The Midas Touch

living.boondockingmexico@yahoo.com

In the business section of today's El Norte appears an article about Carlos Slim. The headline reads, "Slim Prefers To Create Jobs Instead of Donating His Fortune". He is quoted as saying the following:


"The only way to fight poverty is by generating jobs. Billions of dollars have been donated to charities over the last 50 years and it hasn't solved anything. Donating 40% or 50% of your wealth does nothing. They say we should leave a better country for our children, but it's more important to leave better children for our country."

Don't think for a moment that Slim doesn't donate money to worthy causes. He does, he just makes sure that the money is used to actually benefit the cause. I agree with his statement above 100%. Throwing money at a problem doesn't fix a problem. Thank you Lyndon Johnson and the welfare state. One in five Americans is now receiving some type of government handout.

We need jobs, but to create those jobs Mexicans and Americans alike have to accept the fact that they won't be handed out to them. Competing in today's global economy we need education. I have a hard time trying to understand since when it was a bad thing to go to school. It's a requirement for a job without a doubt. However, education brings so much more to the table in the long run. It helps to make a person well-rounded, gives them an understanding of the complete picture of how the world turns. All that math, algebra, calculus, world history, language studies, civics and ethics plus many more subjects are what makes a human being complete. Imagine doing any job without some basic knowledge of math and science. It can be done sure, but to really understand what your purpose is becomes something else.

I think Mexicans should be proud that Carlos Slim is one of them. After all, he is the richest human being on the planet. Imagine that. Instead, some people talk him down saying he took advantage of a broken economy. Thank god for that. We can say now that Telmex provides outstanding service and at a rate much more reasonable than before Slim took over. It's that socialist cry of take from the rich and give to the poor. Fine. History repeats itself. Hugo Chavez has run his country, one of the richest in petroleum, right into the ground. His friend and cohort here in Mexico, Lopez Obrador, is doing his best to convince the people that the rich should be defeated, take away their money and give it to the poor fixing all their woes.

Thank you Mr. Midas and I hope we have more like you here in Mexico someday soon.