The Way Forward

I felt for a moment that I was back in the United States yesterday. People all over the world are rejoicing at the peaceful regime change in the US, and there is a sense of optimism around the world about our country that hasn't been seen or heard in several years. Newspapers are filled with articles on the inauguration and people all over the world are musing about what Barack Obama will do in what is often regarded as the most powerful political office in the world.

Now... with any change in government come clues to where to investment.

Morality aside, under the Bush presidency, it was oil and energy stocks that did well. Military hardware providers didn't do too badly either, as did many companies that supported US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Investing in Haliburton would have been a good investment, for example. Even property and stocks in general did well except in the last year and a half of his tenure.

Now, where to invest under a Barack Obama administration? True, many industries are in jeopardy, but there are some slated to do well during his term, or terms, in office. There are clues in his inaugural address. Alternative energy providers will offer future investment oportunities. Wind, solar, and other alternative energy providers will do well. Those companies that help to upgrade America's electrical grid will be good investments. So too will technology stocks, and especially software companies whose programs will help make the health care system more efficient. Science, especially when it comes to stem cells, will open up. There is talk of building much needed infrastructure, such as bridges and highways, as was done under Roosevelt in the 1930s.

But perhaps the most important thing said in his address is an underlying promise of peace and cooperation with others, which will inevitably lead to expanded trade among the nations of the world. Wars are costly things, and if Obama can disengage our military from Iraq and eventually Afghanistan, the United States will once again become a leader among nations, rather than a nation that bullies with the use of its overwhelming military force.

I am uncertain what will happen in the coming days and months and years, and I do not see Obama or his administration as a savior with all the answers, but I will hope that this new government will bring the world's respect for the United States of America back to where it belongs. The investments that this country will make under this new president, the things of which he says we are capable, things that we had forgot that we had done as a people and a nation, and the hope President Barack Obama brings are perhaps the greatest investment that can be made to and by the American people.

(Originally published at The Creating Wealth Blog on 1/21/09)