Consider this if you will. Fred owns a small farm. In the middle of his property he discovered he had a good source of water, water that he could use for his home and to water and care for what few animals he had on his farm.
A city dweller bought a lot of land next door to Fred and decided to build a home. The city dweller considered digging his own well but didn’t think it would look good and might be detrimental to the environment, so he worked out an agreement to buy his water from Fred.
On the other side of Fred, another buyer purchased a lot of land and built a house. This new buyer, being an acquaintance of the city dweller, also opted not to dig or drill his own well. Instead, he too bought his water from Fred.
Fred is not an idiot and soon he realized that he could sell quite a few people water and right now he still had all the water he needed for his own use. Fred continued to sell water. More people moved to the area and bought Fred’s water until one day he realized he had to stop selling water to more people because he was running out.
People demanded his water for their needs. They had lawns to water and cars to wash, as well as swimming pools to fill. As demand rose, Fred decided he had to charge more for his water. He brought in water experts who told him that he really couldn’t get anymore water by digging more wells. Fred continued to raise the price of water all the while more people moved into the area, all refusing to dig their own wells but seemingly unaffected by the rising cost of his water.
Eventually, Fred was now making $5.00 for every gallon of water he sold and his buyers were getting mad. The neighbors got together and appointed a spokesperson to go talk to Fred and demand that he dig more wells and lower his price of water. Fred said he couldn’t do that and suggested that they needed to start digging wells on their own land so that they would have water at a cheaper price and not have to be dependent on Fred for his water.
They refused claiming that they would not spoil the pristine beauty of their land and refused to have to be subjected to looking out their back window and seeing a well. Certainly this would decrease their property values and cause environmental damage that could destroy our planet.
Fred suggested that if they were not willing to dig for their own water, they would have to reduce the amount of water they used but the neighbors would have nothing to do with that. Altering their lifestyles was not an option. Most people could well afford Fred’s water. They just didn’t think it was right that Fred was making money by selling a commodity that people depended on.
Fred once again raised the price of his water. When neighbors complained again, he told them he had other neighborhoods who had discovered that they needed more water and were willing to pay a higher price. This angered Fred’s neighbors who now claimed they were entitled to Fred’s water, once again demanding he lower his price and increase production. Fred refused.
The neighborhood coalition met the following week, hired an attorney and decided they were going to sue Fred because he refused to dig more wells.
Tom Remington
