Once robber barons suck up all financial value with their fake debt money, they instinctively, predatorily move on to real, tangible assets. Like water.

With the federal government poised to force Western states to change how they manage the alarming shortfall in Colorado River water, there is one constituency with a growing interest in the river’s fate that’s little known to some: Wall Street investors.

Private investment firms are showing a growing interest in an increasingly scarce natural resource in the American West: water in the Colorado River, a joint investigation by CBS News and The Weather Channel has found. For some of the farmers and cities that depend on the river as a lifeline, that interest is concerning.

Of course, it’s not like water is essential for life or anything. Jubilee or desiccate.

UPDATE: I wonder what all these employees in GB are striking over?

(((UPDATE))): A short history of an incident of economic warfare.