COMMENT OF THE DAY: START SAVING WATER EARLY FOR LOWER FLOODING RETURNS 
“Like I said before, the real solution is engineering and good land cover practices upstream. By the time the flow gets to [the Bay], there is no real answer. Just like your child and your 401k, the earlier in the life cycle you contribute, the more impactful that contribution will be further down.” [Rex, commenting on Comment of the Day: All Houston Floodwater Backs Up in the Same Drain] Illustration: Lulu
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Rather than comparing upstream flood control to an investment in one’s children or a 401k, doesn’t it seem that the more apt comparison would be to certain forms of contracpeption, in particular the surgical options?
But then, none of the above are really fantastic analogies. The fact is that an individual human is mortal whereas a government or corporation is not (necessarily). The risk-adjusted returns necessary to entice an individual to make long-term fixed investments therefore really ought to be much higher than are presently available in most ordinary circumstances; but that is certainly not true of a public project. Moreover, for individuals money is a means to an end, whereas for an entity of any sort money is an end unto itself and its solvency is its life.