My friend Isaac:
What is your problem? Why dont you use your time to learn about our country, which is in your dreams every night. Instead of worrying about what the peso is worth here, you should worry about what is the dollar worth to you in the crime capital of the USA. What good is your "suspected" suburban high class home in D.C. when all you dream about is DR? Why do you stay tune to this tiny little 48,000sq. kil. republic?
Hey, dont worry about me. My hope is that the dollar would go not just to $18 to $1. I hope it goes to $50 to $1. Those like me who have most of their holdings in properties are praying for money devaluation. Our properties are worth more. But what is even more important, is that the US$1000 I get every month from my private plan from Irving, Texas which covers me for life just keeps getting bigger and bigger here.
And here is the thing that will kill you with envy. I got a copy of the last U.S. Social Security statement I requested in 1990. Here are some excerpts from it:
Your Social Security Credits: To qualify for benefits, you need credit for a certain amount of work covered by Social Security. The number of credits you need will vary with the type of benefit.Under current law, you do not need more than 40 credits to be fully insured for any benefit. Our review of your earnings, including any 1989 and 1990 earnings you told us about, show that you have "at least 40 Social Security credits."
Now under the section "Estimated Benefits" here is what it says:
"If you retire at age 62, your monthly benefit in todays dollars would be about.......................................$1295"
"The earliest age at which you can receive an unreduced retirement benefit is 66 years of age. We call this your your full retirement age. If you wait until that age to receive benefits, your monthly benefit in todays dollars will be about..$1560
If I wait until 70 yrs. it will be $2095.
Now, get this. This statement was made with 1990 income, which shows in the report to be $51,300. It does not have income from 1990 to 1993 which was almost triple that amount.
Now pal, should a guy like me be worried with a future in dollars and pesos? Let me tell you, that $1295 is not too far off. Yet you look at me and I dont even look or feel 40 yrs of age. While my private plan is already sending the greenbacks, I can just sit and wait patiently for this little bag, which in Dominican pesos, exceeds what a top executive in DR gets for a full salary working full time and busting his ass, while I just sit over here watching the skies full of stars.
Worry about yourself. This Charlie boy is well taken care of by George Bush and Bill Clinton, in spite of the fact that I can take good care of myself without them. Let me know if you want a copy.
P.S.Peggy Cabral was born in Argentina. her father was Poet and writer Manuel Del Cabral, the most important writer of our time. I will be sponsoring an art exhibit on May 28, 2002 at his foundation. You are invited to meet me there. Peggy even has blue eyes.
TW
