Obama’s Big Spending: Make money on the $850 Billion Stimulus
Barack Obama has released numbers that appear to be near-official for the kick off of a 2009 economic stimulus package. Rumors suggested an aid package from $600 Billion to $1 Trillion and the new president appears to be willing to spend more than the $850 Billion figure if necessary. The new package offers similarities to the Chinese economic package aimed at developing infrastructure to create jobs. The opinion of Obama’s economic team is that this new stimulus will create as many as 2.5 million jobs over the course of its two year lifetime and raise the standard of living for US citizens.
Much of the money will be dedicated to education and healthcare, two hot button issues that helped him win the election. But for the majority of the money, it will be earmarked for spending on a broad range of projects including improving roads and highways, making government buildings eco friendly and energy efficient and may even include spending in research and large scale use of green technologies.
Not included in the initial $850 Billion will be more money dedicated to food stamps, insurance and job programs. This will have to come from additional spending measures from Congress and will be released separately as needed.
For investors there is plenty of information in these two proposals to make some money. Pumping cash into infrastructure will greatly affect the price of commodities, specifically steel and aluminum which will be in demand for both the road and building improvements. Pick up on the commodities stocks now while they’re still cheap. There is little doubt that this bill will pass with ease, Obama’s new presidency has exited many and the average American is demanding more economic reforms and stimulus.
Some great names would be Alcoa and United States Steel for metals. Healthcare and education is a tough one to play in the stock market.
