Quote: Harvey, I think productive farmers should have priority water rights, but since it is a limited resource that belongs to all Americans your produce should be sold exclusively in America.
Lets hope the rest of the world doesn't take that approach to everything they produce and sell to America, especially oil.
I have to agree with Harvey on this issue. If you have water rights you have them. If you don't, well, then you don't. Does it suck to run out of water? Yes. Does it suck to lose your investment in your property? yes.
I see things a little differently than others. So many look at their home as an investment. Its not. Its a place to live and raise a family if you have one. Unfortunately we have all been sold this bill of goods called the American dream where the bankers get rich by selling mortgages and the rest get hosed by buying them. It all looks great on paper when the values are going up and no one complains when they do go up in value. However where is the law that says you cant lose in real estate? 100 years ago there was no such thing as a 30 year mortgage. 5 years was about the max and people bought homes to live in, not as an investment unless they were rental properties. This isn't some fringe way of thinking either. During the bank bailouts in 2008, Geitner got on meet the press one morning and said, if the banks fail it affects all Americans because your homes automatically go to a value where someone can only buy with cash. That means a 300k home may only really be worth 30k. Common sense stuff but the media in cahoots with the banks make it sound like real estate is a no lose investment. Sadly it isn't.
Again I feel for anyone caught up in this but as the saying goes, buyer beware. If you bought property without water rights then you took your chances and lost. Call it an act of god or nature or whatever you want but the reality is you cant make it rain and deliver water where nature doesn't want it. As humans we can't just keep altering things and expect nature to cooperate. If we do things that are unsustainable then eventually we get to the point where we see the "UNSUSTAINABLE" part. Even if we create diversions to make things livable for another 10-20 years what happens then? If this drought goes on for 50-100 years then everything we do is just a waste of time and resources.
Bottom line is there is going to be fallout from this. I would rather see the farmers continue to grow crops to feed the population rather than someone get water to grow grass in the front lawn.
Of course here it wont stop raining. I haven't cut my lawn in weeks its so wet. Fortunately we haven't had much sun so it hasn't grown much anyway. I wish I could divert this rain out west :).
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