No pay, no spray: Firefighters let home burn

[Hauldren Collider]

The "american values" trolls are pathetic, as usual.

In case some of it is actually borne of ignorance, this is municipal law, meaning the response would vary in other jurisdictions and states.

[Asher]

They're true. That's what makes them pathetic.

It says a lot about a culture when your neighbors watch your house burn down when they can do something about it.

America is a heartless country. The bottom line is more important than people's lives and people's livelihood. The American dream is to push down others so you can rise to the top.

[SlowwHand]

What if you were the only one paying for services, but all got use of the services? I don't think they should have let the house burn, and pets perish, but look at all sides of the question.

[Hauldren Collider]

I might forgive you for saying Tennessee is heartless. But I know you're just trolling, so I won't bother.

xpost

EDIT: Oh and this is to say nothing of how ridiculous the idea of "heartlessness" is when applied to economics. It's almost as bad as "fairness".

[MOBIUS]

They aren't trolls, the values of your country are seriously ****ed up - but then you've got a silver spoon stuck so far up your sphincter to notice yourself...

EDIT: Asher has said it more eloquently than me.

[Hauldren Collider]

MOBIUS: You're an idiot.* What makes you think that things operate this way in all of America?

*but we knew this already didn't we

[Flubber]

This. If he said he's willing to pay their costs, put it out and bill him the amount.

The problem here is that the county didn't have a county-wide fire fighting service.

Does the county have taxing authority? If it does, the simple solution is for the county to contract the service from the city for ALL county residents and then recoup the costs from their tax base. I know that many smaller towns do that type of thing in Canada.

[MOBIUS]

City taxes.

Rather than what MOBIUS the Mouth keeps insinuating that I think, why not a county fire department? I would think there are county taxes in place.

Clearly there is a reason why there isn't one. Perhaps the county is full of gun-toting libertarian anti-socialist hillbillies who have got the taxes down so low that the county simply can't afford to provide a county-wide fire service...?

The guy in the OP sounds like a hillbilly from his quotes - he probably deserves it for that simple fact alone.

[Hauldren Collider]

Does the county have taxing authority? If it does, the simple solution is for the county to contract the service from the city for ALL county residents and then recoup the costs from their tax base. I know that many smaller towns do that type of thing in Canada.

Yes, it often works this way in Virginia because cities are legally required to be independent from counties.

[MOBIUS]

MOBIUS: You're an idiot.* What makes you think that things operate this way in all of America?

*but we knew this already didn't we

That's my point, Douche the Younger. The Haves like your family can sit in their ivory towers and enjoy their multiple ensuite toilet/bidet combos, while the Have Nots across vast swathes of the country live in areas blighted with 3rd world services...

[Darius871]

They could just charge him a massively higher charge than the 75 $....for example 1000$
(after all he said he would pay whatever they wanted, if they just came and put out his fire).
I assume most people will find it better to pay just 75 $ a year, than risk having to pay >= 13 times
this value at once in case of a fire

I'd like to hear someone's response to this. I guess one could say people would still just take their chances, but realistically wouldn't be too hard for some actuarial prodigy to pick an after-the-fact number high enough that people would rather pay the $75 akin to insurance, and then double that number just to be extra-sure. What am I missing?

[Hauldren Collider]

That's my point, Douche the Younger. The Haves like your family can sit in their ivory towers and enjoy their multiple ensuite toilet/bidet combos, while the Have Nots across vast swathes of the country live in areas blighted with 3rd world services...

You idiot.

They live that way because they CHOOSE to. I live in another state, there is literally no person I can vote for (when I turn 18) that would have any authority to change the way this county operates as long as I don't live in Tennessee.

America has fifty states, all of which are to a large extent sovereign in their criminal and civil codes. They have their own semi-independent militaries. They run their own police forces. This is called federalism, children, and it means that saying the laws of one city in rural Tennessee makes America heartless is as ridiculous as saying that the Burkha law in France makes every member state of the European Union anti-muslim.

[MOBIUS]

I'd like to hear someone's response to this. I guess one could say people would still just take their chances, but realistically wouldn't be too hard for some actuarial prodigy to pick an after-the-fact number high enough that people would rather pay the $75 akin to insurance, and then double that number just to be extra-sure. What am I missing?

That it's a good idea and less heartless...?

Remember, this is the US: they don't do good ideas and compassion is a rapidly dwindling commodity...

[SlowwHand]

They aren't trolls, the values of your country are seriously ****ed up - but then you've got a silver spoon stuck so far up your sphincter to notice yourself...

EDIT: Asher has said it more eloquently than me.

Than "I".

[DanS]

What's to stop some enterprising fire departments from extortion? IE, starting some fires on non-paying residents' land.

That's what happened when the firefighters were privately-run societies, as they were for much of US history. Mob-infested.