Mexico's richest man casts controversial shadow

here's the article: http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/03/12/mexico.slim.ap/index.html

Carlos Slim, the world's 3rd richest--and gaining--man, is a perfect example of the wealth disparity in Mexico. Slim currently owns a monopoly in the telephone market. His company, Telemex, is the largest mobile phone company in Mexico. And he has branched his empire out to cover banking, brokerage, internet services, insurance, retail stores, etc. While Slim's good business sense and economics have payed off for him, it is very much at the expense of those who are forced to use his company(s). Because Slim has a monopoly on mobile phones, he can, and does, charge very high prices. The Mexican governemnt has tried to break up monopolies, but so far have had no luck.

In a country where the majority of people live on less than two dollars a day, i find it disturbing that Slim could post profits of $19 billion. it makes me very, very thankful for the legislation and general attitude opposing monopolies here in the US. Though many of the services in the United States are privitized, they are not, in general, monopolized, and that in large part is why we enjoy the relatively cheap prices that we do. It looks like the Mexican governement really needs to impose a price ceiling on mobile phone service, among other things.