Somehow this can't be a good thing. Can it?
Somehow this can't be a good thing. Can it?
I dont really see an upside...
Welcome to the dystopian nightmare future.
I dont like it.
A fortune 500 company I know stated that the future money is in Water Scarcity and that that was their big growth market. They were busy buying up water rights to be traded and sold. I didn't like it much when it was just a thought they had. Now that's it's real I like it less.
The only thing that comes to mind.....
Is desalination the bitcoin mining of the future?
(Sorry, 2020 has cranked up my sarcasm a few dozen notches)
-Rob
Nothing like the monitation to create value and control of something that should be a basic human right.
My initial response, Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Nestle were just named the three biggest plastic polluters in the world, they're also the three largest producers of bottled water. Sue them into oblivion for environmental damages the same way that oil companies and refineries face penalties for environmental actions. Sink this ship before it leaves port.
All I'm thinking of is Tank Girl.
In reply to Toyman01 (Moderately Supportive Dude) :
If so, water rich states like Minnesota with it's 15,000 lakes and the origins of three major water systems.
The Mississippi, Red River of the North, and Headwaters of the Great Lakes makes us potential Millionaires.
gearheadmb said:I dont like it.
We are used to getting free clean fresh water from the tap. Now that we are getting water bills did you think this could be far off?
Read a sci-fi book called "The Water Knife." Not a great book overall but it paints a great picture of where this specific choice could lead.
honestly, I mentioned looking at job postings for Colorado in Keith's thread about the XJ, but having read that book I'll never move anywhere that's already dry. With the continuing shift in climate those areas will become harder and harder to keep up in the future. Add in something like profiteering on water rights and you have a nightmare scenario.
captdownshift (Forum Supporter) said:Nothing like the monitation to create value and control of something that should be a basic human right.
My initial response, Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Nestle were just named the three biggest plastic polluters in the world, they're also the three largest producers of bottled water. Sue them into oblivion for environmental damages the same way that oil companies and refineries face penalties for environmental actions. Sink this ship before it leaves port.
This is the result of too low of taxes. Water is a resource we always expected to be readily available. California spent a lot of tax money to bring the water surplus from Northern California to Southern California. Along the way a lot of farmers got rich tapping into that water supply and like everything else someone wants to make more money.
Surest way to make money is to privatize a required commodity.
Seems that Michael Bury has made water one of his few investments after shorting the housing market back before the crisis.
If we are going to keep making people against all odds and sense, then yeah, clean water is about to become worth its weight in gold.
Sitting on the shores of the great lakes the whole idea seems silly, but when you consider that it is illegal to have a rain barrel in Colorado because the water "belongs" to California, then you see how serious this gets. Nestle is positioned to be a huge player in this market already with the amount of water they pull out of the lakes, All it will take is one crazy politician to declare a pipeline from the great lakes to California and the game will be on.
There is an upside to global warming; it is the worlds best desalination machine as it evaporates more water out of the ocean. We just need to learn how to harvest it as it comes down in the form of hurricanes and monsoons.
frenchyd said:In reply to Toyman01 (Moderately Supportive Dude) :
If so, water rich states like Minnesota with it's 15,000 lakes and the origins of three major water systems.
The Mississippi, Red River of the North, and Headwaters of the Great Lakes makes us potential Millionaires.
No, frenchy, it won't make you a millionaire. It will turn billionaires into bigger billionaires, you will be just as berkeleyed as rest of the us. You honestly think the people on wall st that are claiming the right to own our water supply are going to let you peasants cash in on this?
Well everybody thought I was crazy 10 years ago when I was making a big deal about a handful of families and companies buying up aquifers around the world. So I can't really say I'm surprised.
gearheadmb said:frenchyd said:In reply to Toyman01 (Moderately Supportive Dude) :
If so, water rich states like Minnesota with it's 15,000 lakes and the origins of three major water systems.
The Mississippi, Red River of the North, and Headwaters of the Great Lakes makes us potential Millionaires.
No, frenchy, it won't make you a millionaire. It will turn billionaires into bigger billionaires, you will be just as berkeleyed as rest of the us. You honestly think the people on wall st that are claiming the right to own our water supply are going to let you peasants cash in on this?
And another thing, let's say they did let you in on the racket. Would you be happy then? Does this seem right to you? Is it okay as long as you're making a profit on the deal?
I wonder if your house on the lake will be less valuable when it's a house on Nestle pumping station #4?
I get it. Ever been to Yuma, AZ? In the area of the old Territorial Prison the Colorado River drifts by, Yuma used to be a major seaport? I'm old and fat, but could jump over that ditch. A park ranger at the Hoover Dam told me that if we stopped taking water out of Lake Mead right now, it would take 7 years to fill back to its normal level. The white area below used to be underwater.
I get it. Why is cocaine expensive and limestone cheap?
gearheadmb said:frenchyd said:In reply to Toyman01 (Moderately Supportive Dude) :
If so, water rich states like Minnesota with it's 15,000 lakes and the origins of three major water systems.
The Mississippi, Red River of the North, and Headwaters of the Great Lakes makes us potential Millionaires.
No, frenchy, it won't make you a millionaire. It will turn billionaires into bigger billionaires, you will be just as berkeleyed as rest of the us. You honestly think the people on wall st that are claiming the right to own our water supply are going to let you peasants cash in on this?
Ding ding ding.
I wont' go any further because this topic has a high probability for flounder.
"oohh look, Mini Truckin' magazine....."
I don't see anyway this is a good thing and anything I saw beyond that is probably going to be flounder territory.
Water is about to be traded like oil???
E36 M3! Canada is about to be invaded so that the US can bring us democracy!!!
I'm out!
If you live in the Southwest, you're already used to this idea. Water is life. We watch the amount of snow in the mountains over the winter not because of what it means for the skiiers, but because that's our water for the year. There are all sorts of treaties in places to determine how the water coming out of the mountains gets allocated and how much we have to leave in the river so others can use it. When you buy a house in many areas, it comes with water rights and those shares have a real value. So it's not surprised that something with value ends up getting traded. At least you can drink water, can't do that with gold.
My in-laws have a constant battle with a subdivision that abuts their farm because the subdivision does not understand that they cannot just take all the water they want for watering lawns, and that it's needed for the crops on the farm. Like, people tearing out concrete headgates.
Some people still don't get it. Our house isn't just xeriscaped, our neighborhood is almost completely wild native plants. But the house next door sold to a couple from out of town, so they had a bunch of full size blue spruce planted and are watering almost constantly to try to keep them alive. It's not working. Work with the local environment and microclimate, not against it.
Rain barrels are legal for residences in CO now :)
The next growth industry could be building water shed on tribal lands. They have the casinos built, now they just need to build the lakes.
I'm trying to think of benefits to this. It is tough, and the cons far outweigh the pros. But in any case, I come up with 2.
In any case, I'm happy I live near Lake Michigan.
mtn (Forum Supporter) said:In any case, I'm happy I live near Lake Michigan.
Which has had really high levels for the past couple of years, too!
This place may be a frozen hellscape for a third of the year, but damn if we don't have plenty of water.
Yeah I guess I don't see the issue with trading water futures. Honestly I'm sort of surprised this didn't exist before.
Do we all have a good idea of what a future actually is? It is simply a contract to transact on an asset on a set date in the future at a set price. Water is already an asset, and it is already bought and sold. So what does having a futures market actually change? It's just more betting, and with betting the house always wins. If you don't want to lose, don't bet.
So, please someone explain to me the logic why this is so awful?
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