barbra streisand. look at how green her lawn is.: the media can't barbara simpson, julie roberts, j-lo, jennifer aniston, all of them using excess water while their neighbors cut back. so is that the solution to water shortages? public shaming enact it is a form of voluntary market solution and better than government force. but it's not the best solution. the best solution for this as with most things is an actual market, which means people papers to. economics professor says that california's water shortages are man-made. we hear about this terrible drought. water utilities are monopolies and they are setting the price, not the market. and so for any other good, say gasoline, the price of gasoline rises into things happen, people drive less and people drive more fuel-efficient cars. well, if the price of water were to go up, people would consume less water and they would use more water efficient utilities. stossel: okay, the big drain on water in california, i am told, is agriculture. and there are all of these stories about omens.