Restricting Water Tiers

California Courts Deny Tiered Prices for Water

           In California, an appeals court ruled that it the act of pricing water depending on how much water each house used. They ruled this is illegal because no government agency is allowed to price more than the cost of the service. At some point, while the tiered pricing was enabled, the price of the water was nearly four times the standard cost. The reason this tiered pricing was enacted is that the state of California needs to conserve water, and this method had proven to be an effective way to ensure people would limit their water use. It is imperative that California reduces the amount of water used because they are having a drought and they cannot risk losing their water reserves during the drought. The agencies perceive the ruling as a detrimental measure to their goal of conserving their resources
      This is interesting because the notion of tiered internet speeds is currently under question. Net neutrality, which is the idea that internet cannot have tiered speeds, needs not to have the same decision as the California water case because it is not a government agency which is providing the service. As brought up in the video, one man believed the price of everyone's water should be increased. This equivalent is something I believe no one wants, except for the executives of the businesses that will profit from the tiered internet. Therefore, it is critical to ensure equal internet cost to all.
Link: California Court Ruling Could Limit Drought Fighting Tools

Congressional and Individual Opinion

Congress and Congress Members

            In this article, by Harry Enten of FiveThirtyEight, describe how statistics show that people dislike Congress as a whole, but everyone likes their own representatives for Congress. Many statistics show that the approval rating for members of Congress and Congress as a whole have a direct correlation. This means they rise or drop in numbers at the same rate, more or less. Although, there is a percentage threshold in favor of the individual members. This means, that 15 - 25% more Americans believe in the members of Congress rather than Congress as a whole. The article also explains that the low approval ratings in Congress will hinder the Republicans who were expecting a boost in approval ratings because of Obama's poor rating. But since their own rating is so low, it will not be as effective against Obama had the Republicans been . Congress has done things to cause their approval rating to be low, meaning the rates are fairly justifiable.
      Fairly close to the time that this article came out, Congress chose to shut down the government. During my simulation of congress, we were able to pass many laws which appealed to many different demographics. It might anger some people, but since we were being effective in our office, they could not be as angry at us as they could with a congress which passes no legislation. The ineffectiveness of Congress has cause people to feel disdain towards them.
Link: Disliking Congress, as a Whole And as Individuals