During the second presidential debate, Obama and John McCain were asked to prioritize what they would do in their first 100 days of office.

“Energy, we have to deal with today… That’s why I’ve called for an investment of $15 billion a year over 10 years,” Obama said, “So, that would be priority number one.”

Green energy technology is something we’ve discussed time and time again. But, instead of simply waiting for green energy breakthroughs, we should prepare for them…

You can’t have cars without steel, water without wells, or crops without seed. So, how can you have an energy revolution without energy infrastructure? Infrastructure is truly “Priority No. 1” in the Obama administration. Without it, we can’t have energy reform.

But, infrastructure goes much further than just energy. As Obama himself recognized, “[We must] put people back to work rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges, modernizing schools that are failing our children, and building wind farms and solar panels…” These are all included in infrastructure.

That’s why we found a crucial player involved in many infrastructure fields. This company’s products are essential to everyone who’s ever used a road or turn on a light switch. Now, you can buy it for cheap…

The National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank

President-elect Obama is not exactly wet-behind-the-ears when it comes to infrastructure. He co-sponsored a bill in 2007 that could change the entire infrastructure industry.

In the National Infrastructure Bank Act of 2007, Chuck Hagel and Chris Dodd put aside their party differences and attempted to address the most important problem in infrastructure — funding.

The bill calls for an establishment of a trust of federal money to be used on infrastructure. Everything from roads to wastewater plants would fall under this category. The one caveat is private spending. The bank would maximize return by working with private investment firms to co-fund projects. All money borrowed would be paid back with interest, just like a regular bank loan. The only difference is it can only be spent on infrastructure…

The credit crunch has taken an enormous toll on spending. Without money floating between lenders and borrowers, many projects are put on the back burner. The new bank is expected to open up with $60 billion in its reserves and plans to spend aggressively. You can count on private borrowers lining up to start new projects with that cash.

The arrangement of this bank also depoliticizes infrastructure. Since most projects are necessary expenditures, politicians shouldn’t be involved. Unfortunately, infrastructure spending is political. Congressmen fight tooth and nail about which projects are funded until Congress adjourns and nothing is agreed upon. This new bank will fix that problem.

The National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank will be a separate entity from the government. It will be made up of a five-member Board of Directors, modeled after the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC). This Board will make decisions on where to spend the trust money… not politicians.

Obama co-sponsored the bill when it was first drafted, and because the wheels fell off it in committee, he plans to reintroduce it as part of his “first priority” energy plan. This new bank will help kick start the hundreds of thousands of projects that were delayed or scrapped because of funding.

In the next week, we’ll be presenting the absolute best investment idea for Obama’s first 10 days in office to our Penny Stock Fortunes readers. This small cap has a minimum upside of 205%, but we expect somewhere between 261% and 711% gains. You can sign up for Penny Stock Fortunes and get in early enough to see these potential gains.

Sincerely,

Jim Nelson

December 10, 2008

Top Infrastructure Penny Stock for 2009 was originally featured in the Penny Sleuth.