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Obviously the person you replied to meant "free to the homeowner". Instead of sarcastically playing dumb, you might review the HN community guidelines. In term

Obviously the person you replied to meant "free to the homeowner". Instead of sarcastically playing dumb, you might review the HN community guidelines. In terms of "someone else" paid for it, well yes, in every good society to live in there exists the concept of "an individual person shouldn't have to pay for this, but it benefits everyone to have it, so we will use collectively pooled resources to create it". It's not hard to see how avoiding lead poisoning in a country's children benefits that country a decade down the line.

sokoloff 3y ago
Municipal plumbing is a collective concern. I’m happy to chip in my share and expect you to do the same. I’d hope that was part of the cost of water service, but if we need a municipal bond to pay for it, so be it. I don’t expect you to pay to replace plumbing inside my house nor think that you should expect me to pay for yours, whether that’s in the form of 50% of just your pipes or 0.00005% of 1 million people’s pipes.
- margalabargala 3y ago
  There's first order effects like the state of municipal plumbing, and then there's second and third order effects like how widespread lead poisoning will lead to increases in crime a decade or two later. The quality of the society we live in and overall crime levels are a collective concern IMO, and something like this is a great example of a way to adjust that.
- prpl 3y ago
  Brain and learning development of the population is also a collective concern, otherwise we wouldn’t have public school and IEPs. Banning lead plumbing with subsidies for removal is a collective improvement
brvsft 3y ago
> "an individual person shouldn't have to pay for this, but it benefits everyone to have it, so we will use collectively pooled resources to create it". Millions of individuals will pay for it. Got it.
- margalabargala 3y ago
  Millions of individuals pay for it now, yes, as a collective investment which pays off many times over a couple decades later as the public does not have to pay for the societal damage caused by widespread lead poisoning. That would be both a decrease in crime, and in an assortment of health issues. The benefit realized down the line would be impossible to reach by each homeowner acting individually, as not everyone would be able to pay (and the people least able to pay statistically are likely to have more children!), so by having millions of people pay for it, we reach a better result. This is IMO an example of a success of government.

sokoloff 3y ago

Municipal plumbing is a collective concern. I’m happy to chip in my share and expect you to do the same. I’d hope that was part of the cost of water service, but if we need a municipal bond to pay for it, so be it. I don’t expect you to pay to replace plumbing inside my house nor think that you should expect me to pay for yours, whether that’s in the form of 50% of just your pipes or 0.00005% of 1 million people’s pipes.

margalabargala 3y ago
There's first order effects like the state of municipal plumbing, and then there's second and third order effects like how widespread lead poisoning will lead to increases in crime a decade or two later. The quality of the society we live in and overall crime levels are a collective concern IMO, and something like this is a great example of a way to adjust that.
prpl 3y ago
Brain and learning development of the population is also a collective concern, otherwise we wouldn’t have public school and IEPs. Banning lead plumbing with subsidies for removal is a collective improvement

brvsft 3y ago

> "an individual person shouldn't have to pay for this, but it benefits everyone to have it, so we will use collectively pooled resources to create it". Millions of individuals will pay for it. Got it.

margalabargala 3y ago
Millions of individuals pay for it now, yes, as a collective investment which pays off many times over a couple decades later as the public does not have to pay for the societal damage caused by widespread lead poisoning. That would be both a decrease in crime, and in an assortment of health issues. The benefit realized down the line would be impossible to reach by each homeowner acting individually, as not everyone would be able to pay (and the people least able to pay statistically are likely to have more children!), so by having millions of people pay for it, we reach a better result. This is IMO an example of a success of government.