“After her sport utility vehicle sideswiped a van in early February, Shirley Kimel was amazed at how quickly a handful of police officers and firefighters in Winter Haven, Fla., showed up. But a real shock came a week later, when a letter arrived from the city billing her $316 for the cost of responding to the accident.”
They actually changed the law in Winter Haven, so that the cost of police and firefighters, is not covered by your taxes. Taxes are the money we pay the government, to give away to big companies, where they then, throw that money into a fire.
It has long been believed that taxes went to things, like roads, schools, police, and all sorts of sh*t we need, but NO. NOT TRUE.
Whether the cop is going to be sitting with his thumb up his ass, beating down little girls, or working on paperwork, he is still getting paid. Why should anyone be paid extra, because they are doing their f*cking job? The audacity of these people blows my mind. IT MAKES ME WANT TO TYPE LIKE MOFRACKIN KANYE WEST!
April 13th, 2009 at 12:17 am
FIRST!
April 13th, 2009 at 12:21 am
Truly a sad moment for those in Florida.
April 13th, 2009 at 12:21 am
SECOND! but yeah, if it ends up like that everywhere else.. we’re all getting shafted
April 13th, 2009 at 12:22 am
wow…
April 13th, 2009 at 12:23 am
I agree that is a crck oof shit ur they arnet being paid to give tickets they are there to help peple in time f need!
April 13th, 2009 at 12:23 am
Ummm…fuck the system =]
April 13th, 2009 at 12:23 am
Wow…that sucks. D:
In Canada, all our taxes go to health care and then random useless stuff…13% TAX PEOPLE! It sucks but we get our health care…
April 13th, 2009 at 12:23 am
lmao
Kanye West
all hell would’ve broken loose
April 13th, 2009 at 12:23 am
“MOFRACKIN”
I lol’d
April 13th, 2009 at 12:24 am
Phil, this thing will become more and more prevalent. It really sucks, as our government is no longer by, of, and for the people… They look out for themselves these days, and most people happily let them do it. We have trillions of dollars disappearing into a black hole, with not a thing to show for it. If the rest of us used our credit cards like that, we’d be destitute and homeless, but they don’t have to front that bill. We do.
April 13th, 2009 at 12:24 am
That’s ridiculous.
April 13th, 2009 at 12:25 am
i second that notion.
:]
April 13th, 2009 at 12:25 am
Couldn’t agree with you more, fucking US government is filled with d-bags making new laws just to fuck us over knowing that they’ll never be affected by it. And the fact that the lady never even knew about that law being passed, either that’s ignorance on her part or, the most likely of situations, the government failed to notify everyone. Seriously, think of the most retarded thing possible, now, that’s going to be the next law they come out with. Like c’mon, people getting paid more for doing what they’re meant to do, what the fuck is happening….
April 13th, 2009 at 12:27 am
Firs- Aw, damnit!
April 13th, 2009 at 12:27 am
Like Ice Cube says, “Fuck tha Police”
April 13th, 2009 at 12:37 am
so now how does this work?
Who gets this money?
Is it like a tip or something?
The cops and firemen split the money or what?
Taxes are still paying the wages and overhead no matter what thy are doing.
Corruption.
April 13th, 2009 at 12:40 am
The thing is that the police are not here for the people. There are supreme court cases (the most recent in 2005) that say the police are not constitutionally required to protect the people. They are there to enforce government law and policies.
April 13th, 2009 at 12:43 am
i would be pissed if i got charged 4 police to show up i gues the government is sticking it in ur %SS
April 13th, 2009 at 12:52 am
Well I do agree that people being paid extra for a job that they are already being paid for seems a bit ridiculous, it is seen every around our society such as jobs that involves tips. Your essentially rewarding people for doing their job to the most of their ability. That seems unnecessary as they are already paid for the job they are doing. I mean should people do their job to the best of their ability, you don’t see firemen or paramedics getting tips for trying their best, so why different jobs. Now i know their not the same jobs and they revolve around completely different things, but you still can see my point i’m hoping. This is just another example of the ridiculous thoughts that people should be paid extra for doing their jobs properly.
April 13th, 2009 at 12:53 am
Well… the government has allways stuck it in our ass…
“You have no rights! Just temporary privileges!”
-George Carlin
April 13th, 2009 at 12:53 am
That is soooooo f*cked up! Then doctors will wanna check your bank account first just to make sure they get paid before they save your life….
April 13th, 2009 at 1:21 am
she should refuse to pay. i would
April 13th, 2009 at 1:41 am
Up here in Washington, we had a person take the state to the courts since they were charging people something like .00001 dollars per something on land to pay for ambulances and it was supposedly “unconstitutional.” He one his case and the state has to reshuffle that, which caused our local services to go into private ambulances and such, which they charged for. It’s plain crazy, but I wouldn’t be amazed if there are people going up to the state saying the minor taxes for these services are illegal, and then not caring for the aftermath of what they’ve done.
April 13th, 2009 at 1:55 am
but then she goes to jail…
April 13th, 2009 at 2:34 am
You can’t compare the extra money going to the government to tips in a restaurant. The tip system in the restaurant business was designed to ensure the best service possible and it works. Have you been to any country where the tips are built into every bill? Also those who work for tips get paid way less per hour than those who don’t (generally).
The government of Winter Haven is smart though. Instead of fixing their problems and running efficiently, like they should, they just threw that cost at the people, just like a lot of businesses. Not that I agree with it but the people need to stand up and change it. Otherwise they don’t have too much room to bitch.
April 13th, 2009 at 3:22 am
This goes to show u how broke we really are….
April 13th, 2009 at 5:02 am
Car on car? how?
April 13th, 2009 at 5:38 am
I bet the libertarians are happy now. Such bullshit.
April 13th, 2009 at 5:44 am
I am actually a medical biller for an ambulance billing company. It is generally the cost of the ambulance/firefighters that gets billed to people. The prices get pretty ridiculous. And then there are things like, you can refuse to go, but the town you’re in may have a Treat & Release charge, which means you can have nothing done to you and still get the bill. The thing that sucks is, your medical insurance may cover that bill if you said “my knee hurts” and you get taken to the ER. But insurance won’t cover refusals, so you’ll get stuck with a pretty substantial bill. But anyway, it all depends on the town. Each one has different rules and costs. Some towns have fair prices. Some towns charge $90 for oxygen (yes, the air we breathe, when you’re not going to use the whole tank, especially if you’re only 5 miles away from the hospital) and also charge you for the pulse ox reading (the little thing they put on your finger, that a monkey could figure out how to use, and that they can disinfect and use again).
Sometimes each town offers hardship (a request saying how poor you are and can’t pay), but you have to ask if they offer it. Some towns put you to collections for not paying, some simply write it off if you’re a resident of the town and have ignored your bill enough times.
Fight it if you’ve gotta.
April 13th, 2009 at 7:16 am
Canadian Health Care FTW…… sorry I couldn’t help my self :-)
But really something should be done about this situation before it becomes a nation wide trend, and then what? I am only being hypothetical of course but the situation should be addressed now in its early stages.
April 13th, 2009 at 8:47 am
third!!!
April 13th, 2009 at 9:06 am
That is such BULLSHIT! Are you telling me that if firefighters show up to your home and fail to prevent the flames from burning away your entire goddamn life, they’re going to fucking BILL YOU FOR IT?
No, wait, I must relax, I must look further into this before passing judgment on those stupid fucking assholes that run our lives, lest I become as bad as they are…
April 13th, 2009 at 9:14 am
FUCK YOU
April 13th, 2009 at 9:32 am
I’ve been saying for years that we are on the verge of Revolution, and I believe in my heart of hearts, that things like this are to be the catalyst.
April 13th, 2009 at 9:35 am
And yet they would have us all believe that their creed “to serve and protect” is directed toward us.
April 13th, 2009 at 9:38 am
Um Taxation Without Representation, the Boston Tea PArty, Revolution, any of this ring a bell? I am certain that those people were chastized for what they did, too, but it was necessary and is necessary again.
April 13th, 2009 at 11:07 am
In Norway, we normally pay like 30 % tax, and we also pay taxes for everything else. It’s possible to get a lot over 100 % tax!! We pay tax when we’re born, when we buy a house, we pay for LIVING in that house, to sell the house, we even pay tax when we’re dying. But yeah, at least we get our health care;-)
April 13th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
The government couldn’t give two shits about people. The government as a whole is a corrupt and outdated system. What the government is really looking for is power and control over the people.
Obama is nothing more than a puppet for a grand plan that has been hidden from the general public, and that’s a one world government. This is not a conspiracy – This is the truth. And a lot of this power and control is used through the monetary system – A corrupt and very outdated system.
Fact is, we gotta look out for ourselves and eachother. And most importantly, think for yourselves! Very important. Peace.
April 13th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
I’m from Winter Haven1!!!
April 13th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
Early stages? The government has been f*cking everyone over for years now. I agree, this should be stopped, and in a perfect world taxes would go towards the kinds of things that we need, and the government shouldn’t be greedy/biased/corrupted, but to rebel against this only solves THIS. I live in Canada too, so it’s easy enough for me to tell these guys what they should do, but you could go so far as to say that the ‘early stages’ began when the government charged you for medical care in the first place.
Hey, if Americans are fine with it if everything goes back to how it was before they charged for police calls and everything then that’s great, but I don’t think it’s right for them to, say, save your life then send you a bill. Especially if a lot of pepole have trouble covering the charges, or if it’s not their fault to begin with.
April 13th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
I agree. And not just Obama, but almost every man or woman of power in past years. Not to mention that the government cares more about their precious businesses and corporations than the citizens of their country. And it doesn’t matter who’s elected as long as they play along.
If voting changed anything they’d make it illegal.
April 13th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
“Have you been to any country where the tips are built into every bill?”
Yes – it’s generally referred to as “Service Charge.”
April 13th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
WTF the government sucks
April 13th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
This is nuts. so when you get a ticket for speeding do they bill you for having to work then too?
If you get your ass beat outside a club and have to get medical attention do they send you a bill for getting the shit kicked out of you too? (guess you were just looking to get your ass beat, now you gotta pay for that.)
“you just looked lime you was wantin it” “now pay up so we can haul yer ass off to the doctor’s”
if you rob a bank do they add thier $316.00 fee to the total of the money that you stole from the bank because you interupted thier donut consuming schedule having to come track you down and take you to jail?
this is about as nuts as the Sherriff a few years back that used to charge his inmates a weekly rate for loging, Laundry, food and electricity. and if the inmates or thier families couldn’t afford to pay the weekly rent they had to sleep outside in tents.
totally off the reservation with this one.
April 13th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
I was born, raised, and still live in Winter Haven, FL. Polk County is horrible!
April 13th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
What the hell? I’d be flipping my sh*t if I was her. Seriously.
April 13th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
The problem you have in the US is that you have been sold the myth of low taxes…you cant have low taxes and high services…things have to be paid for…but you keep your taxes low and then farm everything out to private companies…who add a little grease on top when they charge you….
So for all the low taxes in the US, you end up paying more than you would if things were paid for out of taxation! Its supposed to be cheaper due to maket forces, but take your healthcare system for instance. Did you ever see a poor Doctor? Why? Cos they all charge high prices no matter what. Competition is myth.
Canadian complaining about 13% tax! How about 22% tax, and 40% tax for high earnings!
April 13th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
fag
April 13th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
they’d probably charge her to pick her up to bring her to jail.
April 13th, 2009 at 7:15 pm
Well, aren’t you a happy little ray of optimistic sunshine.
April 13th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
Keep in mind, mate, that it wasn’t federal law that shafted the woman. It was on the local level, either city or county.
The problem is that the city officials were shady enough to hide it from the local populace before putting the law into place. That’s seriously messed up.
April 13th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
Actually, gratuities and service charges rarely go to the servers. They generally go to the business (by way of the owner[s]).
April 13th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
Very nihilistic and conspiracy-theorist of you.
I wonder how a “one world government” works when the leaders of the various nations can’t agree on the simplest of things?
Maybe, just maybe, you’re being a little paranoid? Don’t get me wrong, I know our system needs work (and the weasels need to be cleaned out), but I doubt there’s some mass NWO conspiracy.
April 13th, 2009 at 7:43 pm
I got special treatment at my hospital because I live under the poverty line, then again living under the povery line in Toronto, Canada and living undr the povery line in the states is completely differnt. I always laugh when I see things like this, especially about health care and taxs. My mother pays quite a bit in taxs but at least I don’t have to chose what finger I want or being able to get my prescribtion. It’s called universal health care maybe, it may be a socialist Idea but it’s a hell of a good one.
April 13th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
Well that’s what happens when you cut funding to police and fire.
April 13th, 2009 at 9:11 pm
Me too! I hate it here. As a matter of fact, I’ve actually been handed one of the bills he mentioned! Fuck that!
April 13th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
Wow. I see the government has graduate from fucking the common person to fisting them with no lube.
April 13th, 2009 at 9:27 pm
no more like third and wtf is this shit… its like the people at starbucks later charging you for the shipping and growing of the coffee beans used to make your coffee
April 13th, 2009 at 9:28 pm
I think its bullshit to pay the cop extra, but is the local fire department paid or are they volunteers? if they are paid, yes thats bullshit. Now heres where I like the idea, if they are a volunteer fire department then I don’t see a problem with them charging you. Now I say all of this as being a volunteer firefighter. We do a lot to support ourself, very little to no money from taxes is given to our department ( now that my not be true everywhere). Most often every peice of equipment that responds has been paid for by fund raisers or boot drive, and even help from the local communitys and sometimes grant moneys. I know that it seems unfare for that to happen and I wouldn’t want to have to pay, but I see it differently then a-lot of the other people on this site do. I’m just one person voicing my oppion.
April 13th, 2009 at 10:05 pm
That is sooo true. Like FTW are we supposed to do when there is an emengercy, we’re broke cause of the econmony, and someone is dieing like right before our eyes. It makes me wonder what a person would do in that situation. I really can’t spell. LOL. But really that is stupid.
April 13th, 2009 at 10:07 pm
Fourth!!!!
April 13th, 2009 at 10:15 pm
third retard.
April 14th, 2009 at 12:22 am
They’re charging the people that are at fault, so who cares. Don’t cause an accident and you won’t get charged.
April 14th, 2009 at 12:50 am
I’m pretty excited to be leaving this country to go to a place where I can build my own house without restrictions, let my kids play where ever the fuck they want, and not deal with kind of political brainwash that happens.
Really what kind of shit is this?
Charging me extra money for doing something I already pay you to do?
We shouldn’t be standing for this, even if it’s not presently happening to us.
The fucked up thing is the money doesn’t benefit the people who helped you, it goes to the people up top.
April 14th, 2009 at 3:43 am
I haven’t read all these comments, so I apologize if this is repetitive. I work for a fire department in a very small town, and we also charge people for the accidents we respond to.
Wait, let me clarify, I am a VOLUNTEER firefighter, I don’t get paid a single cent for what I do. Nobody at the department does.
This is because our shit ass tiny little town refuses to pay for fire service. This means they all got together, took a vote, and decided they’d rather spend money on something other than the fire department.
It’s not like we can respond to a car accident if we have no gas in the ambulance. Whose going to pay to buy the jaws of life? Who pays the electric bill at the fire house? Should we just leave people high and dry? Should the firefighters have to pay for the equipment? NO! Obviously not.
We are FORCED to charge people for car accidents and fires. Their insurance should pay for it, god willing. We seriously have no choice. I think you’re misunderstanding the situation.
Fire departments aren’t always funded by the government. Alot of us small town firefighters put our asses on the line without the slightest compensation. I can’t even begin to tell you what a kick in the face it is to have the citizens you serve and protect every day look you in the eye and say “Sorry, we can’t approve the funds for you to get new equipment, so you’re gonna have to just deal with the old, worn down, sometimes dangerous shit you already have.”
Can you imagine going to the scene of a car accident and not being able to cut out the victim simply because your city didn’t want to pay for extraction equipment (ie, the jaws of life)? Can you imagine being forced to watch that victim slowly bleed to death while you wait for over 2 hours for the fire department from the next town over to finally bring life-saving equipment for you to borrow?
You talk about public service workers “getting paid even if they’re just sitting around with their thumbs in their asses” You are wrong, and you should have educated yourself before making such a harsh statement!
April 14th, 2009 at 4:40 am
I sucks don’t it. That’s what we the people get for sitting on our Asses and consistantly electing the same Assholes to office again and again. When I say same assholes I don’t mean like john smith over and over, they’re all john smiths. People need to get off their lazy butts and participate(sp?), and I don’t mean on election day, I mean go out and learn how our gov’t is supposed to be applied. We narrowed our whole gov’t down to two parties of the same dickheads. They claim to be for the little guy but look at them and they’re all doctors and lawyers, who by the way sign a document swearing to always follow the party line or forgo any party support, i.e. money. Republican, democrat all the same. They just play class warfare and race warfare to shade the real deal……all about power. Those fees you’re bitching about, not about the money, but power, after all who has the ability to wave the fee? Like you said, they cannot be expected to spend the money they already take from us to provide the services that claimed that they’d be for when the asked for the taxes in the first place, not that money is needed for other things, projects…projects that needs to be headed up by people, aka friends, relatives and friends of friends, get it. It’s all a sick scam and everybody has thier hand out. The sad thing about it is that it’s OUR fault, we get caught up in fights about things like Abortion, for or against, political crack, Race once again crack, religion,more crack, the list goes on. It’s our fault because so few bother to pay attention to how the whole circus is supposed to work, for example, the house of reps. is supposed to be staffed by the little guy, the farmer the small business person, but look at it, all doctors and lawyers, and believe me they are all the same person. There is a place for the elite, it’s called the senate and the presidency or govenor. They throw those petty fights out there to make us regular people think there is a difference, they fight and argue in front of the camera’s and then go and eat, drink, and party together at night. Nothing will change until we the people get off our asses and learn how the thing is supposed to work and stop letting the elitist play the system. Stop being caught up in the bullshit, stop being a mushroom and look the fuck around. That’s why I like your site, you at least say “what the fuck”, lot of power in asking questions and making people think for a change. Next election cycle, why don’t you start a “Don’t Vote” campaign. Like if you don’t take the time to actually know who your voting for…Don’t Vote. That’s right, everybody shouldn’t have the right to vote. I don’t need you to agree, just think about it people, and if you read this take one thing from it, Don’t trust anyone you agree with all the time.
April 14th, 2009 at 4:42 am
Fire departments aren’t ever funded by the government, they’re funded by you. The government never has money, they have our money remember that, and demand that your represenitives remember that too. It’s the first thing they usually forget when the obtain office. They have NO money, they have our money.!!!
April 14th, 2009 at 4:52 am
Actually, in many towns across the country, it isn’t for people who are at fault.
You can get rear-ended, be absolutely not at fault, and still get charged for it.
This isn’t a one time thing. Fire/EMT crews across the US add on a specific auto-collision charge, sometimes only auto-extrication (if they have to use the jaws of life on your car).
I do encourage you to call up your local firechief/EMT chief and ask if they’ll share EXACTLY what they charge. It differs in every single town. Ask if they have a resident or subscriber program where you don’t have to pay. Ask what you have to do to receive a hardship form.
Some towns are very fair. And, like Zizzler below says, sometimes charge for certain things is a necessary evil. However, I have seen towns that I know are well-paid and not volunteer, that charge excessive amounts – for every little thing.
So, to this I said, if you are a diabetic and are able to have the presence of mind, make them let you test your own blood sugar. It can be a couple hundred dollar difference in some states, that one thing alone.
April 14th, 2009 at 9:28 am
you tell ‘em Phil.
April 14th, 2009 at 11:04 am
Well considering that the cost of firefighters and police are not being covered by taxes now, this isn’t really that bad. I could understand the outrage if they were being paid through taxes and also billing people, but they aren’t. They have to be paid somehow.
Granted, the fact that they are no longer paid through taxes is probably one of the dumbest ideas ever and in no way do I support that law, but I’m not going to be upset that people have to pay them.
Basically they’ve turned into any other business. If your pipes clog, you call a plumber to come and fix it for you, and when they do, they bill you for it. This is no different than with police and firefighters now.
April 14th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
There will be a fee as a cut down on hoax calls most probably. My dad works as a firefighter and he says it costs £500 (around $1000) just to get turned out…. So if you hoax call the fire service or whatever you will still get charged.
You might say this is covered by taxes. But if they didn’t get turned out when they are needed elsewhere then less of your tax dollars or pounds would be needed to pay for the firefighters or police. Hence less taxes needed hence less money out of your pocket in the long run… Or in theory thats how it should work.
April 14th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
RANDOM cheaper to let your house burn down build a new one get hurt go to Africa visit a wicth doctor civil order by having a gun and RUN if you use it
April 14th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
That’s not exactly accurate. Gratuities usually go to the servers IF they are employed by a tip based restaurant. If you go to a eat it (McCalisters Deli?) where they have “food runners” you place your order at the front and then someone brings it to your table later and if you leave them a tip they are required to turn that money over to the business who basically just adds it to the total for the day. If you go to a restaurant where the wages are tip based (red lobster, olive garden, or of course somewhere that’s actually nice) then the server usually makes about half of minimum wage on their paycheck ($3 an hour?) meaning they walk out every two weeks with a paycheck for between 20-50 bucks. They collect the tips they are left at the end of their shift add up the total of what they earned that day and then are generally required to give a percentage of those earnings to the restaurant in “tip out” which is dispersed between bus boys (who never deserve it) hostesses (who do the bus boys job on top of their own) and sometimes bartenders. Basically serving jobs are designed and performed based strictly on the tips. There is no worthwhile other means of pay that they are earning as well as the tips. What you give them is what they get to live on.
Not at all like the government deciding the police and fire departments no longer should recieve the money we’ve been paying into the system to fund their paychecks but instead they can bill us for their services as well as take all of our tax dollars.
April 14th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Do you people honestly think this money goes to the cops.. Wake up !
Do you think they have any say in this billing system.. NO !
April 14th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
Yeah I knew it. Mom and Dad say their taxes go into schools in shit but I didn’t believe it. Their’s actually this theory about the federal reserve and our taxes going to the swiss bank to pay off the vatican…but that’s another story…
April 14th, 2009 at 6:02 pm
I’m from an ex Communist country and I wanted to visit US last year ( NY to be more precise )and the US embassy denied my visa( even that my country has troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and recently my uncle died in Afghanistan helping a US military convoy that was ambush by Talibans ) . I was upset but now I must say I am very glad they did that. Who wants to visit a country where even police and firefighters sends bills. lol
PS: when I was young the communist party told us in schools that Americans are greedy capitalists. well they were right :))
April 14th, 2009 at 6:08 pm
Well our taxes go to “health care”, not that the ER wait times and “prescription drug coverage” reflect that…
Enh, at least we have it better than the US… for now.
April 14th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
Obviously this is a joke played by the master himself, stone cold Steve Austin. Who else would make the bill 316?
April 14th, 2009 at 7:22 pm
fifth??? to much??
April 14th, 2009 at 10:59 pm
See, I live in this country called Australia….
here we pay a bucket load in tax, but we don’t get any extra
April 15th, 2009 at 12:52 am
46.41% is the income tax rate for anyone earning over 125k in Canada. The 13% you mentioned is just the sales tax in your province. In Ontario, that tax is 15%.
That still doesn’t include the province’s income tax, property taxes, etc.
More than 50 cents out of every dollar earned in my family goes to the government. The national average is 44.8%. Compare that to America where the national average is 28.2%.
Free health insurance ain’t free.
April 15th, 2009 at 1:16 am
Today is one of those days where I am ashamed to say that I live in Winter Haven.
April 15th, 2009 at 7:47 am
okay I don’t get it….I live in Florida…why does all the bad shit happen here? Casey Anthony. Orange County shutting down every school possible. The crazy woman who shot herself and her son a the shooting range. This shit…WTF?! I gotta get myself outta here!
April 15th, 2009 at 9:37 pm
that’s not exactly what i was trying to say. all i mean is that most of the time who’s elected doesn’t seem to make too much of a differrence, the same decisions are being made, and they don’t usually put the people first, or at least it doesn’t seem like it.
and yes i’m paranoid, that’s because of my brother.
April 15th, 2009 at 10:00 pm
Actually, the sales tax (GST & PST) in Ontario is, in fact, 13% :)
April 16th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
after all, writing meaningless traffic infractions is hard work! phill, how dare you point a finger at security guards, wallmart door greeters, people that work at the mall, airport or convenience store. they are doing jobs that require a lot of sitting around doing jack shit!
i like your points and theories about people. Sometimes slackers are so poorly motivated that the only way to get them to ACTUALLY do anything is by throwing more capital at them… YES! this perfectly embodies capitalism and American values!!!
our grandparents are rolling in their graves.
April 18th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
Guys, I suspect the reason Winter Haven is charging by the police call is that people who live there are NOT paying taxes. Florida is notoriously anti-tax — why do you think people retire there? — and has, as a result, unbelievably crappy roads and schools. So, this is an example of what all the anti-tax conservatives want: You use a city service? Then you pay for it.
May 9th, 2009 at 8:08 am
In Sweden it’s also this way. About 30% of everything you earn goes to the government. Healthcare, police, firemen, roads, they’re all free. Going to college is totally free. Uneducated jobs pay $1300 a month, after tax being taken away, and college educated jobs pay $2300 to $2800. You’re guaranteed to have a job within 3 months, and if you still don’t the government PAYS YOU money for being out of work. Everything remotely dangerous (like alcohol) is taxed up so it costs 2x or 3x more here than mostly anywhere else.
There’s good and bad sides to everything! For instance, we do not have free access to arabian oil wells. So when americans whine about gas prices… please stfu..
Sweden is not the most exciting place in the world (not much bombs going off around these parts, and not much sharks either… we DO have ONE slightly poisonous snake though! Cool huh?! (its about 1 foot long!)) but on the other hand it’s heck of a nice place to raise a family and such.
Peace!