The patronage of Carlos Slim

Fri, 05/29/2009 - 07:19 EDT story from Tyler Cowen  in
 

This Carlos Slim profile (so far the link is subscriber only), from the June 1 issue of The New Yorker, is fascinating throughout.  Here was my favorite bit:Slim had already founded several charitable organizations, although he admitted to me: "I don't believe in charities too much...They can make you popular...but you don't solve any problems."  Aside from his art museum, he has created the Telmex Foundation and the Carlos Slim Foundation, which have rather diffuse mandates.  Through the Telmex Foundation, he has provided a hundred thousand computers to public schools, nearly two hundred thousands scholarships, seventy-eight thousand pairs of eyeglasses, and two hundred thousand bicycles, and has paid for nearly four hundred thousand surgeries; he also supports more than a hundred thousand soccer teams.And people wonder why he wishes to finance The New York Times.  He says he does read the paper, but only when he's in the USA.

Related

  • Annualized interest rates of two hundred percent a year?

    I read someone, somewhere arguing that Elizabeth Warren was the nominee to shut them down.  I am curious about the modern liberal take on autonomy and credit.  Let's say that two gay men, of unknown health status, want to have informed, consensual, unprotected sex.  Should the law prohibit this?  I believe the answer is no.  Furthermore it is not just a matter of enforcement difficulty, it is a question of autonomy.  If you don't think so, modify the example so that two heterosexual people want to have consensual but unprot

  • Carlos Slim Denies Rumors

    A person close to Carlos Slim says the billionaire is not upping his stake in The New York Times and

  • Worry less about releasing terrorists

    The total population of terrorists ebbs and flows all the time.  When the number goes up by one hundred, no one much notices.  If the number goes up by one hundred because we release some previously identified terrorists, there is or will be a public outcry.  But it's the same consequence.Fewer terrorists are better than more terrorists, to be sure.  But a terrorist we release is not obviously worse than a terrorist who was free in the first place.

  • How short a time horizon is needed to motivate catch-up growth?

    A few centuries ago, the ratio between the per capita income of the richest country and poorest country was maybe five to one.  Today it is maybe one hundred to one.

  • Reports: Carlos Slim may boost stake in NY Times (AP)

    The New York Times Co. is in talks with billionaire Carlos Slim Helu about a possible investment of hundreds of millions of dollars that could help the newspaper publisher to meet debt payments, according to a Wall Street Journal report citing anonymous sources Saturday.

  • Reports: Carlos Slim may boost stake in NY Times

    NEW YORK (AP) -- The New York Times Co. is in talks with billionaire Carlos Slim Helu about a possible investment of hundreds of millions of dollars that could help the newspaper publisher to meet debt payments, according to a Wall Street Journal report citing anonymous sources Saturday....

  • Why does the music from Cape Verde sound so sad?

    Might one reason be recurring famine?:

  • Mexican billionaire Slim merges his three telecoms

    Mexican multi-billionaire Carlos Slim has received authorization to merge his telecom companies, America Movil, Telemex and Telemex International, the Federal Competition Commission (CFC) said.In the merger, America Movil will buy up 71.5 percent of Mexican Telephone (Telmex) shares and up to 100 percent of Telmex International, the CFC said.The consolidation, it added, "does not alter the market structure they participate in... (nor) competition conditions " in Mexico, since the companies belonged to the same economic group before the restructure.

  • Carlos Slim Consolidates His Assets

    Carlos Slim's proposed consolidation of his telecom assets puts him in a better position to become t

  • New York Times Co. shares higher on Slim rumors

    Shares in The New York Times Co. soared on Wednesday on a resurgence of rumors that Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim may increase his holdings in the newspaper giant.Times Co. shares gained 7.99 percent in heavy trading to close at 8.38 dollars on Wall Street."The rumors are that (Slim) will take a bigger stake," said Gregori Volokhine of Meeschaert New York.Slim extended a 250-million-dollar loan to the Times Co. in January last year and owns slightly less than seven percent of the Class A shares in the company.

 
S&P 500: 1104.18 0.48% |FTSE: 5494.16 1.17% |Nikk.: 9279.81 1.95% |DAX: 6221.52 0.92% |HSI: 21176.051 0.04% |
FX: EUR/GBP: 1.2169 | USD/EUR: 1.2654 | JPY/USD: 84.225 | Commodities: Gold: 1245.55 | Crude - CLH09.NYM: 0.00 |