Stay One Step Ahead of the Obama Stimulus

"Yes, sir?"

"What is this mess? How tough is it to build a coat rack? Fix it!"

We just threw our coats in the corner. We've been putting them there for months. We thought nothing of it. That's just where our coats went.

That all changed one rainy day when our commander stopped by and went crazy over a few of our coats drying in the corner. I thought the reaction was a bit extreme, but I guess that's just the way things were. Anyways, how hard could it be to build something to hang our coats on?

Well…I was about to learn – the hard way. But what I learned while making this coat rack will help us make an absolute killing in infrastructure stocks over the next six months.

Time Isn't Always Money

I was a young airman at the time. I had just been in the U.S. Air Force for a couple years and had been relatively immune from the bureaucracy. I wanted to be left alone, so I pretty much did as I was told. I just counted down days until it was all over and I could access my MGI Bill for school (keep in mind, these was the pre-Obama days when paying for college was your own problem, not the government's).

I drew a rough diagram of a board with six pegs in it. It took about 30 seconds. In practically no time I was off to the Housing and Maintenance Operations Center (I forget the real name of it, I'm sure it was much longer – and therefore, important). I knew they had saws and wood there, so I figured it was a natural place to start.

I stopped in and said Colonel So-and-So (names really never mattered, but referencing someone of high rank would get you the attention) sent me over here and I need to build a coat rack and held up my scribbled design.

The contractor just laughed.

"You've got to go to this and that office (again, I'm not very good with names) to get pre-approved for a 'material adjustment to a government owned or operated structure' before coming here. See you next week."

"Thanks, but if you look at my diagram here, it's about a two-hour job. That's including time for the glue to dry."

He looked me up and down, could see that I was only about 20 years old and still quite unfamiliar with the "way things work". He just laughed a bit more.

It didn't take long for me to figure out what was so funny.

To make a long story short, a two hour job turned into a three week affair. All told, the total project probably cost $50 in raw supplies (a board, nails, and wooden dowel rod – this is government wood mind you), 13 signatures, and at least $5,000 in labor costs (writing letters of approval, filling out all the necessary forms, safety training – I was using a hammer which wasn't in my official job description so I needed "training" - etc.).

It was one of many ridiculous affairs which helped me learn first-hand how truly inefficient the government is. It will, however, help us take advantage of the coming bust in infrastructure stocks.

The Truth About "Shovel Ready"

Earlier this month, we looked at the headlong rush into infrastructure stocks .

"Obama is coming! Obama is coming!" was the rallying cry. Stimulus was the word of the day. And all things infrastructure were as hot as ever.