Now you too can be an owner of the world's water supply!

[swag]

http://view.exacttarget.com/?j=fe5f1571736005787c11&m=ff2b1776766c&ls=fe0315747c64077d77167775&jb=

Why Global Water?
There has recently been a historic increase in the public awareness of global water issues. Virtually every country in the world is faced with some combination of water quality and quantity issues that will require significant expenditures for their resolution. It is clear that not only human health, but, also, environmental protection and economic development are critically dependent upon the efficient management of this increasingly scarce resource. The water industry is poised for considerable growth as convergent technologies and institutional changes combine to address the global demand for clean water.

PowerShares Global Water Portfolio
On June 13, 2007, PowerShares listed of the PowerShares Global Water Portfolio, which seeks to capture the substantial global economic value of water that will likely be unlocked as the global population adjusts to the linkage between human health, economic development and resource sustainability.

The Palisades Global Water Index, on which the Fund is based, is comprised of global water companies that are believed to be core holdings of a diversified global water portfolio. Companies within the Index derive a majority of their revenue from water or water-related activities . . .

[Captain Angry]

1. I got into the PHO one a while back. This appears to be even more global...

Yet both PIO and PHO hold many of the same companies in their indexes.

Water is the only truly important natural resource. Others make life significantly more convenient, but none are required like water.

[Cleita]

3. Which is why no one entitity can be allowed to own one

drop of the common water sources. It has to be outlawed and made criminal worldwide.

[A HERETIC I AM]

4. What has to be outlawed? Companies that purify water? Companies that make pipe?

Companies involved in water infrastructure building? Companies that manufacture water quality monitoring equipment? Is that what you suggest outlawing?

Read through this .pdf document and do a little checking on what the companies do that are listed as "Top 30 Fund Holdings"

http://www.powershares.com/pdf/P-PIO-PC-1.pdf

It isn't as if there is a company that is damming up the Amazon and is going to charge the natives of the rain forest for a drink. As far as ownership of the "common water resources" is concerned, do you have city water or a well? Either way you have a pump, metering equipment, purifiers, pipes etc. that SOMEBODY had to manufacture.

Your concern for water resources is admirable but your apparent disdain for the idea of investing in such companies seems to be based on a lack of understanding of what this is all about.

[Cleita]

9. The practices of those companies who take over what has been a common

water supply that was formerly operated by municipalities with tax money paying for pipes and other engineering paraphernalia should be outlawed. Even the fascist commerce minded Romans didn't do that. When they built their aqueduct systems it was to transport fresh water to their citizens to use as needed. No one had to go buy it. They went to the nearest fountain to get the water they needed to live on. Tax money paid for the aqueducts. The Romans recognized the need for the availability of fresh water to prevent plague.

If you want to invest in the companies that make the pipes and other fixture to manage the water fine, but the actual collection and distribution of water belongs in the commons and should be administered and distributed as such by municipalities or other government agencies for the use of all their citizens. Yes you have to pay a small water bill for your use, but if this becomes privatized our water supply will go the way of health care with forty percent of our citizens not getting any because they can't afford it, and the rest of the citizens being gouged for whatever the traffic will bear all to post rosy Wall Street profits.

If the practices of these companies aren't outlawed

[A HERETIC I AM]

13. Fair enough. But that is not what this investment vehicle is all about.

(companies taking over facilities formerly) operated by municipalities with tax money paying for pipes and other engineering paraphernalia should

(Bold emphasis mine) Again, someone has to make the pipes, valves, water purification equipment, quality control devices, etc. I trust you are not suggesting that those companies and the people that work for them should do it for free, should they?

but the actual collection and distribution of water belongs in the commons and should be administered and distributed as such by municipalities or other government agencies for the use of all their citizens

You and i don't disagree. The point of the fund mentioned in the OP is to invest in those companies that actually make the infrastructure. Find one company in that PDF file i posted that is in the business of "Privatizing" municipal water supplies.

BTW, you might be surprised to find out how much of the US water supply is already privatized to one degree or another and has been for decades. There are many agencies out there that act as pseudo governmental but are in fact publicly traded corporate entities.

Let me say again, i sympathize with your point of view but with regards to the Exchange Traded Fund mentioned in the original post, your ire is misdirected.

[Cleita]

14. I'm not surprised by what has been already privatized but

why open the whole can of worms? Did you read my post? I said, fine invest in the companies that produce the equipment, but never should the water supply be appropriated. This can be done in many ways. One of thes is to turn the building of dams done by the Corps of Engineers to private companies who will then appropriate the water as their own. Yes, the Corps does hire contractors. I have nothing against this as long as the dam belongs to we the people in the end. This is the problem we are trying to avoid. Be careful of the intent of those you intend to invest in and find their hidden agenda. In a country where much of the natural resources has been mined, these private companies are looking for new ones. What's left is our forests and our water supply.

[A HERETIC I AM]

15. I agreed with you! We seem to be barking on either side of the same tree.

So i have a question for you. Is it your contention that the ETF mentioned in the OP (The PowerShares Global Water Portfolio) is somehow evil or up to no good and should be outlawed? Or is it your contention that ALL of the 37 companies the fund invests in should be restricted from participating their individual business and/or outlawed?

Yes, i read your post. In the post above you say "fine invest in the companies that produce the equipment". Well, that is exactly what this ETF does. Private companies have and will continue to work with governments all over the world to provide the various infrastructure required in a modern society. This is not new. What IS new is this fund simply gathering together as a portfolio, shares of publicly traded companies on the global markets (40% of which are American companies)that deal SPECIFICALLY with water management technologies and equipment, making a fund out of them and offering them to the public. This is NOT about the water supply being appropriated.

I guess i am curious exactly what your point is regarding this particular fund. There is no "can of worms" to be opened. The worms were never in the can to begin with.

[Cleita]

16. Not being of the investor class I bow to your superior knowledge

about these matters. My concern is the commons being turned over to privatization where poor people are forced to buy things as basic as water and medicine. We already have our health care coopted, our food and our living space. We can't give up our water and air, if you will, too. Don't think it couldn't happen. These companies like pollution I believe, so they can sell a pure product. I wouldn't be surprised to find oxygenated living spaces being touted for the future for a price of course. I know this is veering off topic but maybe it will explain where I'm coming from.

[Captain Angry]

8. I won't invest in the companies buying and capping wells.

I will invest in the companies building desalinization, pipelines, purifiers.

For the same reason I've invested in oil pipeline and shipping companies. "The spice must flow" as they say, and they're going to be paid by the oil companies as it happens.

[Cleita]

10. I wouldn't invest in even that.

Investing in the companies that manufacture the equipment is acceptable to me, but to invest in companies that produce the water for sale to the highest bidder is unacceptable. This should be done by municipalities or other appropriate government agencies created for that purpose for distribution to the population. If these water supplies are privatized, it means that they will soon take over any natural fresh water supplies as well, or those facilities distributing the water will fall into disrepair and the remaining population who can't afford the product those companies offer will have to resort to a questionable water supply for their needs. It's happened in other countries. We can learn from their mistakes and not repeat them.

[Matsubara]

2. "Tank Girl" Soon to be a reality!

In case you don't remember, the villain was a corporate thug who had hoarded all the water and was charging people a fortune for a drink...

[Swamp Rat]

6. "Tank Girl!!"

I loved that movie. My step-father was an extra. ;)

[icymist]

12. Wow! Tank Girl! Someone mentioned Tank Girl!

Great movie! I have a copy of that one. Think I'll watch it tonight. I always think of this movie when I see more global corporations taking away common resources from the people.

[Wiley50]

5. Paraguay, world's largest aquifer, Bushies new pig farm

We're a little behind, I think

[Swamp Rat]

7. Yep

[Cleita]

11. I hope that the native American tribe whose lands they are

trying to appropriate fight back. Some Amazon tribes are fighting back logging and mining on their ancestral lands and winning. I hope the tribe that claims the Guarandi where the Bushes are planning their latest venture fight back too. They used to be head hunters a couple of generations ago you know.

[robcon]

17. Water not different from other commodites - should be privately owned.

Like almost every other commodity, public ownership has been a bust.

[Cleita]

18. I suppose you think the fire department should be privatized?

That has worked so well in other societies where the owner of the fire department would let the owner of the house on fire burn until they agreed on a price. Also, the best telephone company I ever dealt with was a public cooperative owned by the customers of the county I lived in. The service was superb and friendly and it was cheaper, and it paid rebates. I received rebates years after I had moved. The AT&T I have now sucks and service is something you keep in your dining room. They never heard of it.

[Trajan]

19. Public Ownership has been a bust ?

Hmmmm .... How so ... explain ....