MISMOSOFT:

A Mexican Revolution (Mary O'Grady, 6/12/07, Hacer)

Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim recently moved up to second place from third on the list of the world's wealthiest individuals. With Bill Gates giving away so much of what he has earned, it is now likely that Mr. Slim -- the owner of Telefonos de Mexico -- will one day advance to first place.

Yet no matter how good his numbers look, there will always be an asterisk next to the Slim name in the record books. I call it the Barry Bonds problem. Even if Mr. Bonds breaks Hank Aaron's home-run record, he will never be regarded as an equal to Mr. Aaron because most baseball fans don't think he competed on a level playing field. Mr. Slim faces a similar legacy problem when compared with creative entrepreneurs like Mr. Gates. The software billionaire made his fortune as an innovator who added value to his customers' lives. Mr. 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.

Mr. Slim is only the most famous of the Mexicans who have made a killing by way of monopoly privilege.

Which makes him identical to Bill Gates.

Posted by Orrin Judd at June 12, 2007 11:42 AM