Last Word

Here's me on Forbes and Mexico, for the last time: 

The news about the Sinaloa kingpin's appearance in the rankings first hit the airwaves in Mexico on March 11. In response, Mexicans eagerly attacked the magazine’s laughable accounting. According to Forbes, because Chapo is responsible for a large chunk of the US$18 to $39 billion Mexican drug gangs laundered last year, it was deemed “enough for him to have pocketed $1 billion over his career and earn a spot on the billionaires list for the first time.”

Ignore, if you are able, the triumphal tone, and take a moment to consider the stupidity of this method. Or, if you prefer, imagine its baseball equivalent:

We don’t know how many hits Ryan Howard had last year, but we know that there were a lot of at-bats by Phillies players last year, and he played in a lot of games and he’s damn good, so we will conclude that Howard had 278 hits. Congrats Ryan, you’re a record-holder!

Bill James would maim the man spouting such silliness.