Will government finally close the USPS?

Aug 15, 2012

Will government finally close the USPS?

by Craig Masters

The United States Postal Service (USPS) is not the ‘Post Office’ of Ben Franklin. Franklin’s postal service was downgraded from a cabinet level department to a federally run “enterprise” in the 1970′s. But politics and government controls have proven too burdensome for one of the world’s top ten employers.

An August 3, 2012, article posted on the World Socialist Web Site offers the analysis of the USPS default on a $5.5billion payment to the US Treasury as an indication that the postal service should be repositioned as a totally government operated department and no profits should be expected at all.

On the other hand, Bloomberg Businessweek posted an article by Devin Leonard who suggest it is politicians causing the service to fail. For example, writes Leonard, the Senate passed a bill allowing the USPS to cut staff by 100,000, but the bill does not allow any post office closings or reductions in service. Such an oxymoron plays well in today’s press where few readers/listeners ever see or hear more than the first few sentences. Meanwhile Leonard continues, “the Republican-controlled House have put off taking action on a bill that would take a more draconian approach to reducing the agency’s costs until after the election, because members are loath to discuss post office closings in an election year.”

Neither article explains why no decisions were offered in 2010 when the USPS projected a ten year loss of $238billion. Prior to the August default, the service reported a second quarter loss of $5.2billion. At that rate, the ten year projection will exceed $250billion.

This November voters will be deciding whether or not the government should operate an even larger, more complicated, “enterprise” – the U.S. health care system.

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