Mexican mogul made $2.2 million per hour in 2006

[Herman Munster]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/DN-slim_10bus.ART.State.Edition1.3796c94.html

MEXICO CITY – Telecom mogul Carlos Slim Helú has built a corporate empire so vast that it's nearly impossible for most Mexicans to go a day without slipping a few pesos into his pocket. On Thursday, Forbes magazine estimated his net worth at $49 billion. That represented a $19 billion increase from 2006, the biggest one-year jump in a decade for anyone on the magazine's annual list of the world's richest people.

Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates' $56 billion helped him retain the top spot. Investor Warren Buffett was again runner-up with $52 billion. But with those tycoon philanthropists increasingly focused on giving away their fortunes, the 67-year-old Mr. Slim appears destined to surpass them both. Although his third-place ranking didn't change from 2006, he increased his wealth by 6percent. That's a growth rate of $2.2 million an hour.

When Mexicans talk on the phone or use the Internet, they're almost certainly doing it through a company controlled by Mr. Slim, who in 1990 bought the old state-owned telephone company Teléfonos de México, or Telmex, and turned it into a cash machine. Profit from that near-monopoly has bankrolled Mr. Slim's telecom acquisitions around the region, propelling his América Móvil wireless spin-off into the largest provider of cellphone service in Latin America.

Mexicans buy cigarettes from Mr. Slim's tobacco company, apply for mortgages at his bank and purchase policies at his insurance firm. Shoppers patronize his department stores, eat at his restaurants and browse for CDs at his music outlets. Travelers fly his discount airline. Industrialists buy his auto parts, electronics, steel and ceramic tile. The government hires his infrastructure firm to build highways, water treatment plants and oil platforms. More than 250,000 Mexican employees draw paychecks from his companies. "It's virtually cradle to grave. It's Slimlandia," said George Grayson, a Mexico expert at the College of William & Mary in Virginia.

[originalpckelly]

1. Monopolies are anti-capitalist enterprises, because they eliminate the checks and balances...

that form the core of true democratic capitalism. These companies don't turn greed against itself, they enable greed.