Anyone heard of this yet?
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First of all, if it's the Young Turks, I'm automatically suspicious. They're like the Huffington Post of YouTube.
Still, that was a pretty detailed and lengthy report they showed. Local reporters generally do a much better job that national "journalists," but they're far from perfect; still, in this case they appeared to be pretty thorough.
My big question is, isn't this EXACTLY what people are saying we need government fire departments to avoid? People saying, "Pay up or we won't put out your fire?"
Of course, most likely, with a private, profit-seeking fire department, as soon as they were called, they'd say, "Okay, but then you'd have to pay us the $75 you owe us, a 100$ non-refundable fee, and $25 in late charges," or something like that. And I bet the family would have been GLAD to pay, and the damage would have been very minimal.
Oh, but then someone would have-->gasp<--MADE A PROFIT! And that's evil! Eeeeeeevil!!!
Their commentary @5:03: WHAT??? This wasn't privatized! This was a GOVERNMENT fire department run by CITY officials! The policy of not responding to someone who hadn't paid was a CITY policy!
Okay, so, listen to the news reports, NOT the Young Turks. But then, that's good advice in general...
Lord T. Hawkeye covered this in his last video.
Indeed he did. Thanks for pointing that out! Here it is:
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In the comment section of Hawkeye's video:
lebleupierrot: "do some better research hawk eye. this was a house that was outside of the city-- outside of the protection of the city fire department. the $75 wasnt a tax, it was payment for a service to protect houses outside of the city. furthermore, Fulton city fire department is categorized as a privatized fire department. this is libertarian style social services! you should be happy and arguing that the first guy should be paying for the damages of his neighbor."
How much do you want to bet that lebleupierrot is full of shit?
He's not when he says this was outside the city limits, but he is when he says it was private. In a truly privatized industry, you would have competitors, but this fire department still has a government monopoly, and is controlled by the government, with everything (including the refusal of service for failure to pay) decided upon, set, controlled, and enforced by the city.
Here's a website made by Obion County fire chiefs: http://troy.troytn.com/ocfire.htm (http://troy.troytn.com/ocfire.htm)
QuoteObion County has never provided Rural Fire Protection Services for the rural residents of Obion County. Our County Commissioners have always assumed this basic emergency service to be the responsibility of the cities & towns of Obion County. Unless a Fire Department offers a Rural Fire Protection Subscription Service, the taxpayers of the city or town are paying for your service. Therefore, if you live outside of town in areas such as Hornbeak, Obion, Rives, Troy & Samburg, the taxpayers of these towns are paying for 100% of your fire protection service. Sixty-three (63%) of the times one of these fire departments are called upon, they travel outside their respective city limits to provide life-saving and property saving services.
QuoteOnly three (3) Fire Departments in Obion County offer subscription service contracts. They are Union City, South Fulton & Kenton.
QuoteThe Obion County Commission established a County Fire Department, but they have never funded it nor have they taken any steps to plan, organize nor implement any type of Fire Protection Services for Rural Obion County.
In other words, "private" in name only.
Thanks.
I don't think it's even that. The individual firefighters are themselves hired and paid by their respective cities. If that's "private," then black is white.
And nobody even questioned TheYoungTurks on that. The report they showed didn't say anything about the department being private, neither did the link they posted. They acted like it was, but it wasn't and as Shane just demonstrated, it doesn't take much research to realize that. It doesn't even make sense if you actually think for more than 10 secs. Why the hell would a private company, that is supposedly looking at nothing but profits, deny them service when they want to pay upfront? Especially when the left scares people with exploitation and greed. Wouldn't they ask for 1000 dollars from them if they were really just looking to make a buck?
And I was already biased agains The Huffington POst thanks to this blog http://huff-watch.blogspot.com/, but this one post would have been enough.
This should be in the fail quotes:
QuoteAs ThinkProgress has noted, there are currently two competing visions of governance in the United States. One, the conservative vision, believes in the on-your-own society, and informs a policy agenda that primarily serves the well off and privileged sectors of the country. The other vision, the progressive one, believes in an American Dream that works for all people, regardless of their racial, religious, or economic background.
The conservative vision was on full display last week in Obion County, Tennessee
Strawman up the ass.
Another fire department does the exact same thing. I wonder how they'll blame THIS one on the free market?
Firefighters Fiddle While Roseville Burns (http://www.lewrockwell.com/greenhut/greenhut63.1.html)
QuoteThe Fire Department heralded its decision to withhold firefighting from the mall. As the department spokesman said, "As it turns out, it was a good decision from the firefighter safety standpoint."
Yeah, we can't send firefighters into burning buildings--it's dangerous in there!
Burning Down the House by Mike Peinovich (http://mises.org/daily/4812)