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There is nothing wrong with it in principle and I agree with your sentiment. That said, a broader issue manifests when the following perceptions occur alongside
by sailfast 7y ago
There is nothing wrong with it in principle and I agree with your sentiment. That said, a broader issue manifests when the following perceptions occur alongside your purchase:
1. Public perceives the rich do not pay enough taxes and have continued to pay money into politics to keep it this way
2. Firefighters working for municipalities do not make enough money due to public funding shortages (see above taxes)
3. Firefighters go to work for Insurance companies / the rich instead of working for municipalities because of said pay disparities
4. There are not enough firefighters to protect my home because they are working for private companies after I paid to train them.
End result perception: That rich person is getting preference because they are rich, when it should be that all citizens should have equal access to public services like a fire engine to put out flames - at least according to our typical societal norms when there isn't an out of control blaze.
"I'm rich so I can pay for it" is totally right, but only works until an angry public burns the house down. A better long-term solution that provides public services for more citizens at a higher level of reliability is one potential outcome.
- kauffj 7y agohttps://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2012/07/firefighters-dont-fight-fires.html https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2012/07/fi...
- sailfast 7y agoQuite right. As my post mentioned quite explicitly the issue here is about perception, not about the reality. Second, it's difficult to talk about compare national fire levels when you're talking about localized forest fires and the need to surge to protect. If your house is burning, but your rich neighbor is fine, you start asking questions. So what you get is "my house is burning and the mayor is saying there aren't enough resources to save it but only the rich guy got the mitigation" - people start asking questions. The solution is (like all things) somewhere in the middle - raise the level of public services in a way that allows for better mitigation / protection (which requires money), so that the reasons for misperception are no longer there (the house doesn't burn).