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Sunday, March 21, 2010

I Am Richer Than Carlos Slim

I recently took a group of boy scouts on a tour of a company that makes armored cars for extremely well-healed clients in need of protection from thugs, kidnappers, and extortionists. They start with brand new $110,000 Mercedes cars and add ballistic steel, cloth and glass to bring the car to a B-6 European protection rating. The glass is really laminated glass and polycarbonate 30 millimeters thick. The cost of the alterations nearly doubles the price of the car – around $200,000.

The company manager explained that most of the cars are sold to clients in Latin America, Europe, and Africa. Also, the company has to obtain US State Department export permits for their cars, in an effort to prevent the “bad guys” from obtaining them.

As a mechanical engineer, I found the tour fascinating and I even daydreamed of working there – that’s a favorite pastime of mine – imagining what it would be like to work in different careers. Then, it occurred to me that I am far wealthier than someone like Carlos Slim Helu, who was recently reported by Forbes to be the richest person in the world. See http://www.forbes.com/lists/2010/10/billionaires-2010_Carlos-Slim-Helu-family_WYDJ.html

I can walk out my front door and around the block. I can go to Wal-Mart. I can go just about anywhere I want in the world and not have to worry about armored cars and bodyguards. That is not something that Carlos Slim can do, even if he wanted to.

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