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> In a free market, the price of water rises so that there is no such thing as a "shortage." It would be uneconomical to waste water on lawns far before a signi
by BobaFloutist 1y ago
> In a free market, the price of water rises so that there is no such thing as a "shortage." It would be uneconomical to waste water on lawns far before a significant amount of additional people would be unable to buy enough to drink.
What happens when growing alfalfa makes more of a profit than individuals have, such that individuals simply cannot buy water to drink? Or what if a company comes in with sufficient capital to corner the market, then bottles and sells the water at a profit to individuals, exporting the leftover to sell to individuals in other places?
Or what if some random billionaire decides he's mad at his neighbors for voting wrong and decides to buy out all the water for a huge swimming pool that only he gets to use?
- mothballed 1y agoIt takes 100+ gallons of water to grow a pound of alfalfa. Alfalfa value top out at something like $0.50 a pound for the very best stuff. So your theory is what, that if alfalfa farmers are willing to take no profits at all they could potentially bid water up to 0.5 cents per gallon? You are so incredibly grossly underestimating the cost and impracticality of bidding water up as high as you're imagining, it is mind boggling. They can easily bid water high enough to make it commercially useless for many industries, outbidding it from access to human consumption would require mind-boggling amounts of money.
- BobaFloutist 1y agoAlfalfa was a placeholder for illustration, not the only possible concern. Do you really think there's no world where the meagre funds of individuals can't ever exceed profitable use? Not to mention you completely neglected to address my other examples.