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You're ignoring that in almost every other instance where you could have had insurance, you receive assistance and pay the price. This is not insurance, this i
by elbrodeur 16y ago
You're ignoring that in almost every other instance where you could have had insurance, you receive assistance and pay the price.
This is not insurance, this is a protection racket.
EDIT: By protection racket I mean this: I think in this scenario there is little distinction in letting something bad happen when it is well within your ability to stop it and making something bad happen.
"If you don't pay up I'm not going to be able to stop Vito over here from breaking your legs if he tries to break your legs..."
- Semiapies 16y agoYou're ignoring what I just wrote. Also, a "protection racket" is when some thugs retaliate against you if you don't pay them, not when people refuse to provide a service you've previously refused to pay for. I also have a dim view of the laws of the Alaskan city, but there's no call to throw around accusations of "intellectual dishonesty" and such just because you're angry, too.
- elbrodeur 16y agoI did gloss over your main point, sorry. Insurance does work. It worked in this case: The neighbors houses were saved. But when insurance is the ONLY means by which a burning house can be saved we should rethink how we treat emergencies.
- tptacek 16y agoYes. People should not be allowed to build residences in areas that don't have suitable fire coverage; the fees and taxes required to enlist surrounding communities into protecting them should be mandatory.
- duck 16y agoI don't want anyone telling me I can't build on land I own just because I can't get fire protection.
- tptacek 16y agoTough, is what I think. Build wherever you want, but expect to pay extra for putting fire departments in the position you're putting them in.
- Semiapies 16y agoThat seems fair to me, as opposed to simply banning people from living in the boonies.
- duck 16y agoWell, most people that live in an area that doesn't have fire coverage know this and understand it. I guess these people didn't (or maybe when your house is one fire you forget). What I am saying is as long as you understand this everything is fine, for both sides.
- tptacek 16y agoA protection racket is when you pay to avoid damages, lest someone from the vendor incur those very same damages to you in retaliation for not paying. The fire department didn't set the fire. Words mean things.