The U.S. Postal
Service (USPS) currently owes $99.8 billion in benefit payments to its current
and retired workers but does not have the money, and if Congress does not act
to fix the problem, the Postal Service may have to “implement contingency plans
to ensure that mail delivery continues,” according to a new report by the
Government Accountability Office (GAO). “At the end of
fiscal year 2013,” said the GAO, “USPS had about $100 billion in unfunded
liabilities: $85 billion in unfunded liabilities for benefits, including
retiree-health, pension, and workers’ compensation liabilities, and $15 billion
in outstanding debt to the U.S. Treasury—the statutory limit - See more at:
My Take – I don’t really know if this is true or
not, but when I was in high school a teacher - who was a world traveler during
his summers off –claimed at one time the French postal system (decades ago) was
so efficient and effective that people used to order their groceries via the
system and get them the same day.
While not
delivering groceries any longer – if they ever did – it's still seen as an
effective instrument of service to the French people, but it is also highly
subsidized, as is about everything else in France, but at least it seems to
work. This business about the U.S. Postal Service
offering banking services made me laugh and shake my head, until I
realized the French do it.
The thought I take
away from this is one of concern. The Royal Mail is a financial disaster and had to
be privatized. But who really knows what privatization means in a socialist
society? It may mean as little as it does in the U.S. - we will still foot the
bill in the end. The French service is effective but highly subsidized, as is
the U.S. service, no matter how they frame it.
So do we get this -
highly subsidized and financial disasters. Even if they are effective in delivering the mail they're all financial failures.
They're either running massive deficits or highly subsidized or both. The French seem
to like the financial services offered by the post office, but what happens
if all those subsidies end?
The U.S. post office now claims they should be
doing banking, which is highly competitive, highly complicated, and the essence
of capitalism, yet they can't deliver the mail with financial competence. And I'm not even going to blame management for this because the way things are sturctured I doubt there's anyone in the world capable of fixing it. One thing is for
sure - if all these postal services ever wish to become financially solvent
they have to rid themselves of these public employee unions. But they don't and won't- the govenment doesn't and won't - society doesn't care. So let's stop whining and keep paying the bills until it all collapses. After that we won't need to worry about mail delivery, because we won't have the money to pay the bills they deliver anyway.
See - Problem solved! Nuf Ced?
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