Quote:
Originally Posted by Stu Pidasso
If a family member left inside the burning house was blackened would there be any outrage from ACists?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by [Phill]
What i dont get, they rung up 911, got through and said where they were. So the FD looks them up on computer, realises they didnt pay their 75 bucks and then refuses to come out. So what happens if someone dies in the fire - either directly or indirectly by trying to fight it, or receive what few possessions they have left or whatever.
Its also worth stating that the guy only went and punched out the fire chief afterwards. I would not have been shocked if someone got shot over a policy like this.
Plus if its true what someone said that they had already funded the equipment through property taxes so all the difference is comes down to gas for the extra mileage, that is pretty ridiculous.
Did those property taxes also pay for all the firefighters' salaries forever? Cuz if not, they probably want to get paid
somehow.
This was just a failure of mixing a public good with privatization. Let's look at the story from 2 different points of view:
The fire dept, as a public good, is fully socialized, the money comes directly from peoples' taxes with no need to keep track of extra checks to individual depts., the family calls 911, the house is saved.
Or
The fire dept. is fully privatized, the family doesn't pay, they call 911, get no service.
(Or maybe in AC land they have time, while in their burning home, to bust out a phone book, call each individual fire company, and compare rates before deciding on which provider to use. Oh, and they'd need to check out some online ratings for the companies, to really be sure they're getting the best bang for their buck.. While their house is on fire.)
Last edited by Anais; 10-06-2010 at 01:56 PM.