Burn the Rich.

• Author: Smith, Eric F.
• Position: Letters - Letter to the editor

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Matt Welch is right on the money in "Burn the Rich" (January). Perhaps the most important point that the critics of privatized firefighting have overlooked is that the firefighting services about which they complain are being provided by a private entity, AIG, in exchange for a higher insurance premium. AIG obviously arrived at the conclusion that it would be more cost-effective to provide heightened fire protection in the form of additional trucks and other prophylactic measures than to pay out possibly millions in indemnity payments for fire-damaged property in high-risk areas.

AIG should be applauded for its proactive approach, which probably will result in lower insurance premiums to its policyholders in the aggregate. I can't see how AIG's approach is any different from a corporation's paying for its...