David, please tell us more about your book. I don't disagree with you whatsoever. As a grad student in agricultural economics, I was appalled by the fact that Midwestern US agriculture was in fairly rapid decline while California agriculture was booming -- which was made possible only by hugely subsidized water. Producing specialty crops in California made sense. Oranges will grow easily in Kansas, but we even grew sugar beets in California with subsidized water. Cotton in the state was an enormous consumer of water. I highly recommend the book, King of California, which details the water shenanigans of the Boswell family, which merged with the Chandler fortune (from the Los Angeles Times and various land deals) in later years.
-- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu michaelperelman.wordpress.com
