• AtomicHotSauce@lemmy.worldEnglish
    89·
    3 months ago

    Retired firefighter/paramedic here. It’s simple: Fire departments don’t normally generate revenue. It’s a money-sink and local governments don’t like that. The first things financially cut when I worked for a city of 170,000 were always services that didn’t make money. That’s just how it works.

    Why police departments need heavy armor and assault accoutrements is beyond me, though. I mean, all that shit didn’t help whatsoever in most mass-shootings.

    • snooggums@lemmy.worldEnglish
      74·
      3 months ago

      It’s a money-sink and local governments don’t like that. The first things financially cut when I worked for a city of 170,000 were always services that didn’t make money. That’s just how it works.

      The whole point of government is to collect taxes to pay for stuff that isn’t revenue generating to spread out the costs!

      • bambooEnglish
        16·
        3 months ago

        But that’s socialism, noooooo \s

          • HappyFrogEnglish
            1·
            3 months ago

            In what definition or context is this true?

            • the_crotch@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
              1·
              3 months ago

              All of them? I’m not sure I understand the question.

              First result on google for “socialism definition” as an example

              a political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.

              Governments running businesses is what “owning the means of production” means, in every context, by every definition.

              • HappyFrogEnglish
                1·
                3 months ago

                I think we think of “profit” differently, but sure.

    • Empricorn@feddit.nlEnglish
      14·
      3 months ago

      The government isn’t a business, for fuck’s sake! Some services like police, fire, health are necessary, but don’t generate revenue! Also, even the most profitable corporations on the planet still have IT, Management, and HR departments that don’t technically make money.

    • Katana314@lemmy.worldEnglish
      13·
      3 months ago

      I saw Rebel Ridge on Netflix, could very well be that police departments generate revenue through Civil Forfeiture.

      (It’s a fictional thriller, not a documentary, but very much based on modern realities)