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What Drought? Nestle Pays Only $524 To Extract 27,000,000 Gallons Of California Drinking Water

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Submitted by Claire Bernish via TheAntiMedia.org,

Nestle has found itself more and more frequently in the glare of the California drought-shame spotlight than it would arguably care to be — though not frequently enough, apparently, for the megacorporation to have spontaneously sprouted a conscience.

Drought-shaming worked sufficiently enough for Starbucks to stop bottling water in the now-arid state entirely, uprooting its operations all the way to Pennsylvania. But Nestle simply shrugged off public outrage and then upped the ante by increasing its draw from natural springs — most notoriously in the San Bernardino National Forest — with an absurdly expired permit.

Because profit, of course. Or, perhaps more befittingly, theft. But you get the idea.

Nestle has somehow managed the most sweetheart of deals for its Arrowhead 100% Mountain Spring Water, which is ostensibly sourced from Arrowhead Springs — and which also happens to be located on public land in a national forest.

In 2013, the company drew 27 million gallons of water from 12 springs in Strawberry Canyon for the brand — apparently by employing rather impressive legerdemain — considering the permit to do so expired in 1988.

But, as Nestle will tell you, that really isn’t cause for concern since it swears it is a good steward of the land and, after all, that expired permit’s annual fee has been diligently and faithfully paid in full — all $524 of it.

And that isn’t the only water it collects. Another 51 million gallons of groundwater were drawn from the area by Nestle that same year.

There is another site the company drains for profit while California’s historic drought rages on: Deer Canyon. Last year, Nestle drew 76 million gallons from the springs in that location, which is a sizable increase over 2013’s 56 million-gallon draw — and under circumstances just as questionable as water collection at Arrowhead.

This extensive collection of water is undoubtedly having detrimental effects on the ecosystem and its numerous endangered and threatened species, though impact studies aren’t available because they were mysteriously stopped before ever getting underway.

In fact, the review process necessary to renew Nestle’s antiquated permit met a similarly enigmatic termination: once planning stages made apparent the hefty price tag and complicated steps said review would entail, the review was simply dropped. Completely. Without any new stipulations or stricter regulations added to the expired permit that Nestle was ostensibly following anyway — though, obviously, that remains an open question.

In 2014, Nestle used roughly 705 million gallons of water in its operations in California, according to natural resource manager Larry Lawrence. That’s 2,164 acre-feet of water — enough to “irrigate 700 acres of farmland” or “fill 1,068 Olympic-sized swimming pools,” as Ian James pointed out in The Desert Sun.

Though there is no way to verify exactly how much Nestle must spend to produce a single bottle of Arrowhead spring water, the astronomical profit is undeniable fact: the most popular size of a bottle of Arrowhead 100% Mountain Spring Water (1 liter) retails for 89¢ — putting the potential profit for Nestle in the tens of billions.

Activists have called for a boycott of Nestle Waters and all Nestle products until they are held accountable for their actions in California.

There is much more to be revealed in future articles as the investigation into Nestle’s reckless profit-seeking during California’s unprecedented drought continues.

 

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Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:23 | 6451091 Big Corked Boots
Big Corked Boots's picture

This is the company whos CEO stated that humans do not have a right to water. Nice.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:26 | 6451099 Pool Shark
Pool Shark's picture

 

 

Well, not know that he's bought it all...

 

BTW, why doesn;t anyone talk about the BIGGEST user of water in SoCal?

 

Budweiser

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:27 | 6451102 Manthong
Manthong's picture

A bunch of people at Nestle and state government should be hung..


or drowned.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:29 | 6451107 Latina Lover
Latina Lover's picture

Or have their bank accounts checked for unusual deposits, plus a lifestyle audit.  I'll bet more than a few have been bribed.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:30 | 6451114 Pool Shark
Pool Shark's picture

 

 

Of coourse, nobody complains about the BIGGEST water user in SoCal:

 

Budweiser

http://www.myfoxla.com/story/29448161/drought-watch-hey-bud-this-waters-for-you

 

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:35 | 6451134 gonetogalt
gonetogalt's picture

Just a drop in the bucket.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:51 | 6451222 Dutti
Dutti's picture

Nestle is obviously in the bottled water business on the whole planet with this kind of model. Did Jeb Bush also give them a license in Florida for a million $ "consulting" job?

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 10:39 | 6451410 Majestic12
Majestic12's picture

"Nestle Pays Only $524"

Like that is the whole story??? 

What about the pig-fucking, pedophile trannies in the Cal Legislature, and the Sacrmento Water District that are now all driving Spykers and pissing payola down a rat hole?

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 11:32 | 6451664 MalteseFalcon
MalteseFalcon's picture

Nestle owns virtually every single brand of bottled water, so you don't have to be in Cali to join in on the fun.

Budweiser is Belgian beer.  I have plenty of local, American options that taste better.

Sat, 08/22/2015 - 07:32 | 6454970 dynomutt
dynomutt's picture

I'd suggest Czeching your references if you think Budweiser is a Belgian beer.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 11:32 | 6451665 Transformer
Transformer's picture

Sorry to throw in a little logic here, but it's not like the Nestle water is being wasted.  After all, it's being sold to people to drink.  If they didn't drink this water, then they would find some other source.  I agree about the expired permit and the price for it, but this article seems like a hit piece.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 11:39 | 6451704 MalteseFalcon
MalteseFalcon's picture

How about the state taps the water and consumers avoid the mark up.  Or farmers tap the water and food is less expensive?  Or Nestle pays for the real value of the water?

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 12:04 | 6451842 Socratic Dog
Socratic Dog's picture

Point is that if CA has water to give away to Nestle, it obviously doesn't have a drought.

Or could it be there's a little mismanagement and corruption involved, courtesy of the staggering profits involved?

Ropes and lamposts.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:35 | 6451135 TeamDepends
TeamDepends's picture

It's easy folks, don't purchase Bud, Nestle, Kraft, etc. etc. etc., products. Then we must prosecute for crimes like this.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 11:40 | 6451712 MalteseFalcon
MalteseFalcon's picture

Why buy any corporate-GMO-food?  Local organic food costs more, but the extra money is an effective political statement and might just save this country.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:29 | 6451108 PhilB
PhilB's picture

All very sickening...capitalism and cronyism at their extremes. 

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 10:01 | 6451258 Sudden Debt
Sudden Debt's picture

I'm pretty sure they invested a few thousand to bribe their governor and that money when straight back to the people!

Governor => Hookers & coke dealers => Police bribes => dognut shops => pays for minimum wage of the baboon behind the counter.

It's all trickle down economics if you look at it and that's how America works!

 

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:29 | 6451110 Santini Air
Santini Air's picture

The only need virtual people have for water is running their CPU/GPU liquid cooling systems...

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:36 | 6451143 ToSoft4Truth
ToSoft4Truth's picture

Water cooled grow lights too....

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:37 | 6451115 knukles
knukles's picture

Welcome to the Hotel California.  Sacramento is Bought and Paid for by Big Business.  The Pols talk all day about fairness, diversity and equability, stewardship of resources, etc., and in the end, the average citizen (like the Knuks) gets fucked over and taxes raised for poorer service while Big Business prospers at my expense.
They're talking about a wealth tax as well as an additional 12 cents a gallon gas tax.  The first to make amends to the poor and the second for roads.
Know what CA does with the fucking money?  Even though they claim it will be segregated for the purpose intended, it winds up in the general state fund and is spent on BullShit projects that do no good (except make people fell like something is being done or building a larger bureaucracy to implement said social plans wherein the real money making its way to the targeted recipient is pennies ion the dollar) or just plain building a larger bureaucracy.

This is business theft of public resources with the blessing of the government, complicit togetherness wrapped in the raped profits of the citizen.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:43 | 6451178 Woodyg
Woodyg's picture

codification of the neo-fuedalism we live under -

 

one set of laws for We the People  - aka the "muppits"

 

and another (non) set of laws for the corporate scum

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 10:21 | 6451336 Fun Facts
Fun Facts's picture

The Khazars are using the goyim until they're used up.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 11:15 | 6451556 Majestic12
Majestic12's picture

Did you know that the world uses:
 

  • 70 percent freshwater for irrigation
  • 22 percent freshwater for industry
  • 8 percent freshwater for domestic use
Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:46 | 6451202 Bay Area Guy
Bay Area Guy's picture

People in this state keep electing the same assholes, sp what do you expect.  Term limits didn't do shit to get the career politicians out of here.  Eight years in the Assembly, eight years in the State Senate, then on to the Board of Equalization or some other bullshit board with one meeting a year and $100K in salary.

We are getting exactly what we deserve Knuks.  I look at sfgate.com (the online arm of the San Francisco Chronicle) every morning.  I see people actively defending the rights of illegal aliens to be in this country.  They denigrate people who have the audacity to even imply that maybe, just maybe, the borders should be a teeny, tiny bit more secure.  They're labeled haters, wingnuts, and various other things.  All for even suggesting that a sovereign nation should have more secure borders.

And you know what?  These assholes will be the first ones to defend a 12 cents a gallon increase in the gas tax.  They'll do it because some politician with a D after his or her name proposed it.  They're the ultimate party sheep.  They're the ones that don't give a damn if a D has machine gunned 500 babies on national television.  I would lay you odds that if Leland Yee ran again, they'd elect him in a landslide, simply because he has a D after his name.  (For those of you who may have forgotten, Leland Yee is a former State Senator, former Assemblyman, former member of SF Board of Supervisors and former member of the SF School Board who was arrested for allegedly running guns, after he had been champion of gun control legislation.)

I'm not a D or an R.  I just can't stand the sanctimonius D's that inhabit this state.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 10:47 | 6451436 Majestic12
Majestic12's picture

Knucks and BAG, you must remember when the 4th bore of the Caldecot tunnel "bond" passed?

1972.  I waited with baited breath as I was just about to get my license and be able to drive through it.

I was built and fininsh all in 2014.

There were a total of 5 bond measures that Reagan, Moon Beam, Pete Wison,  Davis and the Worminator all "mingled" into the general budget.

It is not a matter of "voting"...its a matter of no guillotines.  They aren't gonna stop knowing that the penalty is a few bleats.....like here..on this blog....

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 12:24 | 6451940 knukles
knukles's picture

Absolutely, guys!  It's a criminal shit show disguised as a loving inclusive gover-bent of, by and for the people. 
The levels of crap like the Board of Equalization are mind-boggling.  In the county in which I live and have a large number of golf bud county (senior) employees, I hear all the stories and in the last result even the most Progressive indirectly admits such.  They're the beneficiaries of such.  Not the plebes.  But it's all done in the name of "for the children".

We're ruled by asshole, ripping us off every day in every way a little bit more and more.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:28 | 6451106 negative rates
negative rates's picture

Budweiser don't cause cancer, nestle does fuck face loser.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:31 | 6451116 Diplodicus Rex
Diplodicus Rex's picture

" Budweiser don't cause cancer"

And you know this how?

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 10:27 | 6451357 negative rates
negative rates's picture

I'm older than you silly.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 10:53 | 6451461 Majestic12
Majestic12's picture

" Budweiser don't cause cancer"

Actually it does, due to sugar, yeast and carbohydrates.

As well, all wheat causes "leaky gut syndrome", commonly identified by a "beer belly".

I switched to wine exclusively and lost 60 pounds...."happily".

Though, on occasion, I do love me some Guiness draught...just one or two...barrels!

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 11:46 | 6451750 markovchainey
markovchainey's picture

Budweiser: the leading cause of mud butt in the country.  Got toilet paper?

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 10:09 | 6451294 Crash Overide
Crash Overide's picture

California is turning into a giant shit hole.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 11:47 | 6451754 markovchainey
markovchainey's picture

California has already turned into a giant shit hole. 

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:34 | 6451129 Stormtrooper
Stormtrooper's picture

Do they still sell that grog?

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:41 | 6451167 taketheredpill
taketheredpill's picture

Sure. Too "brew" all that Bud those huge fucking horses have to drink a lot of water.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 12:00 | 6451826 Socratic Dog
Socratic Dog's picture

Don't rock that boat, shark.  Bud is sacred.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:47 | 6451207 Ruffmuff
Ruffmuff's picture

Just love capitalism.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 12:08 | 6451858 A Nanny Moose
A Nanny Moose's picture

Humans only possess that which they can keep, and secure for themselves. No right to water, life, speech, or shit. Most certainly, rights are not secured at the hands of government.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:26 | 6451096 q99x2
q99x2's picture

boycott them.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:27 | 6451101 mygameon
mygameon's picture

And the point is?

Future article title: under public pressure Nestle ceases operations, lays off 10,000. Impact to state tax base is catastrophic.

Until the political clas and the oligarchs swing in the streets nothing will change.

What a click bait article.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 10:58 | 6451480 FireBrander
FireBrander's picture

"The point is"...businesses should NOT be allowed to shift the true cost of thier business onto the backs of taxpayers.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 13:53 | 6452347 Sokhmate
Sokhmate's picture

The fake economic growth we have today is simply the externalization of costs: http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-externality-trap-or-h...

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:28 | 6451103 SillySalesmanQu...
SillySalesmanQuestion's picture

I think the citizens of Cali ought to have a "free draw" at Nestle's money tree...

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:46 | 6451205 Sanity Bear
Sanity Bear's picture

What's the prevailing exchange rate between water and blood?

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:30 | 6451112 Diplodicus Rex
Diplodicus Rex's picture

"705 million gallons of water in its operations in California, according to natural resource manager Larry Lawrence. That’s 2,164 acre-feet "

It creases me up that the US dogmatically adheres to a set of measurement units whose origins date back to the dark ages. I have never heard of "acre-feet". Is that real or made up? Whilst I would never advocate change for change sake, the SI system is increadibly easy to understand in comparison. Why do you continue to torture yourself like this? Its almost masochistic.

 

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:51 | 6451217 Diplodicus Rex
Diplodicus Rex's picture

Ah, the good old reliable down arrow. Must have touched a raw nerve. Unless that is "acre-feet" is actually a well known unit for the measurement of volume. Would the down arrower care to explain?

I remember working in the US about 15 years ago in an engineering office of a large contractor. An american colleague came into the office one morning all excited. He had just purchased a brand new, bright yellow calculator with many more funcitons than his old one. The one function which particularly delighted him was the ability to work out the area of a room in ft2 by entering the room dimensions in feet and inches. Prior to this the inches had to be converted to fractions of a foot before the calculation could be carried out. This new calculator did that step for you. He was very obviously dismayed at the fact that I didn't share his enthusiasm. I showed him the equivalent calculation in metres with the use of a calculator that I bought in high school. I tried to explain that his calculator had been designed to overcome a non-problem which he had himself created by adhering to feet and inches when the rest of the enlightened world had moved on to SI units. Needless to say, he was not impressed.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 10:14 | 6451307 divingengineer
divingengineer's picture

Never been to England, but I know a Stone is 14 lbs. 

Stick with your SI units...and stay where they use them. 

I have seen the term acre-feet used for reservior storage numerous times. 

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 10:32 | 6451381 Diplodicus Rex
Diplodicus Rex's picture

Actually, I'll admit I was being slightly tongue-in-cheek disingenuous. The scientific community in the US do indeed use the SI system. Its the rest of the country who are stuck using the units inherited from good old imperial England. Maybe we should go back to using these:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_units

 

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 10:04 | 6451271 Lostinfortwalton
Lostinfortwalton's picture

An acre-foot foot volume of water is the amount necessary to submerge one acre to a depth of one foot. One acre is 43,460 square feet, so one acre foot would be 43,460 cubic feet. One cubic foot equals 7.48 gallons, so one acre foot would equal 325,829 gallons. the quoted math is correct, 2,164 acre feet of water equals 705 million gallons.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 10:16 | 6451322 divingengineer
divingengineer's picture

Duhhhhhh

Math is hard.

How much is that in Deciliters....duhhhhhhhh......

You might have just broken Rex's brain!!!

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 10:29 | 6451370 Diplodicus Rex
Diplodicus Rex's picture

"Math is hard."

Maybe. But multiplication is arithmetic, not maths.

 

"How much is that in Deciliters....duhhhhhhhh......"

2.7m m3 = 2.7b litres =  27.0b decilitres. Not sure about the conversion of ...duhhhhhhhh...

 

"You might have just broken Rex's brain!!!"

You assume too much.

 

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 10:23 | 6451348 Diplodicus Rex
Diplodicus Rex's picture

Oh sorry, please don't misunderstand me. I wasn't questioning the maths. I had assumed that was correct without even checking. My comment was directed at the tortuous route to get from area and depth to volume, a point which your eloquent reply illustrates beautifully. For the avoidance of doubt the SI analysis would go something like as follows: area = 4047m2 Depth = 0.305m Volume = 4047 x 0.305 = 1234m3. So total volume is 2164 x 1234 = 2.7m m3. The units of volume are the cubed power of the units of distance. No conversions necessary.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 12:13 | 6451893 Socratic Dog
Socratic Dog's picture

Agree on SI units, that mars lander that crashed because one set of engineers was working in SI, the other in archaic, might have been a wake up call. 

But I like the visual of an "acre-foot".  A foot high, covering an acre...that's a lot of water.  More intuitive than a squillion heptalitres.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 14:18 | 6452434 Lostinfortwalton
Lostinfortwalton's picture

I think acre feet is widely used in computing the volume of water in reservoirs behind dams. It may have to do with the elevation lines in the reservoir maps being given in feet, which is to say as the water level drops significantly the surface area of the lake also decreases, so you need to calculate the volume in given "layers" of the lake (think of an inverted wedding cake). At full "pool" you would add up all the layers of the lake, at a very low stage you would only add the ones remaining. Flow rates out of the dams or free stream flow rates have historically been given in cubic feet per second.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 10:41 | 6451415 Urban Redneck
Urban Redneck's picture

Actually acre feet is the standard unit of measurement for professionals worldwide (who live in the REAL WORLD, as opposed to an ivory tower or impotent scale laboratory) once one moves beyond m3 

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 11:42 | 6451722 Jim in MN
Jim in MN's picture

How else could we know if we ever saw God's green acre-foot?

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 11:01 | 6451491 Majestic12
Majestic12's picture

"acre-feet"

I'm pretty sure it is a little less that a "green-acre foot"...

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:30 | 6451113 decon
decon's picture

This is much more a story about the Feds and their incompetence than Nestle.  Not much different for grazing permits on public lands in the west, about $1.50 per aum (animal unit month= a cow or cow and calf for a month).  You couldn't feed a hamster for a month for that much.  These extractive permits (if environmentally allowable) should be publicly auctioned.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 11:09 | 6451514 Majestic12
Majestic12's picture

Decon

 

Here, here!

You can't blame Nestle for wanting the best deal.

You can blame the scum-sucking sell-outs who man many goverment posts (including military), for selling our nation on the cheap.

Tip of the nefarious iceberg (DUMBs, Chemtrails, Biowarfare, and general gutting of the Constituion).

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:31 | 6451119 surf0766
surf0766's picture

It is free, like Obama's and food stamps

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:31 | 6451120 Temerity Trader
Temerity Trader's picture

This is somehow worse than the millions of gallons going to waste to water golf courses for the wealthy to play on? All over California are large golf courses, with fees that typically keep out all but the rich, except at a few municipal courses.

California needs a lot more pain to force them to end their wasteful ways, and it is coming. Silicon Valley and its property mega-bubble will implode soon. Golf courses will turn brown and die off. Swimming pools emptied. Long lines at the stores for some of that expensive bottled water. Monthly water rations. Yes, it will be something to see...how many illegals are living there now? Sanctuary cities? They will all get what they deserve real soon. Unfortunately, it will spread a lot further than just California.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:43 | 6451173 knukles
knukles's picture

Most CA golf courses have already been converted to recycled or grey water. 
If you doubt me, try drinking out of a sprinkler head or lick your hands after fondling your wet balls.
You'll get a tummy ache and maybe evn da poops!

Why you say would this have happened?  Because the cost of water is too high!  Many courses have even converted some 20 to 30% of what used to be grass to dirt/bunkers/natural lcoal vegiotation.  Saves water, enhances the visuals and makes for a bitmore challenging game.

If you want to beggar state wide waste, focus instead on urban uses.  Like LA's godzillion swimming pools, extravagantly lush watered lawns (private and public) for a start.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 10:01 | 6451261 buzzkillb
buzzkillb's picture

Some Cities around LA are also building their grey water systems as they make street upgrades. New construction also needs the hookups. I think this is all tied back to LA County trying to go as much grey on all larger new construction. Eventually the lawns, toilets, and whatever else you don't ingest will not be potable. This doesn't seem feesible for older houses, but who knows it may become mandatory in the future.

So all I need to start a water bottling company is a photoshopped permit, some lawyers, and I am good to go? Security would be easy enough to find in Cali. Hey you guys want to stop selling drugs and make some real money?

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 10:19 | 6451330 divingengineer
divingengineer's picture

Drive up the central valley and look at the primative open channel irrigation systems still in use. Some lined, some not, a fantastic waste of water.

 

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 11:14 | 6451545 Majestic12
Majestic12's picture

"If you want to beggar state wide waste, focus instead on urban uses."

Did you know that the world uses:
 

  • 70 percent freshwater for irrigation
  • 22 percent freshwater for industry
  • 8 percent freshwater for domestic use

How about "big-Ag" and it's archaic method of mass production factory farming that is still using the 1960 blueprint for the "green revolution"?  Lost?

Intensive farming techniques (soil conditioning to a 3ft depth) produces 3 times the crop from the same square foot and uses one third the water. 

It worked for the Inca and Maya.  And, yes, they didn't wear "Cat" hats.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:35 | 6451132 ToSoft4Truth
ToSoft4Truth's picture

But Warren looks cute eating a Fudgie.  I bet he has a furry belly and purrs. 

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:36 | 6451138 Government need...
Government needs you to pay taxes's picture

As long as they measure and report the levels of Cyanide from China and Cesium from Fuckushima.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:36 | 6451140 hwwesq3
hwwesq3's picture

The annual fee should be $1048, applied retroactively.  That'll satisfy the sheep.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 10:21 | 6451338 divingengineer
divingengineer's picture

ha ha! 

You're right! That would satisfy their sense of justice!

They wouldn't be able to remember the original article to even get the endorphin hit. 

 

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 10:28 | 6451362 Big Corked Boots
Big Corked Boots's picture

And the business press will swallow the line "didn't make our numbers because the fees doubled" hook, line and sinker.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:37 | 6451146 roisaber
roisaber's picture

How can this be defended against in an anarcho-capitalist fashion? Doesn't any strategy for preventing this depend on an idea of public ownership of resources, which in turn implies administrators with the authority to apply legal violence in order to enforce their decisions?

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:41 | 6451164 Tsar Pointless
Tsar Pointless's picture

Oh boy! You've stepped in it now. Public ownership of resources. Now you're just spouting commie nonsense. 

Be prepared for down votes. The locals don't take kindly to such thinking. 

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 10:22 | 6451342 divingengineer
divingengineer's picture

Hey!

This guy's pointing out glaring inconsistencies with our community group-think!

GET HIM!!!!!!

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 13:18 | 6452165 JessieSharpton
JessieSharpton's picture

"
Hey!

This guy's pointing out glaring inconsistencies with our community group-think!

GET HIM!!!!!!"

Yeah!
Hang him!
He is obviously an antisemitic woman beating child molestor!

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 10:35 | 6451396 Oldwood
Oldwood's picture

Ownership is defined, as it always has been, by the ability to hold and defend it. The fact that you hire a government to act as your gunman to defend that ownership, means that you should not be surprised when a higher bidder steps in and they turn the gun on YOU. There are no public rights beyond what YOU can enforce, and it should be well proven after centuries of experience that you will NEVER be able to reliably hire someone to do that for you, especially in the form of an ever larger and more powerful entity. Absolute power absolutely defies justice for anyone but those who hold it.

"We the people" hold very little power, so be careful of the tyrant you enable.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 14:35 | 6452493 dark pools of soros
dark pools of soros's picture

many humans are vulturious vampires that can only take once someone creates so they focus on the grab and defend part

 

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 11:04 | 6451499 rejected
rejected's picture

That's what governments would like your to believe and in a way it's fact these days.

Land 'owner' ? Don't pay property or school taxes!  Want a water well? Get a permit. Want a bigger garage, an extra room? Get a permit.  Want to exercise your 2nd amendment rights? Get a permit. Want to drive a car? Get a license. Need medicine? Get a prescription. Want to set up a lemonade stand? Get a permit.

Land of the Free.

 

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:37 | 6451148 Tsar Pointless
Tsar Pointless's picture

When you think it's socialism, it's really corporatism. 

EVERYTHING done in America - I repeat, EVERYTHING - is done for the benefit of corporations.

EVERYTHING. 

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:53 | 6451228 homebody
homebody's picture

No - for power and profit

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:40 | 6451162 Max Cynical
Max Cynical's picture

And what would happen with this water if Nestle didn't capture it for CONSUMPTION? Would this water get washed out to sea just like the TRILLIONS of gallons of mountain runoff and rainwater California refuses to capture for the benefit of it's residents?

Nestle has created a business that provides JOBS and prosperity. Not every business is evil.

Place the blame for the California drought with A) rabid environmentalism and politicians for not building retention basins while diverting runoff and rain water into the Pacific Ocean and B) 10M illegals that are stretching our systems to their very limits. If it wasn't for the 10M+ illegals in California, there would be plenty of water for California residents.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:43 | 6451180 Tsar Pointless
Tsar Pointless's picture

The "Blame America "contingent has chimed in.

Corporations good. People bad. But wait - aren't corporations people too? Such a conundrum. 

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 10:22 | 6451341 Max Cynical
Max Cynical's picture

Is there anything liberals stand for that's pro America/Americans? ANYTHING?

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 12:20 | 6451924 Socratic Dog
Socratic Dog's picture

Well, we harvest organs from living black and mexican semi-aborted fetuses for the benefit of the corporations and the rich....surely that's pro-Mercan?

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 10:44 | 6451429 Max Cynical
Max Cynical's picture

Just one other factoid for those infected by rabid environmentalism...the amount of fresh water on this planet isn't a fixed or finite resource. It's constantly being replentished by the process of evaporation, condensation and precipiation.

http://easyscienceforkids.com/all-about-rain/

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:47 | 6451206 Tsar Pointless
Tsar Pointless's picture

The "Blame America "contingent has chimed in.

Corporations good. People bad. But wait - aren't corporations people too? Such a conundrum. 

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 10:00 | 6451250 Benjamin123
Benjamin123's picture

JWBS!

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 10:44 | 6451427 Oldwood
Oldwood's picture

A good friend of mine lives in northern CA in the mountains and he told me that they drained one of the few remaining lakes in his area last week for "ecological" reasons...smelt, salmon, fart flies...whatever. Millions of gallons flushed like washing a turd out of the toilet to the ocean.

For progressives, people are far back in the priority to "the planet", or even the most miniscule insect. Unborn babies are simply lumps of flesh of lesser concern than tiny fish. For progressives WE are the problem and they will do what they can to make sure it stays that way. Breakdown order to incite chaos which in turns keeps everyone at each other's throats. Their ONLY concern is how to incentivize us to kill each other off without hurting little fish.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 11:22 | 6451600 Ms No
Ms No's picture

It it would be great if progressives would realize that their leadership couldn't give two shits less about fish.  Just like the North during the Civil War, whatever bullshit story gets the job done. 

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 12:30 | 6451971 JessieSharpton
JessieSharpton's picture

"A good friend of mine lives in northern CA in the mountains and he told me that they"

Yes, please tell us more of your third party disinformation!
It goes along with your politics, so why discount it?

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 12:28 | 6451963 JessieSharpton
JessieSharpton's picture

"
And what would happen with this water if Nestle didn't capture it for CONSUMPTION? Would this water get washed out to sea just like the TRILLIONS of gallons"

It would feed the non voting/non tax paying/non investor animals who thrive in such enviornmenta.

You know, nature?
That thing you take for granted?

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:41 | 6451166 Calculus99
Calculus99's picture

Always surprised there aren't more social media campaigns against these large firms.

They don't give a shit about individuals (only their money) but you can bet they're petrified against the mob.

Think about it, social media has real people power. 

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 12:22 | 6451928 Socratic Dog
Socratic Dog's picture

But...but...Kim Kardashian's rabbit!

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:42 | 6451169 holdbuysell
holdbuysell's picture

This reeks of corporatism aka fascism.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:42 | 6451175 homebody
homebody's picture

The water waste is bad enough but the waste in energy to produce the crappy plastic bottle is worse.  We are killing ourselves!

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:47 | 6451208 Main_Sequence
Main_Sequence's picture

Plus the water in plastic bottles tastes like shit.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 12:24 | 6451938 Socratic Dog
Socratic Dog's picture

Plenty of estrogen, but.  Just what out male children need.  And the girls get tits at 8 years of age, and die of breast cancer at 40, everyone's happy.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:44 | 6451182 spoonful
spoonful's picture

I guess there are no good attorneys in California with either the smarts or the nuts to try to terminate whatever sort of rights Nestle is claiming - be it by permit, license or contract.  For instance, who signed these things on behalf of the State of California?  Why is California still bound by those signatures?  It is black letter law that courts will void unconscionable contracts, and permits and licenses my be revoked.      

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 12:23 | 6451934 JessieSharpton
JessieSharpton's picture

"I guess there are no good attorneys in California "

Nor on planet earth.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:45 | 6451199 erkme73
erkme73's picture

In a truly free market, it wouldn't be government blessings (permits) - it would be consumers/customers who would regulate this kind of exploitation... not through legislative efforts, but by voting with their wallets. 

Just as we see here, once the facts are known, people will automatically shift their purchasing away from Nestle - effectively discouraging them from continuing the abuse.

The problem with the current system is that people consider it to be "OK" so long as they have permission from our overseers - and are thus more likely to dismiss claims of abuse from watchdog groups.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:53 | 6451229 large_wooden_badger
large_wooden_badger's picture

Big corporation raping the public trust, aided and abetted by the "public trust" in the government myth, and all y'all acting surprised and shit. There's an orange river in Colorado flowing full of public trust right now.

Stay thirsty, my friends.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 09:59 | 6451247 NoWayJose
NoWayJose's picture

Tom Selleck should sue for a better deal on the water he stole!

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 10:00 | 6451251 NoWayJose
NoWayJose's picture

Throw the head of Nestle water products into jail and then see how fast Nestle completes the new application process!

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 10:00 | 6451252 44_shooter
44_shooter's picture

Typical reaction - boycott Nestlé products blah blah blah.  Want an anti gun law passed in Ca? No problem the State is there to nelp.  Need Nestle to stop taking drinking water in a drought - yur California legislators are nowhere to be found (probably out cashing those Nestlé checks).

Hold the state responsible. They allowed this to happen.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 10:01 | 6451257 Grimaldus
Grimaldus's picture

Progressive eco-murderers will stop at nothing to use "the environment" as a front to push their neo-stalinist criminality. This article is a head-fake to divert attention away from the real causes of the water situation in commiefornia.

 

 

 

http://www.cnet.com/forums/discussions/environmentalist-destroying-calif...

"Environmentalist Destroying California, Creating Drought by James Denison / April 14, 2015 7:52 AM PDT

Why am I not surprised? Seems the biggest users and wasters of water are the environmentalist, using fully half of all water in California on their projects, but at the same time excluding their water use from statistics so they can blame farmers who use ONLY 40% of the water. The farmers at least provide food and economic commerce which is better than the environmentalist who add almost NOTHING to the economy, while cheating on water use."

 

 

 

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/416918/no-farmers-dont-use-80-perc...

 

 

"The statistic is manufactured by environmentalists to distract from the incredible damage their policies have caused. "

Just like the progressive eco-murderers at the EPA destroying rivers and mandating moar people die crushed to death in small cars, the Commifornia progressive eco-murderers are yet another example of the progressive stupid, it burns.

 

 

 

Grimaldus

 

 

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 10:02 | 6451264 nightmareuki
nightmareuki's picture

Nestle is the closest thing to Satan himself EVER. I think they make hitler look good. Lead in Food products, Baby formula giveaways that caused babies to die of hunger just for starters(that was stupid parents fault though).

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 10:05 | 6451280 SilvertonguedAngel
SilvertonguedAngel's picture

The media will blame anyone except the 10,000,000 invaders for CA H2O woes.

 

These invaders consume an easy 100,000,000 gals. every day.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 10:08 | 6451282 obimk2
obimk2's picture

US corperatisme at its best.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 10:30 | 6451373 DLux
DLux's picture

Nah, it's the evil Swiss...Nestle is akin to the evils of the BIS in Basel, Switzerland.

Nestlé S.A. is a Swiss multinational food and beverage company headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland.

Most major US corporations and banks have long been controlled by old european money (Rothschild, Bruce, Cavendish, De Medici, Hanover, Hapsburg, Krupp, Plantagenet, Sinclair, Warburg, Windsor).

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 11:30 | 6451646 falak pema
falak pema's picture

you're not even close.

Just look at the richest men in the world list published by Forbes.

Huge majority of US nationals.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 13:49 | 6452271 DLux
DLux's picture

You think the richest families publicize their wealth? 

Forbes list is BS. Forbes is a private company. That means it can only access publically available information to compile their list.

Think private trusts, gold vaults, and swiss bank accounts.

Start by reading Carroll Quigley and Eustace Mullins...

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 10:06 | 6451283 wildbad
wildbad's picture

google nestle and brazil to discover MOAR of their euthanistic practices :-)

one could also harken back to the baby formula scandals which should have been more accurately called crinmes against humanity.

nestle and monsanto..two great tastes which go great together

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 11:28 | 6451298 falak pema
falak pema's picture

Nestle is to water what Exxon is to oil, Monsanto is to OGM,  JPM/GS are to financials, Merck/Pfizer are to pharma, Google is to algoland, Apple to sexytech, Facebook to media orgy, Boeing/Lockheed to MIC, Philip Morris to Tobacco   etc.etc.

They have the world and Congress by the nuts; not Deez Nuts as its lampoonist; but the real nuts of billions.

It'll require a revolution of popular mindset to change this world order of "our way of life non-negotiable".

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 10:11 | 6451299 ChargingHandle
ChargingHandle's picture

TThis is complete bullshit. If anything, this water should be diverted to farmers.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 10:11 | 6451301 BigStupid
BigStupid's picture

Up here in Canukita these pricks are pulling the same con. Differences is we're going to be getting paid less than half - $2.25 CAD for each million liters (by comparison the California deal works out to $4.85 USD/million L). And this coming from the assholes who say water should be theirs to buy on the cheap so that they get the privileged of extorting the masses.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/nestl%C3%A9-b-c-water-dea...

http://themindunleashed.org/2014/05/nestle-ceo-water-human-right-privati...

We're having our own drought concerns here too (time restricted usage, rationing) but these fucks can come and pull whatever they want because 'jobs'.

Can environmental extremist groups issue bonds to fund activities - that would be real free-market capitalism.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 10:18 | 6451326 PleasedToMeatYou
PleasedToMeatYou's picture

The "Journalist" here does not seem like a reliable source. 

The info may be largely correct, but I sure wouldn't take her word for it. 

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 10:47 | 6451437 rejected
rejected's picture

Yes,,, if it's not from government,,, it's not reliable..... as many amerikans think today.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 12:50 | 6452041 PleasedToMeatYou
PleasedToMeatYou's picture

Apparently there's only the government, and this chick - http://theantimedia.org/team/claire/

Yup, those are the only two options. 

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 10:32 | 6451378 Lostinfortwalton
Lostinfortwalton's picture

Here in central Virginia we recently paid $46.40 for 1,600 cu/ft of water (we are billed evey other month) That is 11,968 gallons. Doing the math, if Nestle paid at the same rate their 705 million gallons would come to $2,733,289.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 10:35 | 6451399 Ban KKiller
Ban KKiller's picture

I don't buy any Nestle products. My little bit of "fuck you, nestle". Their packaged, factory food is SHIT. Look at their website for the products you should avoid. 

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 10:44 | 6451425 rejected
rejected's picture

Corporations used to be very sensitive about their reputation and public opinion. They we're afraid of boycotts and brand switching.

Not today,,, one corporation owns most of the brands and boycotts are so 20th century. Amerikans allow government to fondle them and their cute children while smiling at airports. Nestles steals water, at&t steals personal information,,,neither have nothing to fear,,, Most Amerikans won't do without their bottled water, digital HD TV and imported Ithingies. If there are a few who do stop using the product, governments will pick up the difference.  GM anyone?

Corporatism, AKA Fascism...... enjoy.

 

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 10:51 | 6451453 firstdivision
firstdivision's picture

The biggest tragedy is to learn that lots of people buy bottled water in this country that is rebottled tap water. 

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 11:12 | 6451530 HandyCrapper
HandyCrapper's picture

POS greedy douche bag

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 11:15 | 6451550 Ms No
Ms No's picture

Not only are they gouging, pushing for privatization of water everywhere and profiteering off of polution but the quality of their products is also suspect.  Actually the quality of many bottled waters are suspect.  Reverse osmosis is really the only way to go at this point and you have to add minerals and electrolytes or become even more deficient than you certainly already are.

http://www.rt.com/news/312409-india-nestle-lawsuit-noodles/

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 11:23 | 6451552 MEFOBILLS
MEFOBILLS's picture

If you tax something you get less of it. 

Georgist taxation is predicated on taxing away the free lunch.  Usually a free lunch means that somebody else is paying.

In the case of land, which is a gift of god, and that gift includes water, air, soil, minerals in the soil, electromagnetic spectrum...all of these things are part of the commons.  Nestle didn't create the water, they only extract it, bottle it, and distribute.

California, by making it cheap to extract from the commons, allows Nestle to make rental gains.

When it reality, the water is becoming valuable for other purposes, and should have its site value taxed.  

This is proper economics, where the real costs are recovered and then returned to the commons.  From what came from the commons should return to the commons, rather than vector to oligarchy.

San Franscisco is another example of California and their retarded tax/money policies.  San Fran allows absentee landowners and also allows land to be pushed in speculative bubbles.

One reason Texas didn't get slammed by the housing bubble is because they tax their land and don't have income taxes.  

Having income taxes and not taxing the land/commons has well known effects as laid out by the Georgist economists.  Georgists are not wrong, and elements of humanity continue to try and game the system for their rent taking plutocratic advantage.

If Nestle had to pay the fair site value for the water, they would soon find it more economic to pull up roots, and move to a water-rich state.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 11:53 | 6451788 JessieSharpton
JessieSharpton's picture

what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 12:05 | 6451851 snblitz
snblitz's picture

Water is commercially transacted in acre-feet.  27 million gallons is 83 acre feet. That would be an irrelavent number in California's commercial water usage problems.  Also $6.30 per acre foot was a very fair price back when California had water.

California does not have a residential water problem.

Desalination on a commercial scale is about $2000 per acre-foot. That comes out to about $35 per month per average California residential consumer.

California residential consumers tend to pay between $20 and $80 per month already..

California residential consumers are crowded around the coast and the bays.

There is no residential water problem here

Agriculture is used to paying $3 to $200 per acre-foot. If their costs went up to $2000 per acre foot there would be a problem. Also, they have to figure out how to get the water from the coast to the inland valleys.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 12:15 | 6451899 JessieSharpton
JessieSharpton's picture

"There is no residential water problem here"

What bullshit.

Where do you ignorant, brainiac evil lying fucks come from?
Who moved the rock?

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 12:20 | 6451921 hannah
hannah's picture

i heard that they dump water ever night...AND IN THE MIDDLE OF A DROUGHT!

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 12:28 | 6451947 MEFOBILLS
MEFOBILLS's picture

Here's a brain dead comment typical of some ZH readers:

"what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul"

People like this shoudn't be allowed to vote.  Notice no positive contribution but only tearing down.

Here is an example of rent value taken, and then the shifted onto labor.  Maybe this example will help as it is more obvious and simple: 

Exxon extracts oil from Saudi Arabia at its extraction cost.  On the way to the Gulf Coast Refineries the money value of the oil vectors to Panama.  Exxon's ship is panamanian registered and hence does not have to pay income taxes.

The input prices to the Gulf refinery are jacked up so the refinery can take small profits, and those small profits are then taxed "smaller."

In the meantime, the real profits are taken on a ledger in Panama, which has no income taxes.  Exxon has then untaxed itself, and labor in the U.S. must be taxed higher to compensate.

This is rent seeking, and taking from the commons.  Exxon, like Nestle does not really produce, they extract and then distribute. 

That many ZH readers are hypnotized and laboring under false "wetware" doesn't diminsh the truth of things.  Most American's have been fed propaganda from birth, and it is a hard thing to shake off brain washing.

Labor has to be untaxed so it can produce.  Rents, or the Free Lunch that corporations and some try to take, should be taxed.  Oh yes, massah, please tax my labor value so I can produce less.  Please untax corporations so they can take from the commons, even though the commons belong to everybody. 

Even our credit money system takes rents for its right to exist, hence the banker's outright theft of what should belong to the commons.

My comments are not necessarily aimed at the dumb asses who don't have enough mental horsepower to understand, but there are others in the ZH crowd who do understand.

If even one person gets it, that is something.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 12:40 | 6451982 scrappy
scrappy's picture

http://www.theautomaticearth.com/tag/neoclassical/

GeoLib: In 1879 Henry George published Progress and Poverty. The book was an international sensation, at the time outsold only by the Bible. It remains economics’ No. 1 best seller.

Mason Gaffney: “George came out of a raw, naive new colony, California, as a scrappy marginal journalist. Yet his ideas exploded through the sophisticated metropolitan world as though into a vacuum. His book sales were in the millions. Seven short years after publishing Progress and Poverty in remote California he nearly took over as Mayor of New York City, the financial and intellectual capital of the nation.

In a democratic setting, playing a Georgist card can be a powerful move. Neither Right nor Left can criticise a Georgist position because Georgist reform gives them both what they want. George, as Mason Gaffney writes “had a way of taking two problems and composing them into one solution. He took two polar philosophies, collectivism and individualism, and synthesized a plan to combine the better features, and discard the worse features, of each.”

“Thus, George would cut the Gordian knot of modern dilemma-bound economics by raising demand, raising supply, raising incentives, improving equity, freeing up the market, supporting government, fostering capital formation, and paying public debts, all in one simple stroke. It’s quite a stroke, enough to leave one breathless.“ “George’s proposal lets us lower taxes on labour without raising taxes on capital. Indeed, it lets us lower taxes on both labour and capital at once, and without lowering public revenues.“ “Ultimately, Georgist policy saves the cost of civil disturbances and insurrections, and/or the cost of putting them down.”

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 12:35 | 6451990 JessieSharpton
JessieSharpton's picture

" Notice no positive contribution but only tearing down.........
My comments are not necessarily aimed at the dumb asses who don't have enough mental horsepower"

Talk about nonsense.
You are in an open forum.
If you want people (in a fight club) to like your drivel, perhaps breithart or faux news would be a better place for you to post in?

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 12:49 | 6452031 Grimaldus
Grimaldus's picture

Looks like you have "produced" some pro-taxation bullshit. Taxes are theft at the point of a gun.

 

Worship government much?

 

 

 

 

Grimaldus

 

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 13:19 | 6452171 MEFOBILLS
MEFOBILLS's picture

So, how is financial capitalism working out?

 

Capital has been untaxed and labor has been taxed.  Simultaneously it has seen growth in government and corporate rule.

 

Corporations then try to externalize their costs, say they pollute - this makes their costs lower, but other channels (not them) have to pay for it.

How about mexinvasion.  That is a plutocratic maneuver, where industry uses cheap labor to take wage arbitrage, and then externalizes the cost onto the middle class.  The middle class pays through school taxes and higher medical costs.

In effect, the middle class is "taxed" higher through the price mechanism.

Finance capital is busy trying to take rents by extending monopoly forces.  For example, the new trade pacts are supra national, and if any "economic" damages are had, the "foreign" corporations can sue a nation and its taxpayer.

So, rents come in many forms, especially in prices.  Prices being jacked up is a form of tax and is also force.

So, some of you ZH readers get your panties all waded up when I mention the proper form of taxation.  Proper taxes go after the FREE LUNCH. 

If you like giving your labor value over to plutocrats via the price system, then go ahead and be slave.  Don't ask me to join you in your mental prison.

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 13:57 | 6452360 cannuck21
cannuck21's picture

This wonderful company does exacly the same in British Columbia. At least there is a 'little' more wate there (but not much more). A typical bunch of crooks. Boycott Nestle...

Sat, 08/22/2015 - 10:22 | 6455225 Red Raspberry
Red Raspberry's picture

The plastic bottle and cap cost more than the water.  We use to bottle water at about $0.05 a 1/2L.

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