The Economy

The economy must be doing a lot better than mainstream media projects. I have received emails over the past couple days from airport parking companies, one in Seattle and one national website reservation company. Both are stating that airport parking capacity is filling up and one is actually charging a fee to make a reservation that is refundable when paying for parking to cut down on no-shows. I think this bodes well for the economy as 2005 unfolds.

Social Security Continued

I did not realize that there is a $900/mo minimum benefit. Now I can see why I have contributed the amount I have and have a pretty paltry benefit relative to what I have paid. There are too many people contributing very little and getting a large relative benefit. Perhaps the solution would be to have lower income people pay MORE in Social Security taxes so as to close the gap. That is more equitable than having higher income people pay more and have their benefits cut and/or retirement age pushed out.

Oil

Seems like everyone is an expert on oil these days. Most analysts have raised their price targets for oil to $40. Have they not noticed that it is $57? China is not the only country that is using more oil. The US is as well. We still have a congress bitterly divided over new exploration. Perhaps they wish the average US citizen to use a bicycle while fully cheering on the Chinese who are increasingly moving from bicycles to cars! Matt Simmons wrote an article in Barrons in March 1995 talking about China. Then China was consuming 3 million barrels per day, or .9 barrels per person. That rate was 1/10 of Taiwan's. If China, India and Indonesia upped their consumption to half the rate of Taiwan, the world would need another 40 million barrels per day. Fast forward to 2005. Many of the existing large oil fields are nearing a point of declining production. New discoveries are smaller fields. I refer you to Matt Simmons site: www.simmonsco-intl.com and another person's site, Kurt Wulff, www.mcdep.com

Social Security

I reviewed my work history and found that over the past 25 years, I have paid over $91,000 into SS. If I invested that money at 8%, I would have $289,000 right now. If I work another 4 years and contribute the current ($5580 per yer) amount, this would then total $371,000 in 4 years. If I quit work, and let this compound for 11 years until I am 66, it would grow to $823,000. If I then drew it down to zero over a period of 40 years, I would have a monthly benefit of $5725. You can DOUBLE these figures for the employer contribution made on my behalf over this time. Food for thought.