Indeed, T2H
It could even be something as simple as those who depend and work the supply decide upon the means of distribution. Possibly as a 'third alternative', i.e. local ownership. Plus those dumping waste in it would hold themselves accountable for the quality of the water based purely on the fact that it would be they who drink from it. Perhaps the problem lies in the fact that our economy is a dissipative system - that is, it's almost like 'fire and forget'. Produce waste, dump it somewhere not on your doorstep, go make some more waste.
All the best,
Luke
This question used to confuse me: its the Krugman thesis - "we owe the debt to ourselves, so it doesn't matter."
This is accurate if you lump everyone into one pile. But zoom in. Who owns the debt? Who gets those interest payments? Poor people? Middle class? No. These are the people who owe the debt.
Largely, its the rich - and the pension plans - who own the debt. The rest of us owe it.
CHS had a nice graphic on this - perhaps he could be persuaded to cough it up.
So next time you hear Krugman talking about "we owe the debt to ourselves", ask yourself, are you a member of the group "we", or are you a member of the group "ourselves"?
Those who are in "we" are in debt slavery to "ourselves."
And just from the standpoint of "ability to consume", the more debt "we" owe, the less discretionary income "we" will have. Add to that the steady reduction of the wage percentage of GDP over the last 15 years, as well as a declining employment-participation ration, and you've got increasing debt burden, and a rapidly declining effective income.
But that's just for the unfortunates in the "we" group. The "ourselves" gang are doing great.
And this guy won a Nobel.
