The US Postal Service is NOT Too Big To Fail
Submitted by McWilly on Tue, 07/31/2012 - 15:42The latest financial report is out from the U.S. Postal Service, which is forecasting two massive defaults on employee health benefits in the very near future. One totaling more than $5 billion that is due this Wednesday and one due in September that is over $5.6B. Don’t get me started on how the government has made ridiculous promises to its workers, who regularly retire far earlier than private sector employees and with absurd retirement packages. That’s just beating a dead, financially toxic horse and it’s common knowledge at this point.
What you think would also fall under common knowledge, or more likely “common sense” would be that keeping a bloated, antiquated branch of government open in its current state, despite its continued bleeding out financially is a horrible idea for a country that is already setting records for national debt. The still-terrible plan to bail out the banking industry was due to their being deemed “Too big to fail.” They had their sticky fingers in so many pots and employed so many people that politicians couldn’t stomach the economic earthquake that letting the market right itself would have caused. The Post Office does employ a large number of Americans itself – the USPS website numbers the total at 546000. However, with annual budget shortages ($5B loss last year) and an additional projected 30% loss in revenue through 2016 (where it will get even worse) mean that this is a sinking ship with zero chance of righting itself.
Spooner v. USPS - competition forced lower postal rates
To begin with, Spooner couldn't understand why the Post Office should have a monopoly on mail delivery. He was schooled enough in law, however, to know that the Constitution ordered Congress to provide for mail delivery and it had done so with a postal department. But the wily Spooner found a loophole - the Constitution did not declare that a private citizen could not do likewise.
He died in 1887, his death barely noticed by the public. No one seemed to remember the man who had been able to show everyone what old-fashioned courage and enterprise, plus competition, could do to change things. He had proven that a cheaper and more efficient postal service was possible.
http://www.lysanderspooner.org/STAMP3.htm
Spooner vs USPS
Thanks for the info and link, bytejockey. I'll check out that link.
Out of curiosity, I noticed you used "v" instead of vs for versus. My understanding of when to use v is when what's being discussed is a court case. Otherwise, use vs. Anyway. Was Spooner in a court case against USPS? Perhaps your link will inform me. Again, I'll check it out.
School's fine. Just don't let it get in the way of thinking. -Me
I'm not a stickler on the abbreviations
but there were court cases involving Spooner and the USPS.
1) If the private market
1) If the private market wanted to get into first-class mail, they'd make their stooges in Congress do it. UPS alone outspends the postal service 15:1 in lobbying spending.
2) The reason the post office is losing money, is that in 2006 IIRC, the government forced the Post OFfice to fund its pension plan for the next 70 years. That means that they are setting aside money for people they haven't even hired yet. So they've been dumping money into that fund all these years; that is why they went from being slightly profitable to losing billions in a span of one year.
Plan for eliminating the national debt in 10-20 years:
Overview: http://rolexian.wordpress.com/2010/09/12/my-plan-for-reducin...
Specific cuts; defense spending: http://rolexian.wordpress.com/2011/01/03/more-detailed-look-a
No. But they are too incompetent
to exist without using government aggression to keep them afloat.
The Post Office has a total 100% monopoly on letter delivery
for FedEx or anyone else to deliver a piece of paper inside an envelope they must call it a package or else they are breaking the law.
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I remember reading a while
I remember reading a while back that a private service can deliver an envelope but they must charge three times more than the government.
Here's a conspiracy theory
Maybe the government wants the PO closed down - can't snoop in people's personal or person to person paper mail like they can e-mails. Packages can be sent Fed-ex or express (which can be checked).
Just thinking out loud - don't take me too seriously.
R U KIDDING ME?
As a Ron Paul supporter/ postal employee, I am really saddened by the strong opinions and lack of knowledge on this subject. The post office is a self funded government agency, that was making billions in profits in the early 2000's. The Gop passes a law in 2007forcing the PO to prefund retiree health benefits for the next 75 years, in 10 years. That means they are paying for benefits for employees that haven't even been hired yet!The payments are 5.5 billion a year and that is about what we are coming up short.(pretty good with E mail and poor economy)And if you think that 55 billion is going to be sitting there waiting to be used collecting.5% interest your crazy. that money has been stolen.The PO is the ONLY government agency forced to prefund retiree benefits, and that is because there was money to be stole. Well the PO isn't making the money they used to so congress just needs to stop the theivery and the PO will be fine. Thanks for listening, Don
More than meets the eye to USPS' woes
I thought there's more than meets the eyes to USPS's woes. I wrote this comment to someone saying I thought something fishy was going on but that I couldn't recall a detail of it. Thanks for your comment, donaldo.
What I'd like to see is the government get out of the way of anyone who wants to do for himself, in this case deliver mail. If someone wants to deliver mail, let him. Let business be, let the market be -- let the individual be. If the individual can do for himself, poverty becomes nothing more than a word.
School's fine. Just don't let it get in the way of thinking. -Me
That concept is more important than many realize, excellent +1
Ah but if we could do for our self, why would we need so much government? The solution, as I see it, is to allow small individual micro business, tax free and predominantly unregulated. Notice how government does the exact opposite by enforcing laws and regulations that prevent small individual business creation. Zoning, licensing, minimum wage, OSHA, USDA, EPA, etc. all work against the individual "to do for himself".
Excellent point; this was the
Excellent point; this was the fact I was citing in my post.
Plan for eliminating the national debt in 10-20 years:
Overview: http://rolexian.wordpress.com/2010/09/12/my-plan-for-reducin...
Specific cuts; defense spending: http://rolexian.wordpress.com/2011/01/03/more-detailed-look-a
BEN SWANN WEIGHTS IN
http://libertycrier.com/government/reality-check-is-congress...
nope, not kidding you
the USPS is not self-funded. I cringe every time I hear this myth perpetrated. According to the USPS Wiki page: "However, it does receive tens to hundreds of millions per year in "implicit subsidies", such as breaks on property tax, vehicle registration, and sales tax, in addition to subsidized government loans."
Yes, you are correct that the pre-paid retirement is ridiculous,wasteful and generally a stupid idea, but the Post Office does not cover all of it's own expenses, it is subsidized by government. If you are Ron Paul supporter then you MUST understand why so many here would be against it.
I'd rather have a bottle in front o' me than a frontal lobotomy
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www.bijoustudio-atx.com
Then by your standard every
Then by your standard every business is funded by the government because they all get tax breaks and insentives. also half of americans get government subsidized loans, but the PO and it's 500,000+ employees should be shut down? Without the theft by congress or the "hundreds of millions in subsidies" the PO would still be profitable. Yes I donated my 2500 dollars (on my interest free chase CC) and I DON'T understand why so many here are against it, unless the are listening to the GOP propaganda. Check to see how much $ Fed Ex and UPS gave the GOP.
I'm with your donaldo. Keep
I'm with your donaldo. Keep shining the light...
"Liberty, once lost, is lost forever" -John Adams
It's hard not to be a menace to society when half the population is happy on their knees. - unknown
Post Office employees (like you and those I spoke to) get it.
4 different Post Office employees at 4 different Post Office locations said the EXACT same thing. One also said something about having too many postal "masters" per employee but said that only applies to larger Post Office locations with a lot of employees.
Daily Show - Too Big to Mail
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-december-15-2011/too-b...
Great door-to-door interviews.
( Warning: Toilet Humor :) )
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
Use for Gov't Business Only
Just use it for Gov't business. Private letters and business can be handled privately. Keep the USPS but have it only deliver government bills/taxes, absentee ballots, notifications, census etc. Ditch the junk mail.
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
They Need to Stop Delivering Mail on Saturdays. They do not
have the funds to support having mail delivered 6 days a week. The price of postage going up every year is should stop also.
A.Hansen
The only reason its in
The only reason its in trouble is because of government mandates on what it needs to do with its money. Get rid of the specific mandates(I think it was pensions or something like that I read) and it earns enough to at least break even.
The responsibilities of the post office...
should have been privatized the MOMENT it became convenient to do so. The current system is still about as efficient as the Pony Express. I could deliver mail faster by Ankle Express.
Unnecessary. Period!
If any "business" deserves
If any "business" deserves bailing out by congress it would be the post office...at least its constitutionally the business of congress...I could see the argument based on the constitution that congress fund the post office...there is much more justification for it than say the dept of education...or housing and urban development...I almost approve when congress almost does its job...which is not to say that I think the post office is efficiently run...but at the time it was established UPS and other private carriers did not exist and the ONLY method of reliable mail delivery was government funded
Sounds like
Sounds like a perfect time for a reasonable Constitutional amendment. The way you deal with an "old" Constitution is not to just ignore it as some statists like to do, but to amend it.
_________________________________
Freedom - Peace - Prosperity
If any "business" deserves
If any "business" deserves bailing out by congress it would be the post office...at least its constitutionally the business of congress...I could see the argument based on the constitution that congress fund the post office...there is much more justification for it than say the dept of education...or housing and urban development...I almost approve when congress almost does its job...which is not to say that I think the post office is efficiently run...but at the time it was established UPS and other private carriers did not exist and the ONLY method of reliable mail delivery was government funded
Postal monopoly comes from Postal Clause in Article I, Section 8
The Constitution empowers congress to establish the post office.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postal_Clause
Article I, section 8, Clause 7 of the United States Constitution grants Congress the power to establish post offices and post roads, which has been interpreted as a de facto Congressional monopoly over the delivery of mail. Accordingly, no other system for delivering mail – public or private – can be established, absent Congress's consent
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Postal_Service#Un...
The same
The same people who defend the post office and scream, "who will deliver the mail," are probably the decendents of the lunatics who defended slavery by saying, "but who will pick the cotton?" Let's allow the market to figure that out.
http://lionsofliberty.com
POW!
haha, that retort was a solid sock right to the kisser JOA.
http://www.lionsofliberty.com
The only things
The post office sends me are bills I pay online and jury duty notics. Seriously who uses the post office?
http://lionsofliberty.com/
I do. And if it goes away
I do. And if it goes away I'll miss it. It's pretty reliable, except in Chicago. Hopefully something better will come along.....
"Liberty, once lost, is lost forever" -John Adams
It's hard not to be a menace to society when half the population is happy on their knees. - unknown