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13th April 2020, 05:46 AM | #1 |
Penultimate Amazing
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Impending financial collapse of the USPS
The long struggling US postal service is in danger of financial collapse.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/09/u...-the-mail.html The USPS has long been suffering from the absurd funding requirements of the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, a poison pill that requires the USPS to pre-fund future pension payments. No other business or government agency is required to do this, and pre-funding these retirement benefits has put intense financial strain on the agency. https://theweek.com/articles/767184/...ke-post-office This financial instability has been exasperated by the Covid-19 pandemic, seeing mail volume and revenue drop as the economy grinds to a halt. As of yet, the Trump administration is opposing efforts to include the USPS in any covid-19 bailout legislation. https://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...source=twitter Republicans may finally achieve their dream of fully privatizing the mail. |
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13th April 2020, 06:06 AM | #2 |
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This is painful for me. Many small businesses depend on USPS for deliveries and this may kill us. I’d like to see some of the GOP fans defend this crap.
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13th April 2020, 06:10 AM | #3 |
Poisoned Waffles
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When it's replaced by private corporations only the urban routes will be profitable. The rural areas will either pay through the nose or not have mail at all.
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13th April 2020, 06:14 AM | #4 |
Penultimate Amazing
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Sometimes the Invisible HandTM gives you the finger.
Edit: According to a Pew poll, the USPS is the most popular federal agency in the country, even beating out the national park service and NASA. Losing the post office would be intensely demoralizing for our nation. https://www.people-press.org/2019/10...eral-agencies/ |
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13th April 2020, 06:31 AM | #5 |
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I wonder how much of a coincidence it is that this is big news at the same time as Republicans are speaking out against postal voting?
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13th April 2020, 06:46 AM | #6 |
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13th April 2020, 06:59 AM | #7 |
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Again that's their deep "The government can't do anything right and to prove it we'll run it badly" thing that the Right has been on about for a while.
Now I'm a little, just a little, less gung hung for the Post Office in its current form since right now the open secret is junk mail is the only thing keeping it financially going and I don't think that makes for a viable system. But I still certainly think it's a system worth maintaining. |
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13th April 2020, 07:07 AM | #8 |
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13th April 2020, 07:24 AM | #9 |
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This sounds pretty echo chamber-y. I'll wait for the resident Trump supporters/Republicans to join the thread and add nuances before forming an opinion.
Any minute now... |
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13th April 2020, 07:29 AM | #10 |
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They are putting together Grover Norquist sound bites and anecdotes about slow service. Give them some time.
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13th April 2020, 07:35 AM | #11 |
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Its especially fun when they declare themselves 'Constitutional Conservatives' and ignore the part about a Postal Service in the Constitution.
The USPS has needed reform for ages, and they have pulled some good moves that take advantage of their strengths. But the GOP keeps trying to put a pillow over their face. |
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13th April 2020, 07:49 AM | #12 |
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Ya, that always fascinated about folks like Ron Paul.
Its like the Christians who claim to follow a strictly literal interpretation of the Bible, except for things like that "eye of the needle/help the poor" stuff. Suddenly, we have to understand the nuances of the translations as well as the local culture.
Quote:
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13th April 2020, 07:54 AM | #13 |
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I don't think that's true. Package delivery is a big part of their business, including "last mile" deliveries for UPS etc., and that makes money. It's the decline in first-class mail that's hurt them, and, as others note, some of the restrictions imposed by Congress. For example, in some countries the Post Office serves as a low-cost financial center, with savings accounts and other services, but our USPS isn't allowed to compete with banks. And the pension mandates are unique. This is from 2015, but the issues haven't changed. https://www.newsweek.com/post-office...-fix-it-397788 |
13th April 2020, 12:14 PM | #14 |
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13th April 2020, 01:13 PM | #15 |
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I'd hate to see the USPS get closed down, but perhaps they should rethink the whole pension thing ?
I work in petrochemical and while my company matches up to 4% on 401k, there's no pension to speak of coming at retirement. I've always been confused why postal workers, sanitation workers, dmv employees and hell even congress persons and presidents expect, demand, and more importantly deserve a pension. |
13th April 2020, 01:31 PM | #16 |
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13th April 2020, 01:45 PM | #17 |
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13th April 2020, 02:03 PM | #18 |
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One reason is that it creates a stable, low-turnover work force that can be relied on to provide specialized professional services on a continuing basis. As bad as the DMV is, would you really want it to be run like Walmart or the cable company? Another reason is that government workers usually belong to unions, and pensions have been a high priority for unions. Over time they have traded potential pay raises and other benefits for pension money. The real scandal is that so many people don't have pensions. For many years they were a standard practice in the corporate world. Then corporations realized they could save money by making meager contributions to 401Ks instead of funding defined-benefit pension plans. If you worked for a large corporation 30 years ago, you would have been getting a pension. From 2005:
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13th April 2020, 03:49 PM | #19 |
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Which is why even Forbes magazine has said that the idea that "government should run like a business" is crap...
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Despite the fact that it literally is a Constitutionally mandated function of the Government. But the Constitution is just so much toilet paper these days... |
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13th April 2020, 03:51 PM | #20 |
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13th April 2020, 03:57 PM | #21 |
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13th April 2020, 04:08 PM | #22 |
Penultimate Amazing
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No. Nobody should have a pension. Pensions rely on perpetual growth which cannot be depended upon. Defined contribution retirement programs, not defined benefit programs, are what we should be doing.
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And lots of government employees have access to defined contribution plans, and these plans could easily be expanded. |
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13th April 2020, 05:06 PM | #23 |
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A properly managed pension plan functions like an annuity, and insurance companies don't have any trouble selling annuities, maintaining them and making money from them. Problems with pension plans have come when companies mismanaged them, borrowed against them, failed to make required contributions, or just wanted to keep more money for stockholders. But they are part of an employee's compensation instead of cash, and there's nothing inherently wrong with the concept.
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13th April 2020, 06:00 PM | #24 |
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It's the United States Government. It was paying Civil War Pensions until 2003.
There's no such thing as "The United States Postal Service" as some single, stand along financial entity. The Republicans trying to frame it within the context of the USPS sinking or swimming as that makes any sense because it's just one part of the Federal Government's massive budget is dishonest. Sure maybe the USPS doesn't make a profit. Neither does the Army or the IRS or indeed the government itself as an entity. Sure it absolutely should be run efficiently, without bloat or unnecessary overhead, but this whole "You're basically a business" thing seems rather arbitrary. |
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13th April 2020, 06:29 PM | #25 |
Penultimate Amazing
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I'm not sure what you mean here. The USPS is an independent agency that functions as a corporation. It receives no federal money. But the Congress still tells it what to do. That's where the problem lies.
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13th April 2020, 06:33 PM | #26 |
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I’m not sure I understand Republican’s issue with the postal service.
Aren’t the people who get the most use out it (the elderly and rural communities) overwhelming their constituents? |
13th April 2020, 06:37 PM | #27 |
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13th April 2020, 06:47 PM | #28 |
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13th April 2020, 06:53 PM | #29 |
... and your little dog too.
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13th April 2020, 07:32 PM | #30 |
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I know, I know. I said I'm done here but after reading comments by another confused foreigner, I can't help myself. No, no, no. Collapsing and privatizing the USPS is not the least bit popular among "Republickers," "GOPers," "Trumpistas" or whatever stupid names you guys use. In fact, it's massively unpopular. Republican voters, middle class people ('middle class' is USAian for "white people") vote republican because they look at Republican candidates and ask, "can you do something about my country turning into a third world hellhole?" Republican candidates will nod and wink and even dog whistle at times, but when they get into office they do dumb **** like this, and do nothing their voters wanted them to do. So no, if you think this is in anyway popular among "Trump supporters" (aside from the usual astroturfers), you are as usual mistaken. All this is so obvious I don't know why I have to explain it. Just throw out everything you think you know about US politics and you'll have a lot better understanding. |
13th April 2020, 08:02 PM | #31 |
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USPS ain't going anywhere
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13th April 2020, 08:09 PM | #32 |
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13th April 2020, 10:19 PM | #33 |
... and your little dog too.
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13th April 2020, 10:58 PM | #34 |
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13th April 2020, 11:43 PM | #35 |
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13th April 2020, 11:49 PM | #36 |
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14th April 2020, 12:02 AM | #37 |
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It must be fun to lead a life completely unburdened by reality. -- JayUtah I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question. -- Charles Babbage (1791-1871) |
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14th April 2020, 12:03 AM | #38 |
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14th April 2020, 12:10 AM | #39 |
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Because the quote was referencing "their [Republican's] voters."
The "You" I used was Americans, or rather since not all Americans vote for Republicans, it defines more to be "Those Americans that vote for Republicans" or, simply "their [Republican's] voters." To take it in the singular then you'd have to assume that I believed that one vote was capable of voting in all the Republicans that keep screwing over the US and its people, and that's kinda silly don't you think? |
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It must be fun to lead a life completely unburdened by reality. -- JayUtah I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question. -- Charles Babbage (1791-1871) |
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14th April 2020, 12:22 AM | #40 |
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But "you" is second person singular or plural. I am part of the singular "you" but not the plural "republican voters." So "Republican voters" is third person plural. So your message clearly indicated second person singular. But you are now saying you were speaking in third person plural, which makes no sense. And after all this neither you nor I still know what his point was.
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