So Obama Won… What’s Next?
Filed under: Economics, Inspiration, Investing
First of all, I have to say congratulations to Barack Obama, the next President of The United States of America. He ran a great campaign and he has allowed our country to show the world that at least 52.3% of us are looking for something different than what has been happening over the last eight years with our C+ average president.
Great. Now we have a respectable leader, a fresh start, and a chance to really make a difference and create this ‘change’ that we’ve all elected Mr. Obama for. We elected him, so now it’s his responsibility to get everything done, right?
No. Fial. Also, Fail.
Warren Buffett once said, “when a management team with a reputation for brilliance tackles a business with a reputation for bad economics, it is the reputation of the business that remains intact.”
So in other words, it doesn’t matter how amazing Obama is, whether he’s Superman or not. The framework is in place and it is our job to build from that framework a beautiful… skyscraper or something. So let’s get out there and make it happen. What exactly do we need to do? I’m not sure yet. We’ll have to wait and see what this guy does in his first year in office and let’s follow his lead to see if we really can bring positive change to The United States.
Wondering where you should put your money? I’d take a look at PowerShares Wilderhill Clean Energy ETF (PBW: 9.15 -1.61%). This definitely isn’t a recommendation to buy, just want you to know that it exists. The description provided by PowerShares is this:
“The PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy Portfolio (Fund) seeks to replicate, before fees and expenses, the WilderHill Clean Energy Index, which is designed to deliver capital appreciation through the selection of companies that focus on greener and generally renewable sources of energy and technologies that facilitate cleaner energy.”
With Obama in office, I’d really like to see more people investing in companies like the ones in this index. Green energy is the only option if we plan to be on this planet for more than 150 more years. Let’s see what kind of change we can create! Good luck.
November 7th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
This post is probably the worst post ever on this site, you basically said Obama can’t fix anything and then said we need to wait and see what Obama fixes and that we need to fix things. No mention of the fact that Obama desires to up the capital gains tax, which would cause a giant selloff in an all ready weak market? No mention of his stimulus plan Obama wants for next year, a tactic used twice by that C+ average president you mentioned and a tactic we simply cannot afford to do again right now. Then followed up by a statement that we will all be dead in 150 years if we don’t invest our own private money into green energy stocks…
November 9th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
I didn’t say that Obama can’t fix anything. I said that by Obama coming into office, the framework has been placed for us to create the change that we want. I believe he will be a very big part of that. Also, why would an increased capital gains tax create a massive sell off? People already tend to hold onto their winning investments too long because of the 15% capital gains tax, so wouldn’t an increased one make people want to leave their money in even longer?
Green stocks are the future. Why not profit along with them? Maybe the fact that we will be dead in 150 years if we don’t invest in green companies is an overstatement, but wouldn’t it be nice to make money off of green companies like so many people have made millions from the oil companies? It’s all energy to me.
November 9th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
so now ou don’t think Obama can fix anything? I would give the guy more credit than that. As for Capital gains taxes, if you are being taxed at a higher rate you have less of a reason to put your money at risk in the stock market. People will see that they cannot make as much money in the stock market and put their money in safer investments as the risk would no longer pay off as much. I don’t think even Obama would argue that point. Most investments in green companies would be a very risky speculative play that oil would not continue on its current correction downward, if oil returns to anything below $50 a barrel then green energy simply doesn’t have a major place in our economy.