"RG" == Robert M Gary writes:

RG You understand. Before we had gov't firefighters in the US we
RG had figher fighter insurance. Private companies would provide
RG fire protection for a fee (less than your taxes). It worked
RG great

Even a simpleton should be able to understand why, in fact, it didn't
work great: house A pays the fee, house B doesn't. B catches fire,
it's allowed to burn, then catching A on fire, which is put out, but
with B completely destroyed and A partly.

Putting out fires, like so many things in civil society, works a lot
better (read: cheaper overall) when everybody is involved, not just
some.

In fact government can and does many things more efficiently than
for-profit private. Here in Sacramento the public utility SMUD has
much cheaper electric rates than the for-profit PG&E.
--
I read about an Eskimo hunter who asked the local missionary priest,
'If I did not know about God and sin, would I go to hell?' 'No,' said
the priest, 'not if you did not know.' 'Then why,' asked the Eskimo
earnestly, 'did you tell me?'
~ Annie Dillard