The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that investment managers who are betting against Enbridge and TransCanada say the combination of significant capital spending and frequent dividend increases is unsustainable. The Globe's David Milstead writes that either the capex has to slow down, or the dividend growth does. Many Canadians are already exposed to pipeline risk, because Enbridge, TransCanada and Pembina Pipeline make up about 7 per cent of the S&P/TSX Composite Index, on which many mutual funds and exchange traded funds are based. Now, the economics of the industry are also a matter for taxpayers, who need to understand that the picture often painted of a stable, cash-gushing domestic business has a darker side. The pipeline industry has consistently, over the past decade, failed to generate cash from operations sufficient to finance both its capital spending and its dividends. All told, over the 30 years surveyed, the three firms have generated just under $80-billion in cash from operations, but spent $113-billion on capital expenditures. Then, they have paid out nearly $25-billion in dividends. Not coincidentally, they have issued almost $50-billion in net debt from 2008 to 2017.