Investors will want to take at least a quick read through Patricia Aburdene's recently revised book Megatrends 2010: The Rise of Conscious Capitalism. Aburdene has isolated seven trends she sees will drive business and investor behavior for the near future.

1) Power of Spirituality in individual lives. People do not want their work and their personal morality to be in opposition to one another.

2) Strengthening of Conscious Capitalism that is responsible to both shareholders AND stakeholders.

3) Leading from the Middle in which middle managers acquire more voice and moral authority over business decisions.

4) Spirituality in Business leading to a wider acceptance of faith at work.

5) Values Driven Consumers who shop with their values as well as their dollars.

This article is part of a 20 article special report on "Metals, miners and money".

A highlight at the recent New Orleans Investment Conference was a speech by Frank Holmes, CEO of US Global Investors, on "mega-trends" -- with a focus on global infrastructure needs, from the U.S. to China.

Here, we offer excerpts from his speech, as well as some specific stock ideas from Frank Holmes and US Global Investors' Chief Strategist, Jack Dzierwa.

"Megatrends are usually defined by sustainable and substantial growth in capital expenditures in any country or sector. They can be created by governmental policies for infrastructure or a massive technological breakthrough.

"We isolate megatrends through a series of proprietary models, including a top down analysis of such issues as global macroeconomic theme, regional and country trends, technological trends, government policies, and currency effects. As examples of megatrends:

• 1950s -- 1960s Megatrend: Massive growth of infrastructure in the U.S. and Europe leads to post-war prosperity, creating a wealth effect and consumer culture.
• 1990s -- Present Megatrend: Moore's Law and disruptive technologies lead to massive growth in information technology and data communications.
• 2000 and beyond Megatrend: Unprecedented change in global growth driven by globalization, urbanization, and wealth creation leads to a global infrastructure boom on a massive, intractable scale.