Turns out way back when there really was fire insurance. Firefighting was a private business, with competition to keep down costs, etc.
What happened was that firefighters would sometimes start fires to drum up business. Sometimes 2 companies would show up at the address of a burning building and instead of fighting the fire, they'd duke it out for the right to fight the fire and get the cash.
It didn't work well, and that's why we ended up with socialized firefighting. You can see a pretty accurate example of all this in the film "Gangs of New York".
Keep the posts coming, I'd rather see you here than in facebook!
Turns out way back when there really was fire insurance. Firefighting was a private business, with competition to keep down costs, etc.
ReplyDeleteWhat happened was that firefighters would sometimes start fires to drum up business. Sometimes 2 companies would show up at the address of a burning building and instead of fighting the fire, they'd duke it out for the right to fight the fire and get the cash.
It didn't work well, and that's why we ended up with socialized firefighting. You can see a pretty accurate example of all this in the film "Gangs of New York".
Keep the posts coming, I'd rather see you here than in facebook!
Wow. That's insane, hilarious, and good to know. And thanks.
ReplyDelete