Patrick Gibbons of the Nevada Policy Research Institute suggests that Las Vegas/Clark County firefighters may be overpaid . In the words of the profession, did he receive a backdraft.

I don't know whether firefighters (who these days are likely to spend more time serving as public safety first responders--medical emergencies and so forth--than fighting fires) are overpaid. I do know, from observing two different cities that I've lived in, that you don't have to have a highly-paid, unionized workforce in the fire department. In these two cities--one population 30,000; the other, about 65,000--the force is a volunteer one, with firefighters paid a token amount (about $10, if memory serves) each time they train or are dispatched.

Those of us who think that government can and should get a lot smaller are beaten over the head with statements such as "Don't you believe in having a police force? A fire department?" (As if the obvious need for firefighting and policing functions justifies bridges to nowhere and public employees taking over more and more tasks that used to be performed in the private sector and civic sphere.)

As Gibbons points out, though, even some of the most sacrosanct reasons for justifying government don't necessarily mean that we need high-priced, bureaucratic services.