patrick.net

Hircus says

I want private industry firefighting.

That used to be a thing a couple hundred years ago. But the private companies sold “fire insurance” and didn’t service structures whose owners didn’t buy a policy. That became an obvious flaw when entire neighborhoods burned down because of out of control blazes that weren’t being “serviced.”
It’s been publically managed ever since.

Quigley says

Hircus says

I want private industry firefighting.

That used to be a thing a couple hundred years ago. But the private companies sold “fire insurance” and didn’t service structures whose owners didn’t buy a policy. That became an obvious flaw when entire neighborhoods burned down because of out of control blazes that weren’t being “serviced.”
It’s been publically managed ever since.

Ha, that's really interesting to hear.

I suppose a successful modern private venture would need carefully designed regulations and incentive systems.

Hircus says

I suppose a successful modern private venture would need carefully designed regulations and incentive systems.

It would only work under an Obamacare type tax system where you were required to purchase a policy or otherwise taxed for the money, then the government gave the money to the private fire fighter company as a contractor like they do trash services in most cities. That would probably be the most efficient system since they would offer the contracts for bidding, and thus keep costs down.

We had a volunteer fire department where I grew up in Texas. We had an over supply of real men though vs. what we have in coastal CA. We also had much better services, i.e., police, schools, etc., vs. CA without and income tax.

I went to Orlando for the first time a couple of weeks ago. The roads were so nice, just like TX. I can't get that out of my head as I bounce my way into work on the 805 each morning here in SD lately.