Monday, April 22, 2013

When Big Money Flows from Taps

 you will be extremely rich
 because we do have a serious water problem
 in many parts of the world
 like India, China, the southwestern part of the U.S.,
 and west of the Red Sea."

                                                    Jim Rogers, 18 April, 2013

Jim Rogers knows what he's talking about.  India's economy and its people are fast running out of water and much of what does remain is too contaminated, not just for human consumption but for agriculture and even industry.

India has 18 per cent of the world's population but barely 4 per cent of the world's water supply.   India is already the most water-stressed country of the G20 and it shares a border with another enormous, water-stressed country, China.  Both are dependent on rivers fed from the Himalayan watershed and both of them maintain disputed claims to that region.  Just this past weekend a force of Chinese soldiers marched ten kilometres into Indian territory and set up camp.  Both sides actively patrol the line of demarcation even to the point of having patrols shadowing the other side's patrols.

India's usable water is apportioned 80 per cent to agriculture with just 10 per cent available to industry.  It is estimated that, by 2030, Indian demand for clean water will exceed supply by 50 per cent.

It's a situation perfect for the form of disaster capitalism practised by the world's Water Barons - firms like Nestle, Vivendi and people like Jim Rogers.

Jim Rogers, the investor who foresaw the start of a commodity rally in 1999, said he is “extremely optimistic” about investing in water amid scarce supply in countries from India to the U.S.

“If you can find ways to invest in water, you will be extremely rich because we do have a serious water problem in many parts of the world like India, China, the southwestern part of the U.S., and west of the Red Sea,” Rogers, chairman of Rogers Holdings, told reporters in Singapore on April 15.

Shares of water-treatment companies are beating those of gold and oil explorers as governments from China to India boost spending on basic infrastructure to avert shortages threatening economic growth and political stability.

The S&P Global Water Index (SPGTAQD) of 50 companies has surged 162 percent since Nov. 30, 2001, when Bloomberg began compiling the measure. In comparison, the S&P Global Oil Index (SPGOGUP) has risen 137 percent in the same period and the S&P/TSX Global Gold Sector Index (SPTSGD) has climbed about 40 percent.

Unfortunately experience has shown that when the private sector transforms water into a commodity, money talks.  The weakest and the poorest become vulnerable to high prices and market fluctuations.

And if you want an idea of what the titans of the world water cartel really think, the CEO of Nestle lays it out in very chilling terms.  To him the notion of water as a human right is NGO extremism.  Water is a "foodstuff" and his company intends to own it.



What is often overlooked is that these Water Barons are careful to say that they're really just wanting to manage national water assets yet once they're in place their management takes on all the characteristics of ownership and they act accordingly.

h/t Edstock/TheGalloping Beaver

6 comments:

Anyong said...

And not only that...if all company water production is automated with robots as is Japan and evey other company does the same including food production and no one is employed how will people pay for water? Yup...continue with this kind of business, CEO's ought not to be surprised when people begin to rebell against them and their companies. This man in this video is a very stupid man in the long run.

Purple library guy said...

This is one area where I'm oddly optimistic.
Not optimistic that India for instance won't run out of water--that's going to be a seriously bad show and the Indians are going to be really wishing they'd worked on population control.

No, I'm optimistic that privatizing water will prove a bridge too far for the Nestle-type bastards. When it comes to breaking camels' backs, water isn't a straw so much as a redwood trunk. If they push it too hard, India could go Bolivian.

The Mound of Sound said...

Unfortunately, Anyong, he's not a stupid man. They've been working for years to corner the water markets around the world.

I just hope PLG's take is right. The South American experience gives hope that peasant rebellions can force governments to rid their country of water vulture capitalists.

Whether that will have much hope in a country faced with as much corruption as India is far from clear. China is somewhat better off but not much.

Owen Gray said...

In a world where everything is monetized, nothing is free.

Anyong said...

MOS...he is a stupid man to think he can drink his money...sarcasm intended.

Purple library guy said...

Well, could be a patchwork, especially in India. India is far less stable and monolithic than it often seems from outside. There are violent Communist insurgencies of multiple flavours going in more than one Indian state, and state governments range in ideology from vicious neoliberal to vicious Hindu supremacist neoliberal to wimpy social democrat to, in Kerala, quite tough social democrat (I think the Kerala state govt call themselves Communists, but they're social democrats).
So there could be a wide range of results, which in some states could even potentially include "All the peasants join the Commie revolutionaries".