The Financial Riddler - 1/1/22

Financial Knowledge Is Financial Power

Yeah. It’s 2023!

I wish to express my heartfelt hope (as King Charles would put it) to all of you, whether at home or on the space station (still channeling), that 2023 will be a safe, healthy, productive, and awesome year devoid of a 15 plus kiloton nuclear exchange and the word awesome.

But enough sentiment. It’s time, yet again, to get play The Financial Riddler, where losing is winning. Either way, you’ll learn new things about the global, our domestic, and your personal economy. And, if you know all the answers? Search for typos.

Answers appear after each question. Don’t peek! Instead, scroll slowly and stop at “And the answer is.” Then check how you did. Also, check out prior riddlers — all posted at larrykotlikoff.substack.com.

Please share The Financial Riddler with your kids and grandparents. They need time off from video gaming.

1. Which US age group is growing fastest?

   a) Under 18

   b) 18 to 44

   c) 45 to 64

   d) 65 plus

   e) 85 plus

   f) 100 plus

And the Answer is …

The answer is f. The U.S. now has 100,000 centenarians. The Census projects we’ll have 400,000 in 2050 — a larger number than the current entire population of New Orleans. As for the world, we’re looking at 4 million genuine oldsters mid-century. That’s the size of current-day Los Angeles.

2. What share of the solar energy hitting the Sahara Desert could, with suitable transmission lines, satisfy today’s global energy demand?

   a) More that 100 percent

   b) 77 percent

   c) 33 percent

   d)17 percent

   e) 8 percent

   f) 5 percent

And the Answer is …

The answer is e. This is one of the fascinating facts in Peter Fox-Penner’s recent book, Power After Carbon, which asks if and if so, how, we can quickly transition to supplying our planet’s growing energy needs without dirty energy. Look for an Economics Matters podcast with Peter