The data .- The percentage header serving this column represents the ratio of average annual income of a Mexican-estimated at 13, $ 200, the total value of the current fortune of Carlos Slim Helu. In that sense, the physical distance between the average Mexican and Mexican richer is so large that it may be longer for the operation of the dysfunctional political system.
With a wealth estimated at 53.500 billion dollars, Carlos Slim, a civil engineer of Lebanese descent and graduated from the UNAM, is the first Latin American and the first citizen of an underdeveloped country that displaces, at least for now, who traditionally have led the circle of the great family fortunes in the world: American billionaires, whose roots are in a much stronger economic society than the Mexican.
Its position in the table of billionaires is a fact full of meaning, but in itself, the news should not surprise. Long been a close observer might suppose that he had the opportunity to lead the famous list of the world's richest men published annually by Forbes magazine (special edition) and contains the names and details of individuals possessing fortunes 1.011 excess of one billion dollars. The simple projection of the figures of Mr. Slim accumulation in recent times and particularly in the last year 541 million-thousand dollars per month on average, according to Forbes, "almost assured that at some point could become" the number one. "
Reasons .- The immediate explanation that a Mexican is first in the Forbes list is due to increase in value of the shares of its approximately 200 companies that constitute its economic empire, including America Movil and bank Inbursa . However, the first also be explained by the release of a substantial portion of their wealth from those who before had been systematically over it: Americans Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. Both decided to return to society at large what that society gave them, and donated substantial part of their fortunes to charities. Without this transfer of resources to philanthropic foundations, Slim followed in third place among the wealthiest in the world.
Meaning .- At least since the colonial period, Mexican society has been very uneven, but maybe today, just as we celebrate the bicentennial of the start of the War of Independence and the centenary of a social revolution, even more so. In the second half of the eighteenth century, according to estimates, the largest personal fortune in New Spain was a Spanish miner, Pedro Romero de Terreros-workers character who tried to kill with stones in 1766 - and that thanks to she got the title of Count of Regla. That wealth, the product of silver mining in Real del Monte, could have come to represent between 3% and 5% of GDP at the time. Today, Forbes estimated amount that Mr. Slim's wealth is equal to 6.17% of Mexican GDP, (866.300 million in 2009).
Problem .- The matter should be discussed in Mexico is not Slim's fortune for herself, but the nature of the social environment from which it sprang; an environment where the largest accumulation of personal wealth of the world coexist amid a huge mass of poor "Officially, almost half of the more than 105 million Mexicans fall into a category of poverty. But not only that but also so amazing that accumulation has occurred in an economy since the great crash of 1982 lost its vitality and has not regained. The figures suggest that Slim's wealth is growing, as already noted, at a monthly rate of over a thousand $ 500 million even though the Mexican economy shrank by 6.8% over the same period. It is true that some of their capital is already abroad, but the bulk was done here and still here.
In a now classic study, prices of maize and agricultural crises in Mexico (1969) the historian Enrique Florescano showed that precisely in periods of economic depression, when poor harvests the bulk of the colonial society was going badly, who had the capital to monopolize the grain price and control their prosperity, while causing problems for social peace. It is even possible to say that this combination of bad luck for the many periods of depression but good fortune for the very few in the same situation, was one of the causes of social resentment that finally burst in 1810.
Moreover, we must recognize that, unlike many cases of extraordinary accumulation of capital in the past or the present of our country, that of Mr. Slim has proved to be a result of actions within current legislation. Those who have dealt with "the phenomenon Slim" main explanatory variable taken as his great ability to follow the rules of the system on time and find out how to make them work to the maximum in your favor. Since the crisis of the old economic model focused on the protected market, the engineer Slim, instead of taking the capital of Mexico, as if they did many other entrepreneurs, kept him at home and dedicated it to take control of some of bankrupt companies, made them profitable and then sold them with a big gain. It was as risky as a means attached to the system rules. However, the big moment and leap the entrepreneur and his method occurred when the government of Carlos Salinas decided, as part of its "grand design" privatizing Telefonos de Mexico in December 1990. Slim and his foreign partners made a public offer, Salinas accepted and Telmex went from state to private monopoly, as its legal framework allowed for a time to set rates without facing competition. However, the possibly that Telmex was acquired at a fraction of its value -1757.6 million for something that is said, was worth around 8,500 million (Millennium, February 12, 2009) - is something that, ultimately, is accountable to the seller , not the buyer. In principle, the monopoly is over, but the fact that today the media companies hold a virtual monopoly Slim has no counterpart in other countries.
The flaw is in the system .- The policy, said Harold Lasswell in 1935, can be defined very simply: "Who gets what, how and when." The conditions of the sale of Telmex in the Mexican state is a textbook case on the deeper meaning of politics. So who would have to ask the explanation of that fact and the significance to our economy over the past twenty years, Mr. Slim is to simply followed the guidelines, but who designed the scheme: to Salinas.
The rationality of Salinas and his technocrats to deliver Telmex and other big companies like banks, private entrepreneurs, including, among others, the following items. First, give your government resources to implement the program of Solidarity, a populist nature scheme should serve to create or strengthen the social foundations of perestroika without Mexican Glaznost, ie to transform the economy according to neoliberal principles, but without democratizing politics. It also sought to create a powerful business group at Salinas tucked in the future. Moreover, the legitimacy of policy required to make clear that private enterprise was much more efficient than the state. So, with their privileged position, Telmex expanded and modernized its services significantly, which justified its privatization. Finally, he said, was necessary since the government encourage the creation of private Mexican companies large because only then could compete successfully in the brutal world of NAFTA and globalization.
.- The main result, which has many fiscal and economic effects is the existence of an economic interest group pressure and disproportionately strong, so it hardly can now be controlled by a state representative of the general course-whenever weaker. That problem is or is today the heart of Mexican politics: who gets what, how and when. It's that simple and that complex .- Mexico, Distrito Federal.
Originally Posted by Lorenzo Meyer Target="blank_"> Diario de Yucatan
ideasypalabras@prodigy.net.mx ----- *) Academic and human rights activist
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