Resources

Let me address a topic I do not believe I have ever touched upon but that I do like to follow, and that is resources, as in the stuff we use. This includes fuels, metals, precious gems and pretty much anything you can dig up, pump up or shovel up. China has over the past decade been on a rampage buying all this stuff up. Indeed they have at least at the moment cornered the market on rare Earth metals (which are not so rare but difficult to process - and it takes many years to build the infrastructure to process them). We cannot compete with China but there are some investments we can still capitalize upon. Let me give a few options for you to chew upon:

• renewable energy is all the rage but most, if not all, cannot presently economically compete with oil. This will eventually change and the range of estimates on oil supplies is all across the board. Yet investing in some alternative energy areas can make money in the long term. Research it and pick your own entry point. I personally believe algae has the most promise. Yet there still needs to be a lot of research to make it work.
• Biofuels are another topic related to the last. A lot of issues were created when we tried to use crop land needed for food to make fuels. Food needs will win out in time so it is better to focus on biofuels that can be made without using crop acreage, crop water or crop fertilizer. By the way, algae meets these requirements
• Crops, by the way, are a very very important resource. Right now they are mostly grown with a host of fertilizers and water that is needed for other purposes. Thus, this week's multi-billion dollar bid for Potash. But there is so far you can go with fertilizer and water. Both are limited resources. In time we need to grow crops and feed an increasing population without them. And that will be difficult.

Disclosure: I have a few thousand, much less than I initially invested, in Valcent Technologies. It was in the algae field but has not done anything there for a while. It is more into hydroponic crops in vertical systems that use less water, fertilizer and the like. The crops can also be grown in urban areas, saving fuel. I have money in them because I believe in the idea but it could clearly be decades before it becomes popular.