Toledo police refuse concessions

The Toledo Police Patrolman's Association gave the city and its taxpayers a huge middle finger this week. They voted down concessions that would have saved the city $4.08 million, a relatively minor sum in the face of a $48 milllion defecit that absolutely must be balanced.

The average salary of a Toledo cop is considerably above the citywide median income. Probably over twice the amount. Yet these selfish bastards refuse to give up anything, even though the city can't afford to pay. And even though they already make way more than the average worker. To the fire department's credit, they did accept concessions.

This is a situation no doubt repeated in cities across the country. Due to economic collapse caused by centralized economic planning, they can't afford to pay public workers for even the most basic of services. Sure, the public workers have a self interest to make as much as they can. But the inherent deficiency and corruption of public finance makes the situation untenable.

Ultimately, voluntary and private defense agencies and fire departments can and should take over these roles that are now monopolized by the state. I know that must sound like a crazy, off the wall idea to most people. It did to me at first. It makes more sense once you finally accept that is impossible for government plans to serve everyone equally and efficiently. This is just as true for fire and security services as anything else. If the government is a bad economic planner, there is no reason such important sectors of the economy should remain hamstrung.