The world's second wealthiest person is, interestingly enough, a Mexican national (WSJ free link).
Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim [owner of Telefonos de Mexico] recently moved up to second place from third on the list of the world's wealthiest individuals.Only a certain Mr. Gates has more money.
Mary Anastasia O'Grady qualifies Mr. Slim's achievement, since, unlike Gates, Slim
got rich largely by maximizing his opportunities in an environment where he enjoyed monopoly privileges, snowballing wealth and a commensurate amount of political influence.and observes that he
is only the most famous of the Mexicans who have made a killing by way of monopoly privilege.O'Grady points out that there have been Mexican Supreme Court rulings which have taken a few legs out from under Mexico's system of monopoly capitalism, thinks that the rulings "could be one of the most important economic developments in the country in recent years," and thinks that it will be an important test for Mexican President Felipe Calderón in our neighbor's "struggle for liberal democracy."
Glad to see that alternative choices may exist for the dilemma.
