Apparently, Chris, Krugman reported the fire story as did Salon. Keith Olberman reported it on MSNBC but properly didn't declare it a private service..
Only problem was that the fire service that allowed the house to burn was a government service. The city asked residents to pay $75 fee in addition to taxes. Our unfortunate homeowner hadn't paid it and the government fire service (not private) wouldn't attack it. They let the house burn to the ground. A private service said that they would have fought the fire and billed the owner. The Mayor defended the "fire" fee which had been in place for many years. Apparently several other neighborhood jurisdictions also institute a similar fee. Sorry about that, Chris. Incidentally, on another point you brought up, almost 9 of every 10 fire services in the US are voluntary or mostly voluntary. Private fire services appear to work and they are cheaper. Harry ******************************** Henry George School of Los Angeles Box 655 Tujunga CA 9104 818 352-4141 ******************************** -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Christoph Reuss Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2010 2:21 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [Futurework] private fire services (was Re: Questions on the "Bit Tax") Harry mentioned: > Also there are thousands of > jurisdictions who use private fire services rather than public. (These > are extremely successful and are often at the forefront in new ways to > fight outbreaks of fire.) Recently there was a U.S. case in the news that such a fire service let a man's home burn down just because he had not paid their fee in advance. "Laissez-brûler", literally... and definitely "at the forefront in new ways to fight outbreaks of fire", as you put it. Chris P.S.: Isn't it funny what a diverse thread has developed from my questions on the "Bit Tax" -- __everything but__ the answers to those questions... _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
_______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
