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Bill Gates No Longer World's Richest Man

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the well-that's-so-sad dept.

alphadogg writes "Riding surging prices of his various telecom holdings, including giant mobile outfit America Movil, Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim Helu has beaten out Americans Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to become the wealthiest person on earth and nab the top spot on the 2010 Forbes list of the World's Billionaires." I'd still let the guy buy me dinner if he's ever in my town. He's probably still good for it even though he's fallen on hard times.

12 of 413 comments (clear)

  1. Wonderful news by elrous0 · · Score: 5, Insightful
    FTA:

    Indeed, last year's wealth wasteland has become a billionaire bonanza. Most of the richest people on the planet have seen their fortunes soar in the past year.

    When I'm laid off and searching garbage cans for food, it will bring me great comfort to know that at least someone is doing well.

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    1. Re:Wonderful news by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 5, Funny

      Don't worry, Saint Reagan gives you his word that it will all trickle down eventually, if only your faith is pure and your marginal tax rate low...

    2. Re:Wonderful news by Lumpy · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It should, because if everyone were poor the world would be an even nastier place.

      news flash 90% are poor. and the world IS a nasty place. because you live in a very rich country and dont see reality means you really have no idea.

      Go spend 1 week with the poor of India, or in Afganastan, China, Korea, Russia, Mongolia, or anyplace in South america or Africa. THAT is poor, and that is what most of the people on this planet live like.

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    3. Re:Wonderful news by mspohr · · Score: 5, Insightful
      And I guess that this is a good place to point out that Carlo Slim, the worlds richest man, made his money by having monopoly control of telecoms in Mexico (a poor country) and cell phones in 11 countries in Latin America (all poor). He is getting rich by collecting monopoly rents from the poor. Isn't crony capitalism wonderful?

      Just think what good could come if he was not sucking all of that money out of all of those poor economies. They might even be able to save and invest and grow their economies. Instead, Carlos uses the money to expand into banking and other areas to make even more money for himself.

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    4. Re:Wonderful news by QuantumRiff · · Score: 5, Funny

      Thats not a fair comparison, in many of the poor areas that were mentioned above (afganastan, mongolia, etc) you are much less likely to get shot.

      --

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    5. Re:Wonderful news by alexborges · · Score: 5, Informative

      Look here is the plain truth:

      Slim was rich before he bought telmex. Around 100 times poorer than he is now, but Im sure you or I could be 100 times poorer than him and still live happy and full lives for us and our descendants (we would own round 500 million bucks!). Slim bought telmex though from President Carlos Salinas (from his government, it was a state owned telephone company which sucked even more than it does now and BOY, does it SUCK NOW), for if I remember correctly round 2000 million dollars, on credit. Which is in its face ridiculous if its the local telephone monopoly of a country of a 100 million people.... and you can see it in the numbers. Telmex sold that ammount every year or two I think, even in its early stages. Right now, Slims empire is MUCH larger than that since they own the cellphone market in many, many latam countries.

      Here in Mexico EVERYONE know that its MOST probable that Salinas, the expresident, had his cut from that deal. But we also know that Slim generally has a simple profit minded stance on just about anything. At least he is not crying because gay marriage was aproved for mexico city like other conservative rich men here, at least he gives to the politicall parties and politicians only with profit in mind and not because of an ideological agenda. Belive me, entrepreneurs in Mexico are every bit as crooked when it comes to giving or taking from the government AND they tend to have a moralist agenda. Slim doesnt do that and, for that, at least I am gratefull at least until we finish fixing this fucking country for good.

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  2. So... by Swampash · · Score: 5, Interesting

    California's bankrupt and the richest man in the world is Mexican?

    Lovin' them apples.

  3. Re:Hard times? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Slim's fortune has swelled to an estimated $53.5 billion, up $18.5 billion in 12 months.

    Gates, now worth $53 billion, is ranked second in the world. He is up $13 billion from a year ago

    And now, the $0.5 million question: How much money does Gates give to charity?

    According to the Wikipedia page on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the foundation donates $1.5 billion per year. And a BusinessWeek estimate lists Gates as having donated $28.1 billion over his whole life.

  4. So, the Rich got richer this year... by tekrat · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And the poor got poorer. Nothing new to see here, move along.

    It's criminal, though isn't it? Millions of people are out of work, thousands are losing their homes, a majority of Americans have so little in savings that a single illness can put them over the edge into poverty, and yet, all these guys, despite a huge recession, saw their fortunes go UP.

    Go figure.

    --
    If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
    1. Re:So, the Rich got richer this year... by HeckRuler · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Well if you figure out how to bring yourself up without:
      -Employing people at wage-slave levels
      -Influencing markets to better suit yourself
      -Taking money from others

      Then I'm all for you. Good luck. Most rich people don't do it on their own, so they employ people to do stuff for them. Rich people didn't get rich by paying their employees. Most rich people control their market to some extent. Power is worth more then money because it can make you money. As for the last part, realize that simply receiving money from others is bringing them down. Presumably, whatever they paid you for is worth more to them then they buck they paid for it, but this whole capitalism thing is a vicious cycle of clawing your way up at the expense of others. If you're at the top, it's more then likely you're standing on someone's neck.

  5. Re:Hard times? by ShadowRangerRIT · · Score: 5, Informative

    No, you can't. That's flat out wrong. This is a common misunderstanding of the progressive tax system. Just because your maximum bracket is 35% doesn't mean you pay 35% on your entire income. You pay 35% on the income *above* the previous bracket. Anything below that line is taxed at the lower brackets. For 2009, the first $8,350 of a single person's income is taxed at 10%, then 15% for the amount between $8,351– $33,950, 25% for $33,951 – $82,250, etc. This is the case no matter how much they earn.

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  6. America is socialist by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 5, Insightful

    America does tax the the rich to support its poor, therefor it is a socialist state. Trust me, you don't want to see real capitalism. Places like Hong-Kong used to be it and it ain't pretty. Think American ghetto's are though, imagine people with actual paying jobs living in "housing" that is a shell, with inside a mesh of cages that house entire families. Yes, not dissimilar to how chickens are housed in battery farms.

    In a true capitalistic country, there is no restriction on what can be for sale. You would have legal organ harvesting, since money buys anything.

    America right now might be bad, but it could be a lot worse.

    And you can't really blame the Bill Gates of the world for it either. He got 1 vote. It is the millions of people who are just a paycheck away from complete financial ruin who vote against a system that could give them a proper safety net because they think that next paycheck will have a billion dollar amount on it, and then they would have to pay 50% taxes on it and that 500 million would mean utter ruination of their dream to one day make it rich.

    It ain't the rich who worry about taxes, if Bill Gates suddenly had to pay 80% in taxes, what would he loose? Nothing. It is the idiots who live on minimum wage who somehow capping capital gains tax is a good thing for them.

    It is the American dream vs gritty reality and reality doesn't stand a chance.

    Sweden is the almost complete opposite, there the working and middle class (the majority voter) believe that the best system for themselves is a system where you can take a year off from work, or not work at all and be supported by the state. An alien thought to most Americans, but ultimately the Swedish system can only exist because the majority votes for it.

    And the majority of American seem to want the current system.

    --

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