TYT: Fire Departments Billing Homeowners to Put Out Fires!

Run time: 05:55 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwsbNtBJsSA   Posted on YouTube: February 06, 2010 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: February 07, 2010 By DU Member: Joe the Liberal Views on DU: 1561

 
This country has gone so far to the right that even police and fire departments are starting to charge some folks to put out their fires or pay for police services. Of Course not every fire and police department but a few are charging people as Cenk explains in this video. Basically a republicans wet dream come true.

After all, we already have corporate slave labor in prisons; might as well enslave some debtors in prison, too. Hell, lets make the Republican wet dream come true, and bring back chattel slavery.:mad:

:eyes:

they (f.d.'s) have been doing this for quite some time....

"on edit"....New Castle, In. is 14 miles away from me....

The judge found me guilty. I have heart failure, and asked for com service, so I didnt go to jail. Then, I appealed, and that fucking crooked bunch was reamed by the Attorney General. IT's all about the benjamins.

...Fire department, Police, Libraries, road and bridge maintenance, etc. - all paid by tax dollars - are what Repigs call "socialism" - they want to privatize it all and charge for everything - including eventually - the air you breathe (well, if you want it to be non-toxic and clean, that is) so the money ends up in corprat coffers.

"I want to KEEP what I earn!" declairs the outraged teabagger. What? No more budget for basic public services? Oh! No problem - just privatize! The Amerikan people have been reduced from citizens to consumers to simple money conduits for the ownership society. The dehumanization of civic life is nearly complete.

Americans don't like to pay taxes because their taxes go to the wrong things: war, defense contractors, more war, corporate welfare, Wall street bailouts, and did I mention -- war.

If it went to pay for health care, efficient public transit, and education so that college graduates don't start their working life in a deep hole, it might be different.

'Charity is a cold grey loveless thing. If a rich man wants to help the poor, he should pay his taxes gladly, not dole out money at a whim'. -- Clement Attlee in "The Social Worker"

Federal funding to state and local governments was cut. Taxpayers reject renewals and increases in local taxes. Local services like fire protection are cut to where people are billed.

There are about 600 teabaggers in Tennessee who think that's just fine...until something happens to them.

Paid (career) firefighters are absolutely necessary in cities and most larger towns. There's too much activity in these places to have to depend on volunteers to drop everything and make several calls a day for everything from actual structure fires to accident scenes to false alarms. Places with paid departments have been cutting back on the number of firefighters on their departments for years and years - over declining tax revenues.

Volunteer departments don't have to pay for manpower, but they are under almost all of the other costs as a paid department. One piece of apparatus - ONE! - carries a sticker price of $100,000 minimum just for the fire engine itself. Most cost $150,000 and more. This price doesn't include the cost of hose, SCBA (air tanks and masks), rescue tools and equipment, firefighting gear (boots, pants, coats, helmets, and gloves), insurance, utilities, fuel, and maintenance of the building, apparatus, and equipment. That's alot of BINGO games, folks.

Should fire departments be forced into the financial position of having to present a homeowner with a bill? OF COURSE NOT! In my mind, that's all kinds of wrong. Paid or volunteer, firefighting is dangerous enough that having to worry about where you're going to get the funding needed to continue to serve the community is JUST as wrong as billing the victim of a fire or accident. And no fire department makes THAT decision on their own. Those who are on city councils and township supervisory boards are TELLING the fire departments that they're not going to get the funding they need and will have to look elsewhere for the money they need to operate - and they almost always tell the chief that he should think about billing those who need the fire department. Some of them even have the municipality's lawyer show them the laws that permit this or tell them how it's legal and how the homeowner's policies will cover the bill.

Yes, the answer is more tax revenue. Flat taxes (most municipalities have flat percentages for their income taxes, etc.) don't work and are unfair. Just like with federal-level income taxes, those who are getting more OUT of the economic system should be expected to put more money BACK INTO the community. After all, they have more and hence have more to lose from fire, theft, crime, etc. The federal system places an additional burden on those who fare better economically. The time is long overdue for the same system to work for states and municipalities. Firefighters should NOT be placed into the situation of having to bill people for what they do.

Celtic Merlin
Carlinist

Until we have political leaders who actually fight for the people, nothing is going to change.