Jul 07 - 08:44 PM (#2093521)
Subject: RE: BS: Richest man in the world is a Mexican
From: Rapparee

I was wondering also. My immediate response was "So what?"


03 Jul 07 - 08:57 PM (#2093533)
Subject: RE: BS: Richest man in the world is a Mexican
From: JohnInKansas

I'm reminded of the friend who was listed some years ago by Forbes magazine as the "ninth richest lawyer in the US."

He confided discreetly that "they found about a third of it."

Such rankings usually aren't too far off, but absolute accuracy is not necessarily absolutly assured.

John


03 Jul 07 - 09:05 PM (#2093537)
Subject: RE: BS: Richest man in the world is a Mexican
From: bobad

What a thing to be fixated on - A has more than B, A's is bigger than B's - sick.


03 Jul 07 - 09:13 PM (#2093543)
Subject: RE: BS: Richest man in the world is a Mexican
From: Sorcha

How do I sign up to be a Non Profit corp and get some handouts then?


03 Jul 07 - 09:41 PM (#2093554)
Subject: RE: BS: Richest man in the world is a Mexican
From: Bee-dubya-ell

Carlos Slim, huh? Well, if he ever loses all that money and decides to try to make it as a blues harmonica player, he won't have to go looking for a stage name.


03 Jul 07 - 10:05 PM (#2093565)
Subject: RE: BS: Richest man in the world is a Mexican
From: GUEST,Ed

The richest man in the world is a mexican of lebanese background.

From Wikipedia:
His father, Julián Slim Haddad Aglamaz, a Lebanese Christian from Jezzine, moved as a teenager to Mexico City in 1902. Julián established a dry goods store called La Estrella del Oriente (Star of the Orient) in 1911 and bought some prime real estate in the city center. Julián married the daughter of another prosperous Mexican merchant who had also emigrated from Lebanon. They had six children, of whom Carlos was the youngest.


03 Jul 07 - 10:13 PM (#2093574)
Subject: RE: BS: Richest man in the world is a Mexican
From: Sorcha

Well, my god, don't ya'll get the PROBLEM here? He is NOT a 'white man'...he is a (ssshhhh, don't tell) Mexican Arab! Now, we all know those people arent' supposed to be rich! They'll just fund terrorists!


Said tongue FIRMLY in cheek.


03 Jul 07 - 10:22 PM (#2093582)
Subject: RE: BS: Richest man in the world is a Mexican
From: Bill D

hmmmppff..if the Waltons didn't have to share among themselves, he'd have a ways to go..

(and if I'd developed my idea for hollow soap, to eliminate leftover chips, *I* might be on that list!)


03 Jul 07 - 10:31 PM (#2093591)
Subject: RE: BS: Richest man in the world is a Mexican
From: Peace

Sorry to burst the bubble, Bill, but hallowed soap has already been done.


03 Jul 07 - 10:32 PM (#2093593)
Subject: RE: BS: Richest man in the world is a Mexican
From: Sorcha

ROF here, Peace! But, where are the Nuns? Are they ALL hiding at SINSULL's house?


03 Jul 07 - 10:43 PM (#2093597)
Subject: RE: BS: Richest man in the world is a Mexican
From: Bill D

Hallowed soap? Is thatlike the scheme to freeze Holy Water with flavoring and make Popesicles?

Or is that a form of hollow humor?


03 Jul 07 - 10:45 PM (#2093599)
Subject: RE: BS: Richest man in the world is a Mexican
From: Sorcha

KAKSOD!!!!!!! (killed another keyboard spewing drink--thanks, LtS)


03 Jul 07 - 10:45 PM (#2093600)
Subject: RE: BS: Richest man in the world is a Mexican
From: Peace

lol


03 Jul 07 - 10:55 PM (#2093607)
Subject: RE: BS: Richest man in the world is a Mexican
From: Bill D

"Pope on a Rope" now I get it...


04 Jul 07 - 03:56 PM (#2094181)
Subject: RE: BS: Richest man in the world is a Mexican
From: GUEST

Notice that Slim is dominant in this family?

His three sons Carlos Slim Domit, Marco Antonio Slim Domit
Patrick Slim Domit. His father was Julián Slim Haddad Aglamaz (Not sure where Domit came from)?
To Bill Gates, "Slim rules".
    Please note that anonymous posting is no longer allowed at Mudcat. Use a consistent name [in the 'from' box] when you post, or your messages risk being deleted.
    Thanks.
    -Joe Offer-


04 Jul 07 - 05:08 PM (#2094235)
Subject: RE: BS: Richest man in the world is a Mexican
From: John Hardly

"hmmmppff..if the Waltons didn't have to share among themselves, he'd have a ways to go.."

...what, with Jim-Bob, John-Boy, Mary-Ellen, Hank-Bob, and Elisabeth-Bob. To their credit, they don't live ostentaciously -- minding their own quiet business up there on the mountain, only coming down to sell the occasional jug of "the recipe".


04 Jul 07 - 11:04 PM (#2094426)
Subject: RE: BS: Richest man in the world is a Mexican
From: Bill D

there's Waltons...and then there's **WALTONS**


05 Jul 07 - 05:02 AM (#2094521)
Subject: RE: BS: Richest man in the world is a Mexican
From: Geoff the Duck

Richest man Mexican.
Bugger! I'd hoped they might have let me be it!
Oh well, back to the begging letters...
Quack!
GtD.


05 Jul 07 - 05:31 AM (#2094536)
Subject: RE: BS: Richest man in the world is a Mexican
From: Peace

". . . Slim's wealth is now equivalent to eight per cent of Mexico's GDP. Over half the population of Mexico survives on less than $5 a day."


05 Jul 07 - 11:49 AM (#2094757)
Subject: RE: BS: Richest man in the world is a Mexican
From: GUEST,the one

AND SO IS THE POOREST!!


06 Jul 07 - 10:08 AM (#2095613)
Subject: RE: BS: Richest man in the world is a Mexican
From: Riginslinger

"...Richest man in the world is a Mexican..."

               Now illegal aliens can quit sending their paychecks home.


06 Jul 07 - 11:42 AM (#2095675)
Subject: RE: BS: Richest man in the world is a Mexican
From: GUEST,Puck

Rich people are nasty and untrustworthy by nature...thats just my view. You can please yourselves what you think!!!
Pee


07 Jul 07 - 10:44 PM (#2096736)
Subject: RE: BS: Richest man in the world is a Mexican
From: Riginslinger

Yeah, I would agree with that. Rich people didn't get rich by being nice guys, though I suppose there are a few lottery winners.


08 Jul 07 - 06:47 AM (#2096862)
Subject: RE: BS: Richest man in the world is a Mexican
From: GUEST,pip

There is many way to be rich, the least of thease, is money!!


08 Jul 07 - 08:29 AM (#2096904)
Subject: RE: BS: Richest man in the world is a Mexican
From: Donuel

to a pic of Carlos Slim (who is obese) smoking a cigar...

Smoke Carlos Slims. They're rich in flavor with a spark of Latin Passion blended with a heavy bravado of Lebanese extremeism.
cough cough cough, they also are the first disposable cell phone cigar.


08 Jul 07 - 09:46 AM (#2096943)
Subject: RE: BS: Richest man in the world is a Mexican
From: Riginslinger

"...they also are the first disposable cell phone cigar."

               It sounds like something Q would construct for James Bond, or Maxwell Smart would use.


08 Jul 07 - 10:27 AM (#2096974)
Subject: RE: BS: Richest man in the world is a Mexican
From: Donuel

i pod
i phone
i cigar

excuse me my cigar is buzzing.


09 Jul 07 - 08:20 AM (#2097623)
Subject: RE: BS: Richest man in the world is a Mexican
From: Riginslinger

'". . . Slim's wealth is now equivalent to eight per cent of Mexico's GDP. Over half the population of Mexico survives on less than $5 a day."'

             This is exactly what is wrong in Mexico, and the US is getting that way. But everytime a crisi develops in Mexico that could produce change, the US rushes in and supports the controlling elements, so nothing ever happens.


09 Jul 07 - 08:58 AM (#2097644)
Subject: RE: BS: Richest man in the world is a Mexican
From: Uncle_DaveO

Donuel, isn't that what Monica said?

Dave Oesterreich


09 Jul 07 - 12:59 PM (#2097845)
Subject: RE: BS: Richest man in the world is a Mexican
From: JohnInKansas

A few months ago:

Mexico's richest chides fellow billionaires

The Associated Press
Updated: 6:08 p.m. CT March 13, 2007

MEXICO CITY - The world's third-richest man, Mexican telecom magnate Carlos Slim, poked gentle fun at the philanthropy of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, saying businessmen can do more good by building solid companies than by "going around like Santa Claus" donating money.
---
Slim showed himself as an unrepentant businessman driven by "the taste for competition." He said his own charitable foundations have $4 billion in endowments — but talked ironically about Buffet's decision to give away his fortune over the next 20 years.
---
Gates, who set up the world's richest charity foundation, has said he believes "that with great wealth comes great responsibility, a responsibility to give back to society."

Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., agreed with that sentiment last year when he said he would send about $1.5 billion every year to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has an endowment of $33 billion.
---
For Slim, business is a calling and the cure for most ills.
For example, he proposed that the U.S. transfer large amounts of Medicare patients to huge hospitals that could be built in northern Mexico, where health care costs would be lower.

True to his style, Slim seldom proposes a plan he does not have a business interest in — his construction company helps finance hospital projects.

... ...

John


09 Jul 07 - 09:57 PM (#2098292)
Subject: RE: BS: Richest man in the world is a Mexican
From: Riginslinger

"Mexican telecom magnate Carlos Slim, poked gentle fun at the philanthropy of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, saying businessmen can do more good by building solid companies than by "going around like Santa Claus" donating money..."

            Slim has a point here. If people like Gates and Buffett had been paying a decent percentage of their incomes in taxes all of these years, instead of the Reagan/Bush/Bush cut rate of taxes, the people would be in charge of most of that money, and the world would be a much better place for it.
            Instead of Bill Gates announcing that he is spending "X" numbers of billions of dollars to do something that brings public attention to him, the money could be spent doing something really productive in the world.


10 Jul 07 - 11:09 AM (#2098712)
Subject: RE: BS: Richest man in the world is a Mexican
From: Donuel

Bill Gates was probably a Spider Man fanatic when he was 12.


10 Jul 07 - 05:14 PM (#2099134)
Subject: RE: BS: Richest man in the world is a Mexican
From: JohnInKansas

Riginslinger -

If all of Gates' fortune had been given to "the people" in taxes, then the ones who would be spending it (right now) would be Cheney and Bush. It's pretty easy to guess what "great good things" it would be doing.

A show I saw recently on PBS (which could have been a rebroadcast from some time back) featured Gates and Buffet "discussing wealth" with what appeared to be a "college age crowd." Buffet stated quite emphatically: "I don't pay enough taxes. It's ridiculous how little I pay." He clearly expressed his opinion that the current policy of tax breaks for the super-rich is not a justifiable policy. Slim would apparently disagree, but Gates hasn't really expressed an opinion that I've heard.

The Gates foundation is chartered to do exactly the thing that both government and business have refused to do. It looks for medicines and treatments for the "orphan diseases" that affect/kill large numbers of people but "aren't profitable" for drug companies to research. It's apparently had some very significant success.

John


10 Jul 07 - 09:41 PM (#2099356)
Subject: RE: BS: Richest man in the world is a Mexican
From: Riginslinger

Kansas John - I'll take your word for it for now. I've haven't done enough research to rebutt. I've heard other wealthy people say the same thing about taxes that you quote Buffet as having said.
             I guess I'm just suspicious when one person has so much control, while there is so much that needs to be done.

             I would wonder, though, when the Gates foundation goes into Africa to do something about the spread of aids, how do they keep the money from falling into the hands of despicable politicians, just like Cheney and Bush, when they try to cure the problems?


10 Jul 07 - 11:16 PM (#2099409)
Subject: RE: BS: Richest man in the world is a Mexican
From: JohnInKansas

Riginslinger:

For a sort of "glossy outline" on Gates and a couple of others:

DerSpiegel
March 20, 2006
GLOBAL PHILANTHROPY
The World's Conscience
By Rüdiger Falksohn

The best info I've seen on some of the Gates Foundation projects is unfortunately at "membership sites." (It is mostly "medical technology," with just a little politics tossed in.)

I'll take a look at whether I can sort out some of the "more accessible" stuff, if it's of interest. Let me know here or by PM if you want more to look at and can't find it on your own.

Note: It's not that I keep special track of billionares, but I do keep some notes on just about anybody I notice who could screw us, might screw us, has screwed us, or is big enough to influence the ones who do. It's sort of a hobby.

John


11 Jul 07 - 10:34 AM (#2099796)
Subject: RE: BS: Richest man in the world is a Mexican
From: Riginslinger

John - I would agree. With what we already know of his business practices, Bill Gates is somebody who deserves a whole lot of watching.

          What doesn't really seem right to me is, all of these foundations are really running off on their own. They don't seem to be accountable to anybody. They are a lot like kings and barons.