dstewart wrote:We have a system for that: It could be called "paying your own way." Paying for your own medical care, paying for your own insurance. It's direct, completely ties risk to cost. (I'm not sure, but that might be what you call selfishness.)
Where do I have to live to see that system? When I read that alcohol and tobacco costs SOCIETY over a half trillion, I'm assuming that's not a "pay your own way" plan.
I live in Canada. I pay for other peoples poor choices through my high taxes. I don't use the hospitals, yet people go to emerg for cuts and bumps. This is driving us broke as a country. Smokers who fall asleep with their cigarettes and burn their houses down, cost the rest of us in taxes to pay the fire fighters. Drug and rehab programs cost people who don't use drugs.
I'd love a "pay your own way" system for those who choose not to wear helmets or seatbelts, or who drive drunk and take up the resources of our police, or the 10,000 other things that people choose to take risks with at the expense of others.
FYI: my car and life insurance is higher than it should be because of other peoples mistakes. This is not a fair system.