Residents in Allegany County, Maryland are getting slammed with monthly water bills of $400, $700, $1,000. Single-shower weeks are the new normal. This is what happens when private utilities take over rural infrastructure with zero regulation. Companies buy up the pipes, jack up rates, and extract maximum cash from people who have no other choice. Rural areas don't have the density or leverage to fight back. They just pay or don't shower. The US sold itself on the lie that privatization means efficiency. It means extraction. Public goods shouldn't be profit centers for private equity.