New number 1

I had it already planned some time ago to write about Carlos Slim Helú as the second richest man on earth and - Mexican. Now things have changed a bit - on the current Forbes list he is first - so it's definitely time to write about him. Ok, just in brief;-)

Carlos Slim studied construction engineering in Mexico City which he finished in 1961. He taught algebra and linear programming at his university before the end of his studies. He is famous for his memory of numbers and his legendary presentation during the general assembly of his company. He presented the annual statement by heart with only a slight error in his calculation.

He made his money with the privatization of the Mexican phone company Telmex. Later he acquired more companies in Latin America and Telmex became the biggest private company in South America.

A lot of people say that corruption was involved before the privatization of Telmex. Now Carlos Slim Helú also has a great political influence; logical concerning his money and the situation in Mexico.

Well, I find it very amazing that the richest man lives in a country with so many poor people (I mean really poor people). I guess that's somehow typical for Mexico. Concerning the society but also as a country of great differences...

Tortilla crisis

I promised to keep writing about up-to-date Mexican topics. Yesterday there was something quite striking on the news. Some call it a didactic play of free trade...

When Mexico jointed the NAFTA, many Mexican farmers couldn't compete with US maize prices any more because US maize is highly subsidised. Therefore, Mexico now very much depends on maize from their northern neighbour. However, the USA started to produce grain-based fuel ethanol and prices are rising with the higher demand. Many Mexicans can hardly pay the basis for their traditional food: the tortillas. It's quite a problem for the new president Felipe Calderón.

Here are some links to the article in The Telegraph and a comment on truthabouttrade.org.