I would rather accept the wisdom of the cruel and inefficient markets, in which literally the whole world has input in some fashion, over the edicts issued by a local board of the well-connected and appointed.
No, the world's people are not what has the input- the world's money does. Very different. Money does not think or feel, it's just a measure of power. Money is power. If you think money should purely decide this question you are in effect saying "whoever is the most powerful gets what they want", which is anti-civilization. Markets only function at all because powerful governments moderate and regulate them. Otherwise the world would quickly decay into a hobbsian war of all against all. Unregulated markets always self-destruct. Rationing on one level or another is the only reason that markets in limited areas are even possible. Try having markets without "rationing" who can print money, for example.
Bullshit. Outside of temporary supply disruptions (such as in natural disasters), rationing has always been a total failure. Central planners are incapable of efficiently allocating resources, and most of the participants end up cheating through a secondary black market.
And anyone is free to print unlimited quantities of their own private currency. This is completely legal. But no one else is obligated to accept it.
Money deflates so the wealthy need to pursue valuable investments to preserve and grow it. Value is generally produced by doing things that people will pay for. It is this value-seeking behavior by the masses that gives everyone some implicit input on the long horizon. And water is certainly a long horizon thing.
