Free Republic

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...

Supervisors able to avoid large cuts this year, but $2.6 billion in retiree health care benefit obligations on horizonIt's a tale of two budgets -- today's and tomorrow's. Today's good news: It took Contra Costa County supervisors just 10 minutes this month to pass a balanced budget for the 2007-8 fiscal year with hardly any program cuts. It was a sharp contrast to last year, when the county was in the midst of cutting $20 million worth of programs and its credit rating outlook was gloomy. Dozens of people were protesting the closing of county pharmacies and slashing of...