AAAnnnnd, heeeere's Carlos! Carlos Slim Hel?

Adrian Bye

Bronze
Jul 7, 2002
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Interesting article. He's a scary guy. But it affects all of us - Codetel is the best DSL internet in the DR still (my tricom internet doesn't compare, and wind has limited coverage), so what happens if codetel really goes bad?
 

suarezn

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Feb 3, 2002
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When I heard he had bought Codetel I predicted (I can't find the thread) that service would progrssively get worse and worse at Codetel. The only hope is that it won't get as bad as Mexico because there's some competition from Orange (which thanks god already existed when he bought the company).

I've spent a lot of time in Mexico and as the article mentioned Telephone service over there is very expensive and it absolutely sucks...Not to mention if you're a company and try to get service you have to jump through a ton of hoops to get it on a timely basis (getting electricity is even worse as this is another monopoly).

This guy (as opposed to Bill Gates and Warren Buffet) just likes to make money and sit on it...not to mention that the money he's made is due mostly to political connections (I'm sure probably even some nice pay offs have occurred over time). In a country as poor as Mexico (OK richer than The DR, but still poor) he would be spending some of that though for the good of the people...maybe spend a couple of billion USD's in a foundation, but he's definitely a throw back to the robber baron times of Rockefeller, Carnegie, Ford, etc...
 

NALs

Economist by Profession
Jan 20, 2003
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"...one journalist pressed him on how it felt to be worth so much in a country in which many people struggle to get by."

So, if he moves to the U.S. the "struggling" Mexicans will be better off? Does living among the "rich" in "rich" countries changes anything?

Some people seem to think that moving across international borders changes things. If you don't see the slums in your countries, that somehow they don't exist, somehow its not your fault, somehow its not your duty, somehow you should not care.

The answer to such questions are rather simple. He feels the same way the people that live in first world countries feel for living in such luxuries in a world where 30 countries contains over 65% of the world's wealth while roughly 5 billion of the world's 6 billion population live outside that "gated community".

To me its no difference, except for the scale of things.

Oh, that First World countries are not responsible for what happens in the Third World; well isn't that the excuse everybody believes Carlos Slim uses to make himself feel better?

Its not my fault, its not my duty.

Get over it folks. At the very least, look into a mirror.
-NALs:ermm:
 

Hillbilly

Moderator
Jan 1, 2002
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Note to Suarezn: Ford Foundation; Rockefeller Foundation, Carnegie-Mellon, Carnegie Foundation.....JIC...

HB
 

Chip

Platinum
Jul 25, 2007
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Santiago
Carlos Slim is a good example of a typical third world businessman who uses every legal means to make his business work. Worse is that these business practices are considered normal and even desirable. That is why you would find nary a dissenting voice from any Dominican businessman nor any from LA for that matter.

Sure we have these types in the US a la "Blago". Unlike in LA an idiot such as the aforementioned will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and more, villified and ridiculed in the public eye as a dinosaur from times passed. In LA these types are considered the norm and even admired somehow, talk about such a big disconnect between ourselves and our southerly neighbors. Then again, maybe they don't see the connection as to why none of them have a government that doesn't rob the people and actually functions like it is supposed to.
 

suarezn

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Feb 3, 2002
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Note to Suarezn: Ford Foundation; Rockefeller Foundation, Carnegie-Mellon, Carnegie Foundation.....JIC...

HB

Yeah, I know about that, but starting a foundation so they can advance their pet projects doesn't make up for the stifling of competition through not so legal means...

Heck...every senator in The DR has a foundation (ong anyway)...does that make them great benefactors? How about Trujillos?
 

Hillbilly

Moderator
Jan 1, 2002
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Yeah, right!! HAHAHA....the good came after the Robber Baron stage of their lives...

I have yet to see any good from one of those ONGs.....

HB