Posted on 07/28/2011 2:30:29 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
When I was a kid, it was a big deal when the postman came around. He was an important man carrying important documents from far away lands that we could only dream about… and each time he pulled up there was a brief glimmer of anxiety, wondering what unexpected surprise he might be delivering that day.
At the time, I remember postage stamps for first class mail costing about 20 cents. If you’re a bit older than me, you might remember them being much cheaper than that.
In fact, prior to President Nixon taking the US dollar off the gold standard in 1971, stamps cost 6 cents. In the 40 years since then, the price of a first class letter has been raised 20 times, nearly 8-fold higher than before.
To put things in perspective, the price of a stamp in 1863 was 3 cents… so we’re talking about a 100% increase in 108-years, followed by a 733% increase over the next 40-years. And yet, despite such rampant price inflation, the US Postal Service is hemorrhage cash and nearing failure.
In fiscal year 2010, the Postal Service suffered a $8.5 billion net loss, the latest in a serial trend of widening losses. The only way the Postal Service keeps surviving is from the generosity of US taxpayers and Chinese bondholders who foot the bill for its continuance.
The Postal Service has nearly 600,000 employees; it’s larger than the active component of the United States Army, in fact, and, similar to how the Army is far-flung all over the world in places where it has no business operating, the Postal Service has offices across small-town America where there is no chance of profit.
There are over 3,000 post offices across the country that generate less than $27,500 in annual revenue. It’s barely possible to pay rent and keep the lights on with that kind of revenue, let alone hire a staff, maintain delivery vehicles, or pay for fuel.
An organization with such a costly structure is doomed to fail, and if it weren’t a government agency, it would have gone bust a long time ago. By the government’s own admission, the US Postal Service can’t compete with private courier services, yet politicians insist on keeping it alive in the only way they know how– theft and deceit.
Senator Tom Carper recently introduced a bill called the Postal Operations Sustainability and Transformation (P-O-S-T… get it? See how clever they are?!?) Act of 2011.
The bill is filled with oodles of luminous wisdom like, “The United States Postal Service shall develop a plan for the expansion of retail alternatives to post offices, such as… the Internet.”
It literally takes an Act of Congress for the Post Office to incorporate the Internet into its business model… and this is what passes for a turnaround business plan in Washington.
More importantly, a full 50% of the legislation provides for all sorts of accounting tricks that the Postal Service can use to misstate its fiscal condition, as well as provisions to steal from federal pension and healthcare funds.
Last month, in fact, the Postal Service stopped making payments into the Federal Employee Retirement System in order to conserve cash… and this is becoming a bigger and bigger theme across government.
Retirement funds have become the ultimate fudgemaking tool of corrupt fiscal policy around the world. Treasury Secretary Tim Geither has been robbing federal pensions for the last several months in the absence of a debt deal, and several governments overseas have also stolen from retirees in order to continue financing their largess.
Bottom line- if these bankrupt governments and agencies owe to retirement funds, they’ll stop paying whenever it suits them. If they have access to steal from the retirement funds, they’ll steal.
We’ve seen several examples of this over the last two years, and we’re seeing more all the time. This is one of the issues that concerns me the most because I know how many people are completely unprepared for this eventuality.
Even private retirement accounts are fair game in the political calculus… and it’s a simple matter of arithmetic.
When a bankrupt government has to come up with at least $1 trillion annually to plug its budget gap, and several trillion dollars worth of retirement accounts are ripe for pillaging with few other options available, the choice is clear.
I’ve been a vocal advocate of internationalization. With the right kind of structure, it’s possible to safely and legitimately ship your assets overseas to a place where your money cannot be plundered by bankrupt politicians.
From 1863 to 1963, the postal service wasn't a socialized jobs service politically driven like it is nowadays.
Socialism is expensive.
Public employees in cities around the country have been promised more than can be delivered. I sorry. That’s a fact of life.
When a bankrupt government has to come up with at least $1 trillion annually to plug its budget gap, and several trillion dollars worth of retirement accounts are ripe for pillaging with few other options available, the choice is clear.
If the central government has the power to require a citizen to use his money and purchase health insurance, then the central government has the power to require a citizen to use his savings to purchase ObamaBond treasury securities.
Bernie Madoff must be proud of him.
Collectivism sought to get rid of the gold and silver standards to devalue the dollar and in the end devalue human life.
They are already doing this in the UK. And where the UK goes we tend to follow.
Since the early 70s the stamp price has pretty closely matched the official inflation rate. A stamp costs the same real amount - you just need more coins to buy it because the government and Federal Reserve have had a policy to destroy the dollar's value.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_United_States_postage_rates
....Congress shall have the power...
To coin money, regulate the value thereof.....
Art 1 section 8, US Consitiution.
In my lifetime I can remember when you could buy a Cadillac for less than $4500...and now they cost into more than $50,000 range...
...that is no where close to "regulating the value thereof"..
...god!, I hate these bastards.
Touch my retirement savings and blood will flow !
how can govts all over give out such lavish pensions with medical to workers who retire after 20 or 30 yrs?....they can't....they know it....
big talk but in reality there is little one can do except maybe finangle a disability and get SS early....
if you're under 59 1/2 you'll pay a huge penalty and be taxed, and if you're over that age, you'll still pay a big tax bill if you take your money out....
and what to do with the money you take out?.....its not like the govt doesn't have it mitts into every transaction possible...gold/silver/real estate/even savings accounts....
The writer is a mere child — I recall first class postage for a nickel. I’ll be back after I go eat some prunes...
I’m hesitant to show you this - might cause you to have a hemorrhage:
David Wu will welcome some good news after a tough week.
Analysis has found the congressman could be eligible for pension and benefits worth more than $1 million in his lifetime, reported USA Today.
I meant to post #15 to you.
sfl
Don’t doubt me !
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