Don Kresch wrote:
> In alt.atheism On Sat, 26 May 2007 10:43:12 -0700, "Mike Painter"
>
sbcglobal.net> let us all know that:
>>> Don Kresch wrote:
>>> In alt.atheism On Sat, 26 May 2007 10:15:45 +0100, "brique"
>>> let us all know that:
>>>
>>>>
>>>> James A. Donald
echeque.com> wrote in message
>>>> news:e34f53tham4ksec1ub097taj4dgn8df0q5@4ax.com...>>>
>>>>> We don't have a universal education system today. We
>>>>> have a universal schooling system, but it makes no
>>>>> attempt to educate a large proportion of students.
>>>>
>>>> you claimed :
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> " But private enterprise *did* manage it before the state-funded
>>>> system existed."
>>>>
>>>> So prove it.
>>>
>>> It's quite well historically established. You're asking for
>>> something that has as much evidence as the Viking voyages to
>>> Greenland and the North American coast.
>>>
>> Private enterprise did a lot of things before state and federasl
>> government stepped in.
>> They built roads to their own standards and they stopped at the city
>> limit. They had their own fire services and frequently fights broke
>> out over who would put out the fire - and the house burnt down.
>
> Cite?
"Franklin Fire Insurance Company in its 100th anniversary history states
that in the early years in Philadelphia ".each insurance company maintained
its own fire company." With the proliferation of insurance companies, it
became difficult for each company to recognize its own fire. Each insurance
company then adopted its own "house mark" to identify properties it insured.
When the fire alarm sounded ".all of the fire companies would respond, but
only the company whose house mark appeared on the house in danger fought the
flames." 1
The 1938 publication "Fire Mark" by the American Reserve Insurance Company
states, "The fire marks.were guides to the competing Volunteers in
determining whether or not a fire was worth the effort of putting it
out...But if a piece of property bore no Fire Mark the gallant volunteers
more often than not quickly left, for then as now, there was no small profit
in gratuitous acts of benevolence."2
Even today fire departments are reluctant to cross area boundries if there
is no mutual aid agreement in place.
Few cities in the United states could afford anything but small volunteer
companies with 30 year old equipment without state and federal support.
Local taxes would barely pay for communication, gas, repairs, and safety
gear.
>
>> Oakland California
>
> Is a city, and as such, an invalid thing to cite for private
> ops.
So a city government should be allowed to run a fire service in a manner
that may have catistrophic effects on it'sa citizens?
How exactly do you determine what type of government should not be allowed?
>
>
>> Corporations are *required by law* to maximise their profits,
>
> Really?
Yes, really. Look it up.
>
>> so training
>> for a job in their industry would be the fate of all but the
>> brightest. Naturally top manegement would send their children to
>> private schools to qualify them for the good jobs.
>
> Perhaps.
To provide more would not maximise their profits and that is required by
law.
Why would they offer more than needed for their assembly lines.
>
>> Minimal reading skills would suffice. No need for math since the
>> computer makes change.
>
> Mmhmm. And your evidence for this is....?
Because I've seen the people behind the cash registers at Wal-Mart and
McDonalds.
>
>>
>> There are things a government should do.
>
> There is nothing a government should do.
>
History shows what happens when a govenment does nothing.
You would be living on dirt roads with septic tanks and no medical, police,
or fire support. Your next door neighbor might decide to sell gravel and
your dirt road would be soon torn up by the trucks going by all day. (Which
happened recently in an area of Northern California which decided they would
not let the county impose zoning laws. They got their wish.)
