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Did insurance fire brigades let uninsured buildings burn?

tomscott.com

361–370 of 440 posts

Re: Did insurance fire brigades let uninsured buildings burn?

#361

Even with this information included. I think the moral of the story is America has some very serious third-world problems. The reason things like this go on in America and not in any other developed country is that Americans just accept it. "They didn't pay, so they die." Here is how much they accept it, firefighters literally stood and watched a building burn down instead of playing with their toys. Not only that, t…

> I think the moral of the story is America has some very serious third-world problems. The reason things like this go on in America and not in any other developed country is that Americans just accept it. "They didn't pay, so they die." Here is how much they accept it, firefighters literally stood and watched a building burn down instead of playing with their toys. Not only that, the fire department refused to accep…

I agree with your categorization of this as a US issue,not a "3rd world" issue.

As an ex fireman, in a so-called "3rd world" [1] country, we often got involved in fires "beyond our juristriction". Our job was to put fires out, not worry about insurance or legal liability etc. We were never reprimanded for doing so, and there was never a suggestion of anything other than gratitude.

[1] 3rd world was originally the term for non-aligned nations during the cold War. The West was the "first world" (obviously), the USSR was the second world, and the rest was the 3rd world.

Not surprisingly, since a majority of the unaligned countries were in Africa, South America and Asia, 3rd World became a perjoritive term for "undeveloped" or "backward".

If being "backward" means not having the "money rules everything" approach of the USA, then long may we remain backward.

Re: Did insurance fire brigades let uninsured buildings burn?

#363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't mean to apologize for some of the awful things that go on in the United States, but your comment seems to come from the point of view of someone whose understanding of the country is built on popular media and clickbait headlines, rather than first-hand experience, if I may be so bold. Keep in mind that what gets reported on and popularized is what sells clicks/views/etc, and is not very representative of "no…

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Re: Did insurance fire brigades let uninsured buildings burn?

#364

This reminds me of when I learned there was no such thing as "The Children's Crusade". As my history professor put it, "going to the Holy Land was an incredibly expensive endeavour reserved for a very few. There's no way anyone was going to waste it on young, inexperienced children". Nearly every source we had saying that the crusade involved children came much later, after a few writers referred to the same source w…

IIRC, the Children’s Crusade never made it to the Holy Land. Instead they ended up a port in Europe where some “friendly” people offered to take them to the Holy Land on their ships for free. Turns out they were slavers and the children were taken to Northern Africa and sold as slaves. This story sounds actually plausible as it may not be that far from where the children started to a port city.

Interesting. That's pretty much the plot of Pinocchio.

Re: Did insurance fire brigades let uninsured buildings burn?

#365
post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah. I’m not sure where this certainty is coming from considering how youngsters couldn’t be part of the crusades considering they’ve historically always been involved in conflict: > In 1814, for example, Napoleon conscripted many teenagers for his armies.[28] Thousands of children participated on all sides of the First World War and the Second World War.[29][30][31][32] Children continued to be used throughout the…

As far as I know, the draft in the US has always had a minimum age of 18, and one could volunteer at 17, but only with a parent's consent. Most young men grow considerably between 13 and 17.

As late as WWII boys would routinely lie about their age to enlist early.

Re: Did insurance fire brigades let uninsured buildings burn?

#366
post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

sincere question about medical costs of that cancer survival: it seems like a standard thing to compare. if we just look at the non-experimential stuff, is there something interesting? are US treatments better? even if adjusted for costs? can we even compare them somehow? purchasing power parity, sure, and cost breakdown of states/regions, differences in coding, market sizes and thus market efficiency, regulatory com…

Poor people in the US don't pay for their cancer treatments, the government does. They broadly use the same medical facilities as everyone else wherever they live, which do vary with locale. Some rural backwaters may not have the most advanced tech, you have to go to a city for that. The segment of the US with most challenging cost problems are the lower-middle class. Not poor enough for the government to pay for eve…

this is true but there is more still.. one search term is "medically underserved"

Re: Did insurance fire brigades let uninsured buildings burn?

#367
post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Money can be exchanged for goods and services. If you want your house extinguished then pay for it.

In developed countries that’s where our tax dollars go.

I’m not sure that not receiving a service you didn’t pay for is any worse than going to prison or getting a lien on your house.

Re: Did insurance fire brigades let uninsured buildings burn?

#368

Clearly, the fundamental argument here is about private provision of services vs. public provision of services. Is the optimal fire protection service one based on private subscriber payment to firefighters or a publicly (taxpayer or other government revenue-funded) operated fire department? The best IMO way to view this is to first clarify whether or not that service falls into the 'natural monopoly' category, at le…

I think there is a distinction between a natural monopoly that people are compelled to pay for, and one which is only regulated.

For regulated monopolies, there's further the distinction well if they are paid by the users of the service, or by taxes levied on the general population.

When it comes to water power and electricity, I think individuals should be able to opt out if they do not want the service by the Monopoly.

Re: Did insurance fire brigades let uninsured buildings burn?

#369
post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The US has the highest preventable death rate in the developed world. They also have by far the highest obesity rate in the developed world. > Have diabetes and no insurance? That's pretty much a death sentence and they'll watch you die. Need surgery? No insurance? No surgery and death because of complications caused by the lack of surgery. I'm supportive of universal healthcare, but this is a huge exaggeration. If…

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That's simply untrue. My nephew is on insulin for life and he spent a long time homeless.

Where are the "reports constantly of people dying in the US because they tried to get their insulin to last them multiple days and ended up dying"? There are isolated cases where someone doesn't take care of it and dies, but it isn't widespread.

Maybe take a break from the propaganda you're reading (In Ireland, I assume?).

Re: Did insurance fire brigades let uninsured buildings burn?

#370
post #344

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the last century you (as in “you over there,” not you) made Iceland default on its loans rather than help them out causing them to suffer both as a country and as a people. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008%E2%80%932011_Icelandic_fi... In the last decade you failed to offer help to hundreds of thousands of refugees because nobody could figure out who owed who. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_European_migrant_c…

I think it’s fair to compare only intranational affairs with other intranational affairs, as correct as you may be to point out the shortcomings. But these are apples to orange comparisons. The public transit point is fair, but my understanding is that that is due to the right wing government, which is also the root problem in America.

France will have a second public transportation strike over wages shortly. https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/french...

Not helping someone until you figure out who’s paying is a way of life for Europeans.

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