Public Funding for FireFighters Drops, Sparks Surge in Private Sector
Today, a decline in public funding for firefighting services has sparked explosive growth in the private sector. The world’s largest insurance company – American Insurance Group – now has “Wildfire Protection Units” in 150 US zip codes.
In my humble opinion, this is the triumph of the American ideal. It makes perfect sense for insurance companies to either protect assets that would cost them money to repair or replace, or charge policy holders a fee for the firefighting service.
The inevitable question is, of course, the uninsured. However, mortgage holders are required to have valid insurance on their homes, and renters are covered by the landlords.
I really don’t see the drawback here, although I’m not at all suggesting that public firefighters are no longer necessary on the local level (I do not support federal funding for such organizations though). But, this is yet another example of the private sector naturally doing what is necessary. When will we learn to trust the market?
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While I certainly agree in more local funding than federal funding for this kind of function (for both fairness AND responsivness), I’d think that firefighting is solidly on the short list of things a government is good for. I, too, applaud the creativity and resourcefulness of the private sector. But it seems things like (legal and physical protection of life, liberty and property, policing and (to some extent) infrastructure are the raison d’etre for a government.
The upshot of my comment is to say that while I like the idea of government spending going down overall, among the last places that comfort me to know it’s dropping would have to be firefighting.
What’s more, if the government is, on the whole, growing, yet shrinking in these more vital areas, then the net result can only be: the stuff the private sector not only can, but SHOULD be doing better is getting more gov’t funding — funding it doesn’t deserve, will waste and I don’t want it to have. And that only results in the atrophying of the private sector’s education, innovation, medical care, job creation and cultural (among other things) muscle.
@Matthew Tilley
I totally agree with you there. This post was more of an illustration of the power of the private sector. But there is certainly no question that one of the very few functions that the government should provide and publicly fund is police and firefighters.
It’s funny. I read this post while one of those infomercials was playing in the background that tell you how “anyone can get a government grant”. You know the one. It has that little short guy that moves his hands up and down the same way over and over again while talking.
JUST CALL NOW and let Uncle Sam fund the daycare that you run out of your brother’s garage! Need a little extra cash because you wasted yours on that Beanie Babies investment? CALL NOW!!
It’s almost as good as the “bankruptcy worked for me” lawyer commercials we have running in NC right now.
Of course, Ben, those aren’t really examples government waste- you can’t actually get that money from Uncle Sam. AFAIK, those infomercials are without exception pyramid scams.