Everything that’s wrong with the public discussion over government funding and spending can be summed up in this Seatte Times editorial seeking charitable donations to help fund Medic One training. (Well, maybe not “everything,” but it sure is indicative of how totally fucked up our tax system is.)
MOST King County voters assume their vote every six years for the Medic One levy covers the full cost of emergency medical service. This levy, reasonably separate from the county’s beleaguered general fund, covers basic operating costs of a service that is the gold standard in the country.
As many county residents readily tell you, this is the best place to have a heart attack; survival rates are higher than any other place, with Rochester, Minn., close behind.
… DONATIONS will be accepted by phone, 206-744-9425 or by e-mail at info@mediconefoundation.org. Quality training and medical research is a worthwhile investment.
So if the service is so valuable and so well run, why should we be reduced to begging for money to help fund it? And by the way, the reason the general fund is so “beleaguered” is that so many essential services like Medic One have been pulled out of it, that there is little flexibility remaining in how to prioritize general fund services, and little popular support left in funding.
Furthermore, if they’re going to insist that tax increases remain off the table, isn’t it time for the budget hawks at the Times to stop writing about all the services they support, and start suggesting what services they think we should cut?
Medic one and fire departments shoul dne be part of the levy process. Thay should be part of the genral fund. That is basic governmment. Things that are not requred for day to day life and safety like say bronze salmon on overpasses should be levy items….or better yet funded by donation.
Gawd I need to proof read more often. I suck at typing.
Gee, I’m tempted to repeat the post I made about the privatized & outsourced 911 and the fire service, but it’s too much work to put together, and I’ve got too much to do today.
But I can’t get the image of a paramedics kneeling over an unconscious heart attack victim, one holding a credit card reader, and the other shuffling through their pockets looking for their wallet and a credit card, before they can render aid.
Furthermore, if they’re going to insist that tax increases remain off the table
Oh you mean like the utter smack down the income tax initiative took?
Well it’s too easy..see…Any and all folks who voted for an income tax should be expected to send their donations immediately. They clearly believe that the government knows best how to spend their dollars…So pony up income tax supporters…
@3
But that’s the libertarian paradise that our local trolls and Republicans in general fantasize about.
At some point uncritically anti-tax is going to run afoul of essential/critical government operations, both locally and nationally.
What level of absurdity has to be reached before the incompatibility of these two trajectories becomes clear?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30.....8#40540298
This editorial isn’t surprising. The Seattle Times is, after all, the Republican Times; and substituting charity for government, and donations for taxes, is a fundamental Republican meme.
I don’t have to spell out that the basic differences between their position and our position are that:
1) Donations are voluntary whereas taxes are compulsory, and
2) Charitable givers decide who gets their largesse and what it can be used for, whereas when government supports a program with taxes we all decide together what is funded and how the program is run.
It doesn’t take an idiot to figure out that a system of public services supported by charitable giving depends for existence on, and is totally run by, one or a few donors who dictate all the terms and conditions of their charity to the rest of us. No discussion is wanted or needed. It’s take-it-or-leave-it.
This is the kind of world that the Frank Blethens of the world want to create for us. We, the people, have no say in anything. Rich people act as our parents and decide what’s good for us. And what they’ll primarily decide is primarily good for us is that they and their progency will stay rich and will continue running everything forever, and the rest of us will remain their obedient and subservient subjects forever.
Fuck you, Frank. I’ll pay taxes. You can take your charity and shove it up your ass.
Right Stuff @4,
Fine. And all those who voted against the income tax should be denied essential public services like Medic One. Go resuscitate yourself.
I’ve contributed annually to the MedicOne Foundation for years. I think it’s such a valuable piece of our community that I’ve put a bequest to them in my will.
That said, it’s a mark of the cold hearts of Americans that training those who wish to undertake this most basic of human services — the epitome of the life-supporting social safety net — isn’t part of the standard program of government.
@4 I think the more interesting question is how many of the high-income freeriders who benefit from our state tax system that’s heavily skewed toward taxing low incomes will pony up for Medic 1 and other essential government services. My guess is “none.”
By the way, something to remember about charitable giving by rich people is that they get tax deductions for their gifts and most of them wouldn’t give a fucking dime if they didn’t get those tax writeoffs.
Which is just another way of government paying for the services that private gifts pay for.
I wouldn’t go quite that far, Goldy. However, I would demand a credit (not debit) card or cashier’s check from him before initiating CPR, starting oxygen, or administering medications.
Enjoy your V-fib, Right Stuff.
OMIGOD the gummint made a $12 billion PROFIT on the bank bailout!!! Red Alert!!! Communists are taking over the gummint!!! Obama was born in KENYA and educated in INDONESIAN terrorist training centers and is a KORAN-toting MUSLIM!!! (Pssst – it was actually Bush who initatied the bank bailout, but … oh, never mind.)
Repeat, the gummint made a PROFIT on the BANK BAILOUT. Muslim alert!!! Muslim alert!!! Mulsim alert!!!
Ask any Tea Party Main Streeter and he’ll tell you the bank bailout was SOCIALISM at its WORST and cost the taxpayers TRILLIONS and created the DEFICIT all by itself. Never mind they don’t know what they’re talking about, they’re just MAD that the banks survived and the little guy lost his job. It’s all OBAMA’S fault, you see. (Pssst – it was actually Bush who initiated the bank bailout, but … oh, never mind.)
These ignorant people who have no facts and don’t know what the fuck they’re talking about and get everything wrong and DO EVERYTHING WRONG not only want to run our government but also want to tell the rest of us who to pray to, how to brush our teeth, and who we can fuck.
They should never be allowed to run our country. That’s my two cents.
# 7: One thing which escapes us in the charity vs. taxes dichotomy is that the wealthy have a considerably different perspective of charitable giving than the rest of us.
You see, I give tithes and offerings at my church. If there is something which seems worthy of support but which isn’t already in the church budget, our pastor presents it to the congregation and we either make an offering to support it, or not, on an individual basis.
Likewise, I support individual charities as the need is made known to me. If I think they provide a worthy service, I send them a check. They send me a receipt, and I can expect to receive regular fundraising appeals in the mail from them. But that’s about it.
For the wealthy, however, it’s a different experience. They expect to be wined and dined before the cash can be pried from them. The expect to attend functions where they are fawned upon, provided free meals and alchohol, and entertainment to boot. They expect appointments to board positions which require no actual work, but look awfully good on the resume or obituary pages. They sometimes do it as part of the ticket required to enter the higher reaches of society.
Sure, they give more than the average Joe, in terms of real dollars. But to them it’s no sacrifice – it’s only a fraction of their available funds, and they won’t miss a penny of it.
I ran into this reality when I was on the (working) board of a domestic violence shelter. I, and the other board members, were rather naive when we thought that contributors would appreciate that we were being frugal when we kept our fundraising expenses low, so that more of the money went to providing actual services. An experienced fundraiser let us in on the secret. She said that if you spend a huge amount on an extravagant fundraiser with an expensive meal, free alchohol, orchestra, and entertainment, you might only clear 5% profit on the event, but that was considerably more than a inexpensive fundraising campaign that brought in $5, $50, and $100 donations from a much larger donar base.
So I’ve come to the conclusion that one of the reasons why the wealthy among the anti-tax crowd hates government workers is because they just do their job, without smiling, fawning upon them, and granting special favors in the manner they are accostomed to receiving services in the finer stores. Likewise, the IRS just expects them to file their returns and send in the money, instead of treeting them to an evening of high dining and entertainment before cajoling them into writing out their checks.
If a person is such a slacker that he or she can’t fund his or her own medic service, then that person doesn’t deserve resuscitation. Survival of the fittest and all that (whoops, not that there’s anything to evolution; it’s just a theory, you know).
Wingnut ideology is going to drag us down to the level of Haiti, where a few filthy rich people sit on balconies sipping margaritas while everyone else survives by eating dirt.
I have a modest proposal.*
Instead of eating dirt we eat republicans and teabaggers. Other than possible health issues I don’t see any down side.**
* Borrowed from Jonathan Swift…
** Typical right wing type humor. Fuck you if you can’t take a joke.
It really is a choice between charity and justice. I don’t think anyone can argue with that. I choose justice over charity any day…what on earth is wrong with people these days that they cannot distinguish between the good feelings they get from dropping $3 in a charity-pot and the satisfaction of knowing that every person’s medical, housing, education and food needs are met because we are a caring and just society that has no room or need any longer for all the “giving” posers?
Okay, I found a copy of one of the posts I made about a year ago, which seems relevent here:
If the Fire Dept. was handled the same way as health care in the U.S.:
911 Automated Recording: “You have reached the Firmacare Security 911 Emergency System. Your call is very important to us. Please wait for an operator to come on the line. In the meantime, please have your prepaid account number for 911 service ready, along with your PIN and social security number, and enter that information at when prompted. If you do not have that information handy, hang up now and call back when you have it. If you do not have an account number set up with “Contracted 911 Service”, then you will need a major credit card to set up a new account. Please wait for the next available operator. Your estimated wait time is …. 25 minutes”….
Caller: “&*!!!!$@@!!!X&!!!”
911 Operator: “Hello, welcome to the “911 service’. Our goal is to provide you with excellent service! How may we help you”
Caller: “Help! My house is on fire!”
911 Operator: “I understand that your house is on fire. Is that correct, sir?”
Caller: “Yes, my house is on fire!!!!”
911 Operator: “Would you like us to send an Emergency Response Fire Team to your house?
Caller: “Yes!!!! Send the fire department right now!!!!!”
911 Operator: “Okay, first let me check your account. (pause) “In reviewing your account, it seems that you have not updated your information in a while. Could you please verify your home address, telephone number, cell phone number, and e-mail address???”
Caller: “Just send the fire department to 1234 Mercer Place South, right away!!!!!”
911 Operator: “Okay, I understand that your address is 1234 Mercer Place South. Is that in Providence or Cleveland?”
Caller: “What the hell do you mean in Providence or Cleveland? It’s in Seattle, dummy!!!!!”
911 Operator: “There is no need to get abusive, sir. If you continue to get abusive, I will have to terminate this call”.
Caller: “Look, how come you don’t know I live in Seattle?”
911 Operator: “Sir, I have no way of knowing where you live unless you tell me, sir!”
Caller: “Just where the hell are you located, anyway?”
911 Operator: “Sir, I am not allowed to give out that information. Now, please, let us proceed, I have to complete this call before I can go to lunch.”
Caller: “Lunch??? At 2:00 a.m.???? You are in Pakistan, aren’t you????”
911 Operator: “Sir, I am really not allowed to give out that information. Do you want me to send someone out to your house, or not???”
Caller: “Yes, please send someone right away!!!!”
911 Operator: “Okay, but first let’s look at your policy. I see that you opted for our ‘Expanded-basic’ protection package. That allows for service calls between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., with an extra charge for off-hour dispatches. Would you like to pay the extra charge, or would you like to wait until 8:00 a.m., and call back at that time?”
Caller: “Yes, I’ll pay the extra charge, just send someone out right now!!!!”
911 Operator: “The extra charge for off-hours assistance under your policy is…. $28,395.89. We will need payment at this time, before we dispatch the emergency response vehicles.”
Caller: “$28,395.89!!!!! That’s highway robbery!”
911 Operator: “No, sir, it’s capitalism. If you had read the 6-point font on page 237 of the booklet we sent with your billing three months ago, entitled “Changes to your Plan”, you would have seen that we have discretion to charge you whatever we calcluate to be the “prevailing rate” for off-hours dispatches. Do you want the service now, or do you want to call back later after 8:00 a.m.?”
Caller: “Yes, dammit, just send out the fire trucks!”
911 Operator: “Okay, I have your credit card information on file, and I am processing the charge now. Now, did you say you want more than one truck?”
Caller: “Yes, send everything out!!!”
911 Operator: “Now sir, that would be a wasteful expenditure of resources, and I’m sure you would agree that such waste just ends up adding to everyone’s costs. We will send out one car to examine the extent of the fire and determine the appropriate response which is required. This information will then get submitted to our claims processing department, which will evaluate the fire in consultation with our team of experienced fire investigators, and make a decision on the appropriate response.”
Caller: “And how long will that take?”
911 Operator: “The claims committee meets on Wednesdays and Fridays. Unfortunately, this is a Saturday, so it will take some time before they make a decision. If you had been more prompt in making your call or anticipating the need for our services, you could have called on Thursday and have had a decision by Friday.”
Caller: “You have got to be @#!!!!! kidding me!”
911 Operator: “Now sir, if you continue to be abusive I will have to terminate this call.
911 Operator: Oh, I have some bad news. It appears that when you signed up for our service, you filled out an application form which said that you don’t drink alchohol. But a check of your credit card statements over the past 12 months has revealed a charge 0f $28.36 three months ago to ‘Joe’s Bar and Grill’. It appears that your insurance policy for this fire will have to be voided due to your misrepresentation.”
Caller: “I don’t drink, dammit. My wife and I just ate dinner there. We drank iced tea!!!!”
911 Operator: “Now sir, we are hardly in a position to evaluate that at this time, are we? If perhaps you could obtain a detailed receipt for that meal, showing exactly what was ordered, and fax it to our claims department, you could appeal our denial of coverage.”
Caller: “My &&##!!**** reciept just burned up, along with the rest of my house!!!”
911 Operator: “Now, sir, I’ve warned you about your abusive language twice now. I am going to have to terminate this call. Unfortunately, we cannot provide a refund for your off-hours service fee, as that has already been processed and our denial of coverage is deemed to be a service provided to you under the plan. Thank you for calling and allowing us to provide you with excellent service today.”
“Click”.
@9
I dont think so. Isnt it a reflection of the cold hearts of our local liberal politicians who prioritize crappy public art funding over police, fire, and medic one….
I think everyone here is ok with paying taxes for essential services, but we arent ok for paying for bullshit BEFORE essential public services. Why is that so hard for local progressives and their politicians to recognize?
crap-ass public art, stupid ass auto-toilets, worthless computer programs that dont work, funding for pet projects that only serve a very few(political contributors no less) the list goes on and on and on and fucking on….
How about someone in charge FINALLY puts polirce, fire, medical, and other essential publics services FIRST ON THE LIST, INSTEAD OF LAST!
assholes.
@13 Roger, don’t even bother to try. The wingfucks are just going to scream and holler about how that $12 billion going back to the government is wasted money and should be redirected into private hands. No matter that if the deal had gone the other way it would have been horrible waste and (GASP!!!!!) SOCIALISM!!!!!!
There’s no point trying to reason with psychotics–and even less trying to moralize with crooks.
@14 Meh….I work with a group that puts on an annual charity circus–acrobats and aerialists, of which there happen to be a lot of good ones around here–to raise money for children’s brain cancer research. Yeah, if there were a way to run a “silent bake sale” and just have people send the money it might be more “efficient”…but it’s really fun (albeit a hell of a lot of work) putting the thing on, and a lot of people get seriously entertained in the bargain.
On the other hand, high-roller fundraising is a big industry in and of itself. Look up some of the folks who work as “charity auctioneers” and check out their fees. It’ll take your breath away.
It might be pointed out that in the past, some municipalities have arranged for their emergency medical services, although taxpayer funded, to be run by private contractors. This may have become more awkward in recent years, since it’s expected that most if not all police and fire units be trained and equipped as first responders. But back in the day, it wasn’t a big deal. Every few years the contract might go to someone else, the rigs would be painted a different color, but they’d keep the same paramedics on board.
stuff @ 4
Does this deal include you forfeiting your share of government services?