General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNestlé CEO Says Water Is Food That Should Be Privatized – Not A Human Right
"the extreme view is the NGOs who bang on about water being a public right..."
cali
(114,904 posts)this shit enrages me.
roguevalley
(40,656 posts)Buzz Clik
(38,437 posts)A particularly relevant comment is here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017113226#post132
Orrex
(63,084 posts)All in good time!
Buzz Clik
(38,437 posts)A better example is food. But that costs money, too.
Orrex
(63,084 posts)Still, I find the reasoning to be bullshit, but I understand the distinction.
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)moron should be rationed to the amount he would allot to the rest of the human race as a right, then have his bank account closed, and let him fend for himself as far the rest, with zero money to solve his personal water problem.
Water IS a human right and should be freely available to every human being on the planet. This kind of greedy, disgusting, 'money is more important than people' profiteer is one of the main causes of the problems we have in the world today.
Zorra
(27,670 posts)Buzz Clik
(38,437 posts)Your choice.
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)Zorra
(27,670 posts)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestl%C3%A9_Waters#Controversies
Same old global capitalist shit, different day.
To corporations, limited water supply plus growing demand for water is a recipe for huge potential profits. According to Fortune Magazine, Water will be to the 21st century what oil was to the 20th century. Corporations are tripping over themselves to stake claims of blue gold. Suez-the corporation made famous by building the Suez Canal-has become infamous for snatching up government contracts to take over municipal water systems. Nestlé is bottling water from springs and local water sources. Coke and Pepsi are bottling tap water and selling it back to the public for more than the cost of gasoline. In the United States there is growing resistance to bottled water.
Water Politics
If transnational corporations control our water, they can determine who gets it and who doesn't. Former World Bank Vice President Ismail Serageldin predicted that wars of the 21st century will be fought over water. People without access to enough potable water will be disproportionately poor. Rather than surrender to dehydration, most will drink unsafe water. And over time, millions and millions of people may succumb to diseases like cholera, typhoid fever, or dysentery.
Corporations have been meeting behind closed doors for more than a decade, vying for control of the world's water resources. Corporations such as Suez, Coke and Nestlé have lobbied officials at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to make industry-friendly water policies a condition of developing countries' debt assistance. They push trade ministers and officials at the World Trade Organization to craft industry-biased trade agreements. And most recently, in March of 2006, Coca-Cola sponsored the World Water Forum, where giant corporations met with representatives of the United Nations, governments and the World Bank, to promote profit-oriented water policies around the world. (See "The Fourth World Water Forum" for more information.)
Supplying water is already a $400 billion a year business, 30% larger than the pharmaceutical industry. Even though bottled water accounts for a fraction of the total volume of water used for consumption, sanitation, manufacturing and agriculture, bottled water corporations currently claim a lion's share of the water industry's profits. To ensure that the profits keep coming, bottled water corporations are trying to make sure that water policies around the world reflect their commercial interests.
Starry Messenger
(32,342 posts)Quantess
(27,630 posts)That is the craziest, most arrogant thing I have ever heard.
mountain grammy
(26,568 posts)All public utilities should be owned by the "free market." Read the "Shock Doctrine" and you'll get a picture of how "well" this works. Doesn't matter if this CEO is gone, the "free market" lives on and the rich get richer and the rest are rationing water.
hobbit709
(41,694 posts)Mr. Evil
(2,746 posts)And if it rains on me could I be arrested for stealing water that had soaked into my clothes? Where in the hell do these people come from?
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)Despicable man. Sorry to speak of him like that. But he does not know a human from a robot.
Greed incarnate.
cvoogt
(949 posts)He appears to be making an argument that;
a) Big companies have a role in social responsiblity
b) They must stay big in order to maintain that role
c) To stay bug they have to stay profitable
d) a primary way of staying profitable is to keep expanding into new markets / products
e) and wouldn't you know it, water is such a product, with the developing world as the market.
He made a point about putting a price on water so we all know what it is worth, which (he thinks) would help 'us' manage it better for all, including those without access to it. He never talked about how to get water to those without access to it ... he does realize the poorest among us will not be able to afford their San Pellegrino, I'm sure.
lpbk2713
(42,696 posts)The one percenters foam at the mouth when they think of the money that could be made here.
judesedit
(4,437 posts)cover their asses. Greedy bastards.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)controls the water.
We have a perpetual drought, and private individuals and companies only have rights to water use that are limited by regulation.
http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/academy/courses/wqstandards/materials/water_us_ca/ca_water_042508.pdf
California Constitution
CALIFORNIA CONSTITUTION
ARTICLE 10 WATER
SEC. 2. It is hereby declared that because of the conditions
prevailing in this State the general welfare requires that the water
resources of the State be put to beneficial use to the fullest extent
of which they are capable, and that the waste or unreasonable use or
unreasonable method of use of water be prevented, and that the
conservation of such waters is to be exercised with a view to the
reasonable and beneficial use thereof in the interest of the people
and for the public welfare. The right to water or to the use or flow
of water in or from any natural stream or water course in this State
is and shall be limited to such water as shall be reasonably required
for the beneficial use to be served, and such right does not and
shall not extend to the waste or unreasonable use or unreasonable
method of use or unreasonable method of diversion of water. Riparian rights in a stream or water course attach to, but to no more than so much of the flow thereof as may be required or used consistently with this section, for the purposes for which such lands are, or may be made adaptable, in view of such reasonable and beneficial uses; provided, however, that nothing herein contained shall be construed as depriving any riparian owner of the reasonable use of water of the stream to which the owner's land is riparian under reasonable methods of diversion and use, or as depriving any appropriator of water to which the appropriator is lawfully entitled. This section shall be self-executing, and the Legislature may also enact laws in the furtherance of the policy in this section contained.
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/waisgate?waisdocid=5577397944+1+0+0&waisaction=retrieve
judesedit
(4,437 posts)to him and his cronies.
PopeOxycontinI
(176 posts)has a vision of buying up every body of water on earth for he and his other jagoff exec pals
to use as their personal yacht club. That does seem to be what things are coming down to,
anyway. The rest of us can purchase a few drops for drinking at about $1000/cup.
They are the most disgusting vermin to ever grace this planet.