No pay, no spray: Firefighters let home burn

[JackRudd]

Non-rival: it doesn't cost any more to protect everybody than it does to protect everybody minus one person (in other words, my consumption of national security does not reduce the availability of national security to you)

Non-excludable: it's not possible to withdraw national security from me alone if I choose to forego it

It therefore matches the definition of "public good".

And the consequence of these effects is that it never makes sense for an individual citizen to pay his share towards a public good (because he gets the same benefits whether he pays or not), so if they are to exist at all, there has to be some sort of taxation mechanism to fund them.

[KrazyHorse]

Err.....yes, that is why public goods cannot be reasonably funded through any other fashion than taxation.

The only problem is that there are a lot of people who try to throw a lot of services into the "public goods" basket.

Even firefighting, as demonstrated here, is very far from a public good.

Note that this is different from the question of whether or not you believe it is desirable that a universal service be provided through universal taxation.

Public goods should always be funded through taxation, but that is a sufficient, not a necessary condition...

[SlowwHand]

msnbc.com
updated 1 hour 16 minutes ago

A rural Tennessee fire chief says Obion County firefighters are being unduly demonized for letting a man's home burn because he hadn't paid a $75 municipal fee.

The fee, however, is not the best way to protect rural homes, said Bob Reavis, chief of the Hornbeak Volunteer Fire Department. The situation may have been avoided if the county had a tax to cover rural fire protection.

The firefighters' decision to follow orders and let the doublewide mobile home owned by Gene Cranick burn to the ground Sept. 29 while saving the property of a neighbor who did pay the subscription has prompted debate as the event has gained nationwide media attention.

Reavis, whose fire department was not the one involved with the home burning, said it is not firefighters' fault the Cranick home burned.

"The fault is the failure of Cranick family not to pay that subscription," Reavis said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon, surrounded by other county fire officials and mayors. "Subscriptions are not necessarily the way to go," he said of the fee.

"The same thing could have happened anywhere" among three Obion County municipalities that rely on subscription fees to cover rural areas outside their cities' borders. Hornbeak and four others do not require subscriptions. The eight cities' provide protection as the county does not operate its own fire department, Reavis said, but 85 percent of fire responses are in rural areas.

Continued:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39535911/ns/us_news-life/

[a.kitman]

your a coward kh...

[KrazyHorse]

http://www.wpsdlocal6.com/news/local/Firefighters-watch-as-home-burns-to-the-ground-104052668.html

"I thought they'd come out and put it out, even if you hadn't paid your $75, but I was wrong," said Gene Cranick.

Douchebag.

[KrazyHorse]

your a coward kh...

Errr...what?

Mind explaining that, *****?

[KrazyHorse]

By the way, this is from the guy who posts something and then deletes it 3 minutes later while I'm responding...

[Dinner]

The sick sad part is the fire spread to a neighboring property entirely because they didn't put out the fire at the original house fire.

[KrazyHorse]

Dedication

[Dinner]

That's worse than worthless, having the fire truck show up after you house has finished burning down.

I'm talking about living waaaaaaayyyyyyy out there. Like out on a dirt road in the middle of the desert or up in the mountains waaaaaayyyyy out there. Every where else is going to get responses much, much faster.

[a.kitman]

you avoid the real questions by cruise by the easy one...

[KrazyHorse]

Again, mind explaining, douchebag?

I mentioned public goods, you asked for explanation, I provided, you posted some nonsense (and then DanSed), I explained why you were wrong...

[Dinner]

It's hard to find your position as creditable when you claim basic public services like fire service isn't required for the public good. Fires spread you know. Out here it is pretty routine for some jackass to throw a cigarette out of his car window and end up with a giant wild fire with dozens of homes destroyed; just imagine how bad it would be if the firemen ignored certain fires (because their owner hadn't paid) and so they let the fires get bigger. Fire service is absolutely an essential government service required for public safety and the good of the public.

[a.kitman]

Note that this is different from the question of whether or not you believe it is desirable that a universal service be provided through universal taxation.

this might not be true if kh is affected negativly

[KrazyHorse]

It's hard to find your position as creditable when you claim basic public services like fire service isn't required for the public good. Fires spread you know. Out here it is pretty routine for some jackass to throw a cigarette out of his car window and end up with a giant wild fire with dozens of homes destroyed; just imagine how bad it would be if the firemen ignored certain fires (because their owner hadn't paid) and so they let the fires get bigger. Fire service is absolutely an essential government service required for public safety and the good of the public.

If you don't understand what a public good is, please feel free to educate yourself. It is not something that is provided for the good of the public. It has a specific definition.