I'm not sure if the DEAD ppl have internet... (chicago political joke)

Like the electronic voting machines have proved to be soooooo dependable.

The Post office is in trouble because of the Republican and two Democrat that made the Post Offices to pay 75years in advance for Health care and do it in 10 yearsand over payment to pension fund.

Why did this NBC hack, Curry, write this article? I mean, do you know anybody personally whose mail is not getting through a on a regular basis?

Palmquist .... really? The post office is in trouble because none of us use the regular mail anymore! Everything is pretty much done online. Same thing for newspapers - who gets them delivered anymore? Technology is killing the economy much more so than any political party. Hence the need to invest in infrastructure and manufacturing jobs.

Under the great rules promulgated by Congress the last time the Republican's gained control, the USPS has to PREPAY for the health insurance requirements for each and every employee currently on the payroll, that includes the retirement benefits they may never earn.

NO other business in the US has to prepay for health benefits, NONE. If all employers had to prepay the health benefits which employees are PROJECTED to need, based on the employees of today, none of them would be in business either.

The USPS has also had to PREPAY for retirement benefits, which they have done, so much so that due to cost cutting, they have paid too much, yet the US treasury does not give that money back, its already been stolen to pay for Congressional pay raises.

The Republicans in Congress just want to shut the USPS down so they can have yet another purely private industry to line their pockets.

How many of you are aware that with states issuing drivers licenses without requiring proof of citizenship or birth records, voter registration is now invalidated as to the right to register? All you have to do when you register is swear on-line that you are a citizen even if you are an illegal immigrant, and you can register to vote in local, state, and national elections.

Layton-3733410,

I was on board until your final conclusion. Since much communications is currently done using the air waves, how does that justify your conclusion we need to build intrastructure (except perhaps the internet infrastructure) and manufacturing jobs. Are you simply saying we should not invest more in the US Postal Service? This is fuzzy logic at best!

dirp

Would you prefer them to not PREPAY and then you can pick up the tab when they go out of business?

Afterall the dems are making every American PREPAY for their health care. Seems like the same scenario to me.

I heard a radio commercial earlier today thet said they could fix "mail performance" problems. Let's just get the Post Office one of those great big blue pills.

Heck, forget about the postal system......VOTE via on-line, which is Washington State is now allowing.

Shucks, even if you show up at a polling place, all you have to do is show your Washington State driver's license. Wait a minute.....Washington State DOL has issued about 400,000 driver licenses to ILLEGAL ALIENS (Immigrants). There are more registered drivers in the State than there are drivers.

Even the Washington State voter's registration on-line form does NOT require notification of where you were BORN.

Pretty soon, residents in OTHER countries will be voting in our election process.

Under the great rules promulgated by Congress the last time the Republican's gained control, the USPS has to PREPAY for the health insurance requirements for each and every employee currently on the payroll, that includes the retirement benefits they may never earn.

NO other business in the US has to prepay for health benefits, NONE. If all employers had to prepay the health benefits which employees are PROJECTED to need, based on the employees of today, none of them would be in business either.

The USPS has also had to PREPAY for retirement benefits, which they have done, so much so that due to cost cutting, they have paid too much, yet the US treasury does not give that money back, its already been stolen to pay for Congressional pay raises.The Republicans in Congress just want to shut the USPS down so they can have yet another purely private industry to line their pockets.

I just thought since it was the truth, it was worth saying again.

Good Post.

This whole voting fraud thing is just another Republican lie designed to whip up their very stupid base. In the past ten years or so there have been just a handful of voting fraud cases.. IN THE ENTIRE COUNTRY.

As far as the post office goes the Tea Party congress could fix this "problem" tommorrow but they won't because; THEY WANT THE US POSTAL SERVICE DESTROYED AND REPLACED BY PRIVATE COMPANIES THAT THEY CONTROL.

A great many of those mailed ballots will come from our servicemen/women serving in war zones, but since overwhelming numbers of them typically vote Republican (who's got their back), I wonder if Obama will try to do what Gore tried to do in Florida in 2000 - have them delayed and then challenge them as not arriving on a timely basis.

BigAl Las Vegas "This whole voting fraud thing is just another Republican lie designed to whip up their very stupid base."

Since Congress has passed laws preventing people from checking to see if some voters are illegally registered to vote under 'privacy concerns', there is no way to really tell how widespread voter fraud has become. In 2008, there were many stories about 'students' coming out to Ohio (a swing state) from New York to falsely register as Ohio residents so they could vote for Obama.

With 'Motor Voter' registration laws and all of the illegal registration being done by ACORN, I suspect that there could be hundreds of thousands of people voting illegally.

Interestingly, ACORN registered 48,000 Democratic leaning voters in Minnesota in 2008 which allowed Al Franken to win by only 312 votes, which gave the Democrats the 60 vote 'supermajority' needed to overcome a filibuster, which allowed Obama to pass Obamacare using shady tactics.

It could be a big deal.

Dem4Freedom "I'm not sure if the DEAD ppl have internet... (chicago political joke)"

No problem - ACORN takes care of that for them. By the way - What's ACORN's new name now that they were found guilty of voter fraud?

Tom the mystified ...

Are you simply saying we should not invest more in the US Postal Service? This is fuzzy logic at best!

You know what? I don't have the answers. The infrastructure comment was more about building up neighborhoods. Moving away from big box retailers and malls. Bringing back locally-owned businesses into neighborhoods. There really isn't a way to employ "more" by beefing up an IT department. I work in that field and we specialize at minimalizing staff for better efficiency. My point was pretty much that technology has taken a lot of jobs away and it really has made an impact on the economy. How do you suggest creating more jobs when the fact is technology is making it so everything needs fewer workers??? I'm totally open to any suggestions.

Buergermeister .... do you read? Read the post above yours.

So if you show up to vote you have to present a picture ID from the government to prove who you are but at the same time you can vote by mail? Boy I hope all the illegal aliens that vote in our elections don't figure that out! (sarcasm)

I think you've just explained why we don't need picture IDs to vote, and why these Republican governors are simply suppressing legal votes.

I can't wait for government-run health care. Our medical care will be so much better. Just like the Postal Service. No wait, that's broke. I mean Social Security. No wait, that's broke too. I meant just like Medicaid. Er, that's broke. I meant to say run just as efficiently as Amtrack. No wait, that's messed up. What I really meant to say is that I can't wait for government-run health care to be run as well as the government runs the war on drugs. No, that's not it. I can't wait for the government to run our health care as well as it runs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Oops. I really meant to say that the government program "Cash for Clunkers" should be a model for the way our health care should be run. That was messed up too. Maybe the government can run our health care the way it runs "No Child Left Behind". Damn. I give up.

ldo,

So.... when the technology fails, or certain parts of the country are hit by something as simple as a denial of service attack, a techno-savvy Ron Paul or Lyndon LaRouche could win the Presidency, without even campaigning. I'll believe in internet security when: the Social Security Death Roll (notoriously flawed), businesses stop getting hacked for passwords and account numbers (which can give the hackers access to other information. like names, addresses, mother's maiden names, or SS numbers), and states no longer 'accidentally' release thousands of active SS numbers (as happened recently). If foreign groups can hack the Pentagon (been admitted), hackers of unknown origin can take down commercial sites (has happened relatively frequently), or perhaps even routine failure can eliminate Twitter for hours, to say nothing about growingly routine brown-out/black-outs from power failures, I say it is time for another approach.

Go back to honest paper ballots. Allow absentee ballots for those working outside their residency, be it foreign, state or even different parts of the state that would interfere with normal ballotting. For the disabled, home-bound or hospitalized, hire people similar to census reporters to provide ballots on the day before and on Election Day to take their ballots, and demand that every one else actually travel to a poll to vote. It worked for the Iraqis, the Afghans, the Egyptians, and it even worked for Mary and Joseph, just to get counted, not to actually vote. People used to travel a full day just to vote, and didn't find out who won for weeks later. Now, you lazy bastards would rather e-vote than walk across the street and stand in line with your neighbors. Why, because it takes you away from "Desperate Housewives"?

And then just wait for the results. The way we used to, like 1948 when Wendell Willkie became President. Or when CBS misreports a mass-murderer's connection to the Tea Party.

The ONLY things really driving this absurdity is the anti-social influence of social-networking and the media frenzy elections provide. The media has reduced our elections to network popularity contests based almost solely on the basest things their 'news' outlets can say about a candidate. And then they conduct useless, but self-serving, polls to virtually negate the only true poll, Election Day. The PACs and SuperPACs only worsen the problem. The real political race seems to be which PAC can come up with the most patriotic name. Meanwhile, social networking provides the same connection that those on NewsVine have, but with less thought (for some of us at least), but without any of that real physical contact. Twitters and Facebook fans, what part of artificial in articial reality do you not understand? That young college kid (like Obama once was) that you're quietly getting brainwashed by is actually a team of writers working for an ideologue financed by a politically placed billionaire.

If they can invade social networks, you can't imagine them hacking voting sites? And if you can't imagine that, don't bother voting, voter rolls (as a Pennsylvania state senator proudly announced) are easier to rig, as are absentee ballots (which actually got a certain recent Republican VP candidate elected).

The financial requirements forced upon the Post Office is only a ploy to assure its reverting to a private entity. Shame.

stop please,

No, not reverting to a private entity. It was public under the the State of Pennsylylvania, then under the the Second Continental Congress and finally under Congress; as a state entity. Private couriers have always existed, but did not become economically important until the 1960-70's when firms like DHL started to emerge, later UPS and FedEx became our "carriers of small freight". Later, they would recognize that corporate or legal paper or even currency was just more freight. Meanwhile the USPS has been there. And now USPS even contracts (for billions per year) to deilver UPS packets.

markwonder,

Can I add a few more self-imposed wounds from our latest Congress? Let's start with the military, pro-rata cuts on men, material and technology. So troops who have served longer in battle than ANY previous army or navy, will see fewer replacements, less ammunition and fewer new weapons. Next Social Security and Medicare will have to find 10% cuts in their budgets, either in benefits or oversight. Your preference? Medicaid and schoolchildrens' meals. Farm Subsidies. Federal highways,

What won't be affected -- Congressional pay, Congressional pensions, Congressional insurance, Congressional pork projects.

None of the cuts have anything to with President Obama. None of the perks either, including Congressioal franking privilege. But you don't seem to know what the argument is about in any event. It is about Congress usurping, if not raping, the Post Office to gain a quick $10billion per year in revenue from insurance and pensions, none set aside in the federal budget. I guess we now know what will fulfill the cost of services not cut.

What we need to do is hire more postal workers so we can accumulate more debt.

the Postal Service will default on a $5.5 billion payment to Treasury

Great job Mr President. Just nother notch on your belt. The worst president in history get 'woreser' every day.

USPS spokesman David Partenheimer said Thursday, “Default on the retiree health benefits prepayment due August 1 will have no effect on mail operations, including election mail

No worries. Like always, the tax payers will pick up the slack, all 50% of us.

Afterall the dems are making every American PREPAY for their health care. Seems like the same scenario to me.

JH ... Insurance is not the same thing as pre-paying. If you were pre-paying for healthcare, you'd have to plunk down a few tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of dollars when you turned 21. A monthly premium is simply the acturial estimate of your costs for the month.

Large companies are supposed to be fully-funding their pensions. That's not the question, here. The problem is that the USPS is being asked to prepay for employees and retirees that it doesn't even have yet.

I find it interesting the the party of the people, our liberals are up in arms over prefunding at the postal service. Like it or not the postal service is in decline, and like every other government run monstrosity it has an enormous overhead. As the revenues continue to fall, it will be surviving solely on the backs of taxpayers. The prefunding protects current and future retirees from the inevitable.

No private or government run agency has ever been required to do such, but how many people have been left with nothing when their private company went belly up? The 10 year requirement protects the workers and their families, as who is to say how long the postal service will be needed. The US government has unfunded liabilities far in excess of what the nation will ever be able to afford, it is too bad they didn't take a similar approach to all government managed entitlements.

I agree with spider above - the writer of the article is definitely an alarmist hack. "No mail delivery means no voting" - what a ridiculous premise. No one has forecast "no mail delivery" in even the most pessimistic predictions. The worst scenario is a slowdown in delivery standards, and a reduction of one delivery day per week.

It would be just as likely for election day to be disrupted by a massive plague that kills 80% of the population, or nuclear blasts in every state capitol. Why not write an article about those? A far more likely event would be massive voter apathy because of a lack of respectable, competent candidates for national, state, and local offices.

The issue, like with most overspending states and cities, is bloated pensions and healthcare bennies... easy solution.... whatever % the USPS is short funding their pension.... just cut pension payouts by that %.... if the company can't afford it, the retirees don't get it.....

Layton-3733410

I like an objective and good response. I too use to work in the IT field. And you are absolutely correct in that its primary value is promoting efficiency. I am quite certain that row of robots we see on GM's auto assembly line is far more efficient that a row of humans could possibly be.

Here is my analysis. We have a pie of work to be done in this country. Due to increases in the population, that pie has grown some, particularly in the service sector. BUT, we also have more workers (many here illegally) in this country. While I have no objective statistic to support my conclusion, due to automation and other forms of electronic influence, each workers share of the pie is significantly smaller than it was 20 years ago. I do not think this trend is going to reverse anytime soon.

I have a thought that might help. It is based upon these observations. Many, not all, American workers are stretched to the breaking point and have little time for their families or communities. Many workers have taken on so much consumer debt (including large mortgages and car payments) that they have little choice but to work as much overtime as possible. Many American families are made up of two income earners. Many of those pay high day care costs to allow the second member to work. Obviously, in some view sometimes this is a life-style choice and I am not here to argue for stay at home parents during child nuturing years although I personally see value in it. Many American workers need to be retrained in new fields of work. So here is my proposal.

Redefine the work week to be a 30 (vs. 40) hour week and define mandatory overtime as triple time. That immediately puts pressure on employers to hire more workers or pay a much higher hourly rate. Have the government sponsor "colleges in the town square" where Americans can spend their newly-found free hours for employment retraining (or mere learning for the sake of learning). Ironically, we may be able to use IT to accomplish this goal. Encourage, perhaps with tax credits, more civic volunteerism to clean up our communities and to promote civic sharing. Figure out some way to shift from a consumer driven economy to another form (and that is an extremely difficult task since I do not think it necessarily can be an export-driven economy). Perhaps is needs to be a healthy leisure-driven economy (whatever that would look like). But the transition to such a shorter work week, reduced consumer goods spending, increased volunteerism, healthy leisure economy will be difficult. Perhaps what we need is a complete economic collapse of this system so that it be replace anew with a different one. I hope not.

The more I write about my idea, the sillier it gets. I am convinced, however, that there is an idea out there (that will surely be a composite of a lot of individuals ideas) that will help. We need to facilitate (against perhaps with IT) a national brain-storming event where all ideas are given an opportunity to be presented without naysayers voices overriding the presenter. I think a shorter work week where the freed up hours would be used in civic activities is part of the solution. But exactly how (and whether the average American wants to volunteer) is open to debate. BUT LETS HAVE THE DEBATE!

dirp.....

Actually, every company in the country that provides health care benefits for their employees prepays for them. Every company that provides a retirement plan for their employees are also required to pay into them on a regular basis. If you work for one of them, try looking at your W2 form and you will see amounts stated for both.

Now, as for this great Republican conspiracy to take the post office private? would you care to provide us with the details?

Wow is all i can say about some of these comments. I think the worst was Markwonder. he is to put it simply quite misinformed. The best healthcare I have ever received was from the USFG while I was in the Navy. Medicare is the most efficient health insurance public or private bar none. Medicare Has Controlled Costs Better Than Private Insurance, Medicare Has Lower Administrative Costs Than Private Plans, So-called "competition" in the private health care market has driven costs up, Medicare Is Publicly Accountable, Private Plans Are Not, and finally when it comes to how much it costs private plans to deliver care, or individual insurer innovations that deliver value, the publicly available data are scarce. Now on to Social Security. Social Security is solvent until the year 2036 which is plenty of time to ensure that it stays solvent. I am sure it will be fixed by then. I for one do not wish to go back to a time before social security. I am a student of history and I can tell you it was not pretty, seniors living in shanty's, eating food made for animals etc. As for the postal service as stated by several other posters if it did not have to prepay $5.5 billion for future benefits which no other agency of government has to do then it would not be struggling and would actually be profiting around $1 billion/year. also, of note the money it prepays is ultimately used so that politicians can show "revenues" when really it's just a scam because when all the enron like accounting smoke and mirrors are removed the data shows an expenditure. it's actually some quite complex accounting gimmickry. So, Medicare is not "broke" in any sense of the word and neither is Social Security.

As for the war on drugs it's failed because we haven't asked the right question which is: why do people want to take drugs in the first place?

No child left behind failed because it didn't align test scores with learning and penalized good teachers wrongly btw it was a bush II's legislation.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had issues but not because of the federal gov't. They are quasi-private institutions that had gov't appointees from Bush II that were from the private sector that were using lack of gov't oversight to enrich themselves and the big banks knowing full well that they'd escape prosecution and the gov't would bail them out. Fannie and Freddie Mac have worked very well over their combined long life since WWII. The problem was not that they weren't private enough but that they weren't public enough ie not enough control and oversight from the USFG.

As for Amtrack i don't know that much about it yet but i am sure a large portion of their problem is twofold. first poorly maintained infrastructure. The RR tracks are deteriorating and private corporations lack the initiative to fix them. Secondly, since rr tracks are mostly privately owned the right of passage fees imposed by the companies that own them are too high for the gov't to pay to have access to the tracks needed for the most efficient transit possible this also ties in to freight being given primacy over passenger transport. that is my view from the surface. I can say i have traveled via Amtrak and enjoy it immensely.

Furthermore with bond yields currently paying real returns in the negative and people from around the world are still buying them, it is a shame that we cannot cash in on this to fund major infrastructure repair and improvement. It goes like this: USFG issues billions in bonds, with yields that mean the USFG makes money on them over the long term, earmarked specifically for infrastructure improvements, then with the economy as it stands now is such that construction supplies, labor, and equipment are at all time lows so the gov't gets a sweet deal on that in addition to putting money in people's pockets who then go out and spend that money revitilizing the economy and business reaps benefits in efficiency gains from improved roadways, rr's, ports (air and sea), electronic transmission lines, bridges, and the like. 70% of our economy is based on people consuming so until people start consuming again there will be no recovery in the economy.

Austerity doesn't work and if you need an example just look at Spain and Greece. they are enacting severe austerity programs and in the case of Greece have been for years and are still struggling. To fix our economy we need short term gov't spending simply put. the reason why I am not worried about our debt is simple. If any country, let's say China decides to call in it's loans to us the Federal Reserve will just print more money. This is bad some say and yes to a certain extent it is, especially if it is done in and of itself because it will lead to inflation however when that inflation is balanced against what will happen if we didn't pay our debt inflation is better over the long term than the damage caused by not paying the debt at all and being labeled essentially as a deadbeat who refuses to pay. That is simple macroeconomics that is based on sound science and not based on any ideology.

I would also like to point out that while I don't believe government should be run like a business because the two are mutually exclusive; the government should be run for the benefit of all while a business is primarily for the benefit of higher executives and shareholders. I feel it is worth noting that those who are most ardent in arguing gov't should be run like a business also tend to be the most ardent in arguing for debt reduction when if you run a business and have no debt you are not likely to get a loan from a bank. so the next logical question why is it okay for a business to have huge debts in order to secure lending but it is not okay for the government to as well if you believe a government should be run as a business? The answer I logically come to is that these folks want a weak and ineffective Federal Government which will lead to Business run amok over the citizens which leads to immense profits for the leaders of industry and agonizing poverty for 90% of the population. Which is why I categorically dismiss any politician or wannabe politician who campaigns on running gov't like a business. The two are diametrically opposed because they are supposed to do two different things that are irreconcilable to each other. Again history shows us this. Look at America from 1870-1929 and you can see what happens to every day Americans when business is given a free hand to do as it pleases with little gov't oversight because the gov't is full of politicians sympathetic and biased towards the interests of business.

Tom the mystified,

Perhaps what we need is a complete economic collapse of this system so that it be replace anew with a different one. I hope not.

I hope not as well. Thanks for the discussion. I enjoyed your post. Have a good weekend.

jpeg, the Postal Service is required to pre-fund the health care benefits of future retirees. The law requires them to pay for 75 years worth of benefits over a 10 year period. In effect they're forced to pay for employees that aren't even on the books yet. No public or private entity has ever had to do this. The Postal Service losses for the last four years has been due solely to this 5.5 billion dollar a year payment. Contrary to what many believe, the Postal Service operates from its own revenues and not tax dollars.

As others have said here, there is no chance that there will be no mail service on election day.

Cripple the U. S. Postal Service ..,making it harder for absentee ballots to get to Americans, everywhere. What a monstrous voter suppression strategy that was pulled off and planned under G.W. Bush and his Republican Congress. All because they ultimately want to oust organized labor from all 50 states and its territories, and privatize it for the profit of a few, a national service first managed by Benjamin Franklin, and required by Congress in Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution.

Your are a very attractive individual.

DJ, >>> self serving umean, NOT self sufficient. That's BOGUS GAO styled accounting principles of crookedness!

BIG BRO is a CROOK!!!

DJ, respectfully the debt you refer to is the result of a baseless requirement invoked by a Republican majority congress. I heard about this months ago and have found information consistently stating the same argument. This reqirement has nothing to do with modern day electronics it does have something to do with an agenda. Some may not know but the USPS is self sufficient and not dependant upon the U.S. Government for it's funding. So why then force it out of business? Consider your options if the U.S. Postal system is shuttered especially those in rural areas where it is the center of all communication. As Palmquist1, dirp and mj have said above there is no merit for this action. If you have any doubt I've included two links one to a Washington Post article another sums up the objective as a fleecing of Americans.

http://jonathanturley.org/2012/05/06/going-postal-in-washington-d-c-the-usps-the-postal-accountability-and-enhancement-act-of-2006-union-busting-and-paving-the-road-to-privatization/

http://www.alternet.org/story/152451/3_big_lies_at_the_heart_of_republican_attacks_on_the_post_office?page=2

Mary,

One other thing, one of the Constitutional charges to Congress is to establish a national post office AND to establish national post roads (inherently for the transport of the nation post (18th century for paper mail)).

So Congress is actually trying to abrogate Constitutional requirements, in the name of 'modern management'. The same modern management that repealed Glass-Steagal, but now supports it, after the horses are gone. The same modern management that would not sacrifice Americans on a 'Cross of Gold' (as per Stephan Douglas), but on a cross of minimum wage. You want documentation with that steel or aluminum in your cars and buildings? Tell us what you need, and we'll write it.

This amounts to a full on assault against the USPS by political rivals of 'government' enterprize. But, ironically, not one supported by UPS, which contracts much of its local deliveries through the local mail. Go figure... UPS decided it didn't need step vans and cargo vans delivering envelopes and small packages when USPS did the same. But that logic fails some people.

Our govt could run a whore house into financial ruin.

Bill Marvell - Stephen Douglas was from the Civil War era, an abolitionist. The "Cross of Gold" speeches were by William Jennings Bryan in 1896 and pertained to monetary policy, specifically, the free coinage of silver. I agree with the rest of your post, though. It's interesting that UPS charges 10 15 dollars to deliver a letter and then the mail carrier actually delivers it for 45 cents. Go figure.

Mary, the democrats have been in charge multiple times since the law was enacted, why have they not acted to reverse this truly monstrous act by the Republicans? I as a taxpayer don't want to be left on the hook for another underfunded retirement plan...so prepay is the only way!

You're a good little republican, aren't you.

Yes let's privatize because that's worked so well for the prisons and the school lunches and the military support.

Get a clue.

Actually, I'd love to talk to Common Man a year after privatization.

You see, UPS & FED-EX complain that the USPS hold their profits down.

And , the unprofitable parcels UPS & FED-EX don't handle are currently delivered by the USPS.

Doesn't take much to extrapolate a increase in FED-EX or UPS rates after privatization.

Like the old saying. Beware what you wish for.

Interestingly enough, the other day I had to mail two packages across country. I stopped at the UPS store because it was closer that the PO. UPS was going to charge me over $30, with a 7 to 10 day delivery. The gal there said to me very quietly, "take them to the PO, it will cost half as much." So I drove the extra mile and she was right, both packages with a 7 day parcel post delivery was $16. I could have sent them First Class for $25 and a 3 day delivery.

Yup, let's privatize mail delivery, it will save us LOTS of...oh, wait a minute, we will be paying twice as much as we pay now. Save the Post Office!!!!

Common Man,

Established by the Constitution and now recognized as an obligation of Congress, from Article 1, Section 8;

"To establish Post Offices and post Roads;"

So you would embroil us in a Constitutional abyss in the name of making UPS and FedEx more money? While crippling several other industries and further isolating those (contrary to the advertisements) not served by either.

Scar,

Actually, UPS wants the USPS to survive more or less as it is now. It contracts local deliveries of many of its documents and small packages through them. The USPS already has personnel and vehicles delivering these things all across the country. If USPS can relieve 10-20% or more of the final delivery task, that can represent a 30-40% cost savings.

A better question might be --- What has happened to your phone bill since the 1970's? It was once about $12-15 per month, but now around $40-50 for less service (all directory assistance was free back then). Phone taxes were lower too, because the monopoly would have demanded 911 service and open access, rather than tax us for what we should have for free.

Bill, I would add that Long Distance calls are much cheaper than before and you don't have to worry about whether it's after 6PM, but otherwise, you're right. It's funny that competition between cell phones and land lines doesn't hold down costs for either one.

Oh if we're just plucking anecdotal evidence to support our viewpoints... back a couple of years ago I had some work done on a very expensive firearm... and when it was done, I was anxious to get it back.... so I went to the post office to mail a check to the guy who did the custom work... and paid about $10 for overnight delivery.... four days later the envelope still wasn't there.... they "found" it on the floor in a Memphis distr center... now anything that needs to be there overnight goes Fedex

Fed Up-2683606 : your either trying to BS your fellow viners.

Or your confusing non- over-night Priority mail with over night express.

http://dbcalc.usps.gov/CalculatorSetPage.aspx

Which is it??? About $10.00 , not over-night you didn't.

Maybe this election the military will get there ballots, and the Democrats won't play the hold up game on this, so out of country military personnel can vote this election. Thanks to the Democrat run Congress and Pelosi in 2008, for deliberately screwing up the election ballots. This was a deliberate act of sabotage since the military is usually Republican.

Well, since the USPS is under the control of the Congress and Congress is controlled by Republicans, I guess we blame the GOP for any problems, right.

dirp

Congress is controlled by the Republicans? You're too funny. Does the name Harry mean anything to you?

Sorry, JH ~ but Dirp is right. Repub's control the House by a sizable margin and they also control enough votes in the Senate to negate the slim majority Democrats hold. So, yeah ~ we can blame Republicans. That blame won't buy anything but it is well placed, nonetheless.

If the Dems manage it, then we are subjected to 4 more years of hell. If the Republicans can do it, then we (hopefully) get a rationalization of Washington and some actual progress on a political agenda that does not focus on stealing from anyone who happens to have a few bucks and giving it away to everybody else after filtering off or stealing as much as possible through that gosh-awful money sewer that Washington has become.

Oh, where to start. Republicans offer us so much to laugh about, we really should thank them. First of all, there will be no disruption to mail delivery. Second, the last 4 years have been a lot less like hell than the 8 that preceded them, and I think most Americans would agree. Bush's presidency started with the death of 4,000 Americans. Obama's began with the death of the mother f**ker that killed those 4,000 Americans.

As for "stealing from one and giving to another", if you seriously have a problem with the "redistribution of wealth" basically helping your fellow man, then I say you do not deserve that wealth. I hope you're not a Christian, Bob, because Jesus would agree that those who complain about money being collected to help the less fortunate, do not deserve the money they had in the first place. But then again, most Christians don't even read their bibles, so even if you are, you wouldn't know much beyond the Evangelical doctrine, created by John Nelson Darby, of hate, intolerance and a false biblical justification for selfishness.

All I can say is thank the Magic Sky Wizard that President Obama holds such a commanding lead on the electoral map! Romney has no viable path to 270 electoral votes, and I couldn't be happier about it!

JH,

Congress is controlled by the Republicans? You're too funny. Does the name Harry mean anything to you?

Do you really need this one explained to you? I guess so.

The term "Congress" can have a dual meaning. It can refer to the two combined houses of Congress, the House of Representatives and the Senate, however, today it can also refer to just the House of Representatives. In that case, Republicans do indeed control the House and, of course, Harry Reid is not a congressman, he's a Senator.

Did I miss something, but didn't a Pennsylvania state senator not proudly announce that a voter ID law (voter suppression law) would deliver Pennsylvania to Mitt Romney, because he knew that only one office would be open (at odd hours) in the major cities of the state to provide the required state photo ID. Why not just ask the value of pi, to 20 places, like some southern states used to do for black voters? Whites were asked what year is this, with a calendar directly in front of them.

I disagreed with every word you said until you called Washington a god-awful money sewer.

Actually, dirp, the Post Office is an almost independent corporation, not directly under the control of Congress anymore.

Reid controls the calendar in the Senate. Republicans control the legislative outcome by ensuring the Democrats cannot muster up 60 votes to pass bills. This obviously is far too deep for the limited faculties of conservative cling-ons but so be it.

bobs ur uncle. Monday and Friday, only, would be fine with me.

Bob and Das,

Except Registered Mail is used for legal notices. Bob, let's follow your scheme for your forclosure on Thursday, mailed locally by the Court on Tuesday (that still works), and Das, your notice on fraudulent veterans' claims mailed on Monday, to be decided on Thursday (you're screwed). Your lawyer may use UPS or FedEx, but the JUDGE uses USPS.

Bill, why cannot judges adapt to the changes, everyone else would have to do that?

I agree with your post. I'm a registered Democrat. So I wondered about those automatic congressional pay raises.

While the Congress seemed to do nothing.

What I found , I did not like. http://www.opencongress.org/articles/view/1846-Who-Voted-Against-Blocking-a-Pay-Raise-for-Congress-

They should be ashamed of themselves.

Scar,

15 Democrats voted against blocking the pay raise. 15. What does that mean? It means the vast majority of Democrats voted FOR blocking the pay raise.

You should be ashamed of yourself for thinking 15 people represent an entire party.

And here I thought that Grover Norquist and Newt Gingrich represented the Republican party through their puppets Boehner, Issa, and McConnell, by mouthing the words of the Koch brothers.

15 Dems voted against freezing their slaries. How many Republicans did?

All the gop voted for raises !!

Every one of them.

Wow Hannah! And 99% of the democrats voted for it....are you that anal to think they all didn't want it?

Those who voted against it did so to help their re-election campaigns.

Virginia , as a registered Democrat , I'd have rather seen 15 Republicans against blocking the pay raise. And I say again. Those 15 should be ashamed of themselves. I do not vote party only.

I tend to vote Democratic , but do not wear rose colored glasses towards either party.

Jim:

And also remember that Nixon dismissed the Post Office and allowed them to break even regarding costs. And that kids is under a Ratpublican president.

No, Obama mesmerizes idiots.

Jamie,

What are you smoking? The division comes from Republicans and polls show that most Americans agree with that. Republicans are, in every single way, extremely bad people. What unites Republicans? Hate. They all hate the same things and the same people. Enough said.

Jaime, Viewer and Virginia,

This has NOTHING to do with Obama. This was a Congressional act, under Bush, that everyone (including the CBO) told Congress that it would bankrupt the USPS in 5 years, it has actually taken 6. So actually, the Post Office has been better managed than anyone thought. And keep in mind, that although it is a semi-private business, Congress approves the rates it charges customers,

I suspect it was a couple of things combined. First, the increased use of electronic communication seriously undercut the service delivery that the post office performed. Simple fact, fewer letter = less income.

Secondly, the requirement to pre-pay 70 years worth of retirement money into a fund. Heck, the post office is paying for the retirement of workers that haven't even been born yet and would (curently) be eligible for social security after they completed 40 to 45 years of work at the post office.

I really believe the actions of Congress and the President with respect to the pre-payment component was a deliberate effort to help force the post office out of business in favor of private companies (who "coincidentally" made large contributions to re-election campaigns).

And this all started in 2006.

Actually it started well before 2006 - when the federal budget was last "balanced" during Clinton's reign, part of those funds came from raiding the Postal Service (and federal employees & retirees.) Both parties have been eager to use the USPS as a cash cow. After all, it is one of the few federal agencies that generates income. Other than the Treasury, who can print&mint, and the IRS, the Postal Service is the the only big revenue source.

Or..... Republicans could repeal the bill they passed meant to bankrupt the USPS by making them pay pensions 75 years in advance. But being a FOX viewer, you probably didn't know about that.

Btw, the USPS has always been self sufficient, no government funding whatsoever.

Correction, the USPS has received no government funding since the early 80's

How can you say the USPS "sucks"? It handles billions of pieces of mail every year for 45 cents each, delivers first class mail any where in the country within 2 or 3 days, picks up mail from your box and does many other services quickly, cheaply and well.

george,

Read a little bit before you shoot you mouth off. A REPUBLICAN Congress passed this bil some 6 years ago requiring 75 years of ALL future pension and medical insurance payments be made within 10 years. The CBO predicted that this would bankrupt the USPS by 2010-2011, yet it is still here, without a government bailout.

I guess from your post, that you have someone read to you and also to type your posts. You bring up spurious arguments (look it up and improve your mind). You are losing your post office because you either do not generat postal revenue or have enough postal customers. Sorry, but I have a friend who is losing his Postmaster job for the same reason and I do NOT pity you.

Vote out anyone who's been there for for more than two years? You mean those folks still trying to find the toilets? Stellar Senators like Rand Paul, who wants to assign the definition of life to a highway bill? Or the two newby representatives who were living in their offices; can't wait until they oversleep and staff members find them half-naked. And what makes you think that newbies aren't just in it for lobby money? No one is immune from STD's or lobby money.

We get that you dislike President Obama and why, but please discontinue the racial rant and name slurs. Civil and productive discussions on the topic are hindered by hatred-based false statements.

The majority of USPS workers is black.......my hubby is a letter carrier.

It's stupid, but it rhymes.

Pamarack, 59 house democrats voted for it, it was unanimously adopted in the Senate and the Unions supported it.....Republican sabotage? Really?

Cal, love the thought.

CalVoter,

Think carefully about this, you want to place the political future of this country in the same hands (BOA, JCMCB, Citibank. Wells-Fargo, etc.) that essentially wrecked the economy? Allan Greenspan said said he trusted them to do the right thing and they didn't. What makes you think they won't decide the election in their favor, ast your expense? Who do you think owns, or pays for, those ATMs?

Bill, actually it was Chris and Barney that successfully wrecked the economy.

This would make it much easier for the politicians to buy your vote! It could be called pay then play.

Don,

Actually, the only place the Post Office owes money is the US government. How would you fair, if the the IRS told you you you had to pay essentially 100% (or more) of your net pay or income to the Federal Government for the next 75 years in the next ten? That was a gift of Newt's 2006 contract, an unConstitutional attempt to privatize an Article 1, Section 8 charge to Congress to establish a national post office. Later courts have said that an obligation to create is also an obligation to maintain.

The really funny thing is that while the USPS has been high on Republican hit-lists for decades, its actual government assistance requests have been relatively minimal, mostly new Post Offices commemorating the local Congressman, many Republican.

Again Bill, if it's such a horrible act the Republicans committed, how come the democrats have not fixed it?

Why did 59 House democrats vote for it and why was it unanimously adopted in the Senate?

Could your politically motivated claim be a little misplaced?