Cuzzy Media CEO’s Blog

“On the very day Toyota was making a high-profile defense of its cars, one of them was speeding out of control,” said CBS News–and a vast number of other media outlets worldwide. The driver of a 2008 Toyota Prius, James Sikes, called 911 to say his accelerator was stuck, he was zooming faster than 90 miles per hour and absolutely couldn’t slow down.

It got far more dramatic, though. The California Highway Patrol responded and “To get the runaway car to stop, they actually had to put their patrol car in front of the Prius and step on the brakes.” During over 20 harrowing minutes, according to NBC’s report, Sikes “did everything he could to try to slow down that Prius.” Others said, “Radio traffic indicated the driver was unable to turn off the engine or shift the car into neutral.” In fact, almost none of this was true. Virtually every aspect of Sikes’s story as told to reporters makes no sense. His claim that he’d tried to yank up the accelerator could be falsified, with his help, in half a minute. And now we even have an explanation for why he’d pull such a stunt, beyond the all-American desire to have 15 minutes of fame (recall the “Balloon Boy Hoax” from October) and the aching need to be perceived as a victim.

The lack of skepticism from the beginning was stunning. I combed through haystacks of articles without producing such needles as the words “alleges” or “claims.” When Sikes said he brought his car to a Toyota ( TM - news - people ) dealer two weeks earlier, recall notice in hand, and they just turned him away, the media bought that, too. In Sikes We Trust. Then the pundits deluged us with a tsunami of an anti-Toyota sanctimony .

Toyota

Where to begin?

Well, the patrol car didn’t slow down the Prius; the bumpers never touched. The officers used a loudspeaker to tell Sikes to use the brakes and emergency brake together. He did; the car slowed to about 55 mph. Sikes turned off the engine and coasted to a halt. He stopped the car on his own.

There wasn’t anything wrong with the transmission or the Prius engine button either.

Over a 23-minute period the 911 dispatcher repeatedly pleaded with Sikes to shift into neutral. He simply refused and then essentially stopped talking to her except to say that he thought he could smell his brakes burning.

“I thought about” shifting into neutral, Sikes said at a televised press conference the day after the incident. But “I had never played with this kind of a transmission, especially when you’re driving and I was actually afraid to do that.” Sikes, who has driven the car for two years, also said “I figured if I knocked it over [the gear knob] the car might flip.”

carlos

Carlos Slim Helu thinks Latin America is poised for growth. That will be good for the poor–and for him.With more than 200 businesses, Carlos Slim Helu shapes virtually every industry under the Mexican sol. He’s got interests in telecom, retail, energy, tourism and banking.

Some folks in Mexico, where the average income is $13,200 (less than 0.0000003% of Slim’s $53.5 billion fortune), resent the mogul for being the richest man in the world. Slim has another take on commanding a staggering fortune. To him, it is a billionaire’s civic duty to leverage one’s resources into more wealth. “Wealth, either public or private, should be managed with efficiency, promoting through reinvestment economic growth,” he told Forbes Wednesday, the day our most recent list of the World’s Billionaires was released.

“Managing wealth means responsibility and commitment to create more wealth and, through more employment and the generation of tax revenues, boost the distribution of the fruits–that is, of income.”

Those fruits will likely multiply in the coming decade, as global capital continues to shift to emerging markets, particularly China and Latin America. Slim is bullish on his region, hypothesizing that the great influx in wealth will elevate Latin America, pulling more people out of poverty.

Slim’s bold prediction for the decade: “Latin America is close to breaking the underdevelopment barrier, of around $12,000 of income per capita. It seems to me that this should happen in the next 10 years.” He continues: “The developing countries in Latin America have available both internal and external financial resources, better terms of trade on their exports of primary goods and competitive advantages thanks to the availability and production of commodities, tourism and a modern industrial sector.”

Not everyone is as bullish. After several decades of tepid growth, Latin America’s economy is expected to expand between 3% and 4.5% in 2010.

The more optimistic economists, however, argue that the region’s growth will be buttressed by a multitude of factors weighing in Latin America’s favor. Unlike its more developed counterparts, the region only experienced collateral damage from the credit crunch. “Latin America has bounced back strongly,” says Jerome Booth, head of research at Ashmore Investment Management. “Latin America’s banks are already taking market share from U.S. and European competitors.” That’s more good news for Slim, who has a 55% stake in Inbursa Bank, one of Mexico’s largest financial firms.

Slim says the dichotomy between the developed and emerging worlds will be amplified in the coming years, as developed economies continue to wrestle with their “financial systems, fiscal and financial deficits and their transition to a society of advanced services in which excessive imports of goods are not compensated by other revenues and have to be financed by foreign savings.”Slim did not say which of his holdings he believes will outperform in Latin America’s emergence. But regardless of whether it’s telecom or energy that drives Slim’s portfolio to $60 billion and beyond, the Latin American growth story will present great opportunity and challenge for the world’s richest man as he navigates a rapidly changing marketplace with more sophisticated competitors.

As Nick Chamie, the global head of emerging markets research for Royal Bank of Canada, puts it, “It’s not so much how Slim affects Latin America, it’s much more about recognizing that the development of Latin American nations will have a greater affect on Carlos Slim.”

source: Forbes

For the third time in three years, the world has a new richest man.

Riding surging prices of his various telecom holdings, including giant mobile outfit America Movil ( AMX - news - people ), Mexican tycoon Carlo 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.

Slim’s fortune has swelled to an estimated $53.5 billion, up $18.5 billion in 12 months. Shares of America Movil, of which Slim owns a $23 billion stake, were up 35% in a year. That massive hoard of scratch puts him ahead of Microsoft ( MSFT - news - people ) cofounder Bill Gates, who had held the title of world’s richest 14 of the past 15 years.

Gates, now worth $53 billion, is ranked second in the world. He is up $13 billion from a year ago as shares of Microsoft rose 50% in 12 months. Gates’ holdings in his personal investment vehicle Cascade ( CAE - news - people ) also soared with the rest of the markets. Buffett’s fortune jumped $10 billion to $47 billion on rising shares of Berkshire Hathaway ( BRK - news - people ). He ranks third.

The Oracle of Omaha shrewdly invested $5 billion in Goldman Sachs ( GS - news - people ) and $3 billion in General Electric ( GE - news - people ) amid the 2008 market collapse. He also recently acquired railroad giant Burlington Northern Santa Fe ( BNI - news - people ) for $26 billion.

In his annual shareholder letter Buffett wrote, “We’ve put a lot of money to work during the chaos of the last two years. When it’s raining gold, reach for a bucket, not a thimble.”

Many plutocrats did just that. 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.

Imagine to fly on one of these creature. Have this experience this coming March 26, 2010.

Plot Summary: From the studio that brought you “Shrek,” “Madagascar” and “Kung Fu Panda” comes “How to Train Your Dragon.” Set in the mythical world of burly Vikings and wild dragons, and based on the book by Cressida Cowell, the action comedy tells the story of Hiccup, a Viking teenager who doesn’t exactly fit in with his tribe’s longstanding tradition of heroic dragon slayers. Hiccup’s world is turned upside down when he encounters a dragon that challenges he and his fellow Vikings to see the world from an entirely different point of view

One of the greatest movie this coming April 2, 2010 and lots of effects that will capture the audience

Plot Summary: In “Clash of the Titans,” the ultimate struggle for power pits men against kings and kings against gods. But the war between the gods themselves could destroy the world. Born of a god but raised as a man, Perseus (Sam Worthington) is helpless to save his family from Hades (Ralph Fiennes), vengeful god of the underworld. With nothing left to lose, Perseus volunteers to lead a dangerous mission to defeat Hades before he can seize power from Zeus (Liam Neeson) and unleash hell on earth. Leading a daring band of warriors, Perseus sets off on a perilous journey deep into forbidden worlds. Battling unholy demons and fearsome beasts, he will only survive if he can accept his power as a god, defy his fate and create his own destiny.