Firefighting used to be a private service since Roman times until recently. Some old buildings in my city still bear a plaque saying "Fire insured" signaling that in case of fire, they should be saved. If not, the firefighters would just control the spreading to other (insured) buildings.
Yep. People talk about "peak capitalism", "late capitalism" etc. but they don't realize the world used to be much, much more extreme. Even until a few centuries ago, even public cops or prosecutors weren't a thing.
Isn't that why people call it late capitalism, because it is in its final phases? Pure, unfettered capitalism has been dwindling for a long time, mostly because of issues like slavery, severe exploitation of workers and forced child labor. Yet still many issues remain.
I would say peak capitalism is colonial times, when companies had private armies and people were enslaved/massacred for profit.
You joke about firefighting but you couldn't have picked a worse example. That is one of the major misconceptions people have about required local services - it's not required.
