Congressional role
Of related significance is the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 (PAEA), which obligates the USPS to prefund 75 years’ worth of future health care benefit payments to retirees within a ten-year time span – a requirement to which no other government organization is subject. Thus, in addition to the weak economy and the diversion of mail to electronic means, the mandates of PAEA have had a considerable impact on Postal Service finances. As a consequence, it has been charged that the US Postal Service budget crisis of 2011 is, in essence, an artificial one.[31][36][37][38]
Congress also has the ability to affect the USPS budget by changing rates for postage.[39
2006? Seriously? Was there anything like this in place before? I’d say this qualifies as a completely artificial crisis designed to make the USPS look antiquated and unprofitable. Between nixing rate increases and forcing ridiculous pre-funding requirements, it’s pretty obvious that it is being set up to fail.
It may have been another story if those requirements had been in place since 1970 (in fact, someone please tell me that they were, it’s too cynical a situation otherwise.) Then you could chalk it up to just typical Congressional meddling and the requirement for universal coverage as well as the pre-funding requirement, but as it appears, it’s simply a ridiculously see-through “starve the beast” scheme.
Exactly.
Now, to be fair, it’s true various government entities have been pushing for better pension funding (and that is a Good Idea), but this is ridiculous.
Could we have a Supreme Court re-interpret the Postal Office clause of the Constitution to set up high-speed internet to the entire US, including rural locations?
Worse, the competition makes it necessary to provide my peons with a crust of bread in the morning and another one in the evening. If the gummint would butt out, I could save expenses and they could learn the thrifty habit of breaking the morning crust in half and saving part for later.
That’s what the ideology of class-warfare envy does to people, I guess.
You most certainly did, by citing a police officer as an example of why “teh gummint yoonyuns are TEH SUXX0R”.
Yep – just remove that job-killing Republican regulation pointed out in this thread, and they’re good to go.
There are two basic reasons: the ideologically-driven reason (teh gummint is TEH SUXX0R) and the greed-driven reason (each surviving pocket of middle-class pay and benefits makes it harder to drive one’s own labor costs to the bottom).
It really does.
Postal work is damned hard physical labor. My dad would leave the house really early in the morning and come home looking exhausted. He delivered mail to a combination of apartment buildings and private homes in Brooklyn. He did so when it was 100 degrees out and when it was 20 twenty below and snowing. He got bitten by dogs so many times I’m still a bit afraid of them today. His salary was good enough but it was the sort of thing the current Republican presidential nominee might call pocket change. I think he retired on a top pay of about 70k a year.
Who the fuck in their right mind whines the mailman is being overpaid? My own mail person retired recently after the diabetes got her. You’d see her when it was 99 degrees out and 80% humidity walking up and down the stairs around here at 11 in the afternoon panting.
These people throw out the word union as if it were a curse. Well what the hell do you pay the mailman? Or the firefighter or the first grade teacher? Or the local librarian? Minimum wage? How can conservatives tell us hard work is the answer and then turn around and bitch that the guy delivering mail is overpaid?
I’d argue that the existence of physical mail as an option encourages lack of modernization of other processes. Why bother setting up an online system for the IRS to accept forms when they can just have people mail them in?
What’s his pension?
Private companies are specifically prohibited from getting into the daily mail business.
No, I didn’t. It’s possible to point out that public sector unions are responsible for excesses without insisting that the service those unions provide needs to be privatized.
I don’t know the numbers offhand. I’m his daughter not his accountant.
But I find silly you’re implying my dad is overpaid. Do you really think he should be living in a hovel with no medical care and gruel for meals after 35 years of very hard work?
:dubious:
What do you think is a fair salary for eight hours of hard work?
A GS9’s monthly pension (not counting his 401k plan or SocSec) runs about $600 after insurances and taxes, for 20 years of service.
Yes, that’s what I really believe. :rolleyes:
So then tell me. What should my dad be paid? Because I think he made about 70k in his last year of work. He’s not rich. He retired to a small two bedroom condo. He has medical needs that are met, a maid who comes in once every two weeks to help him with the heavy stuff and enough money to eat a standard American diet. He retired in his mid-sixties if I recall correctly. He’s 77 now and has side effects from prostate cancer, recurrent back pain and a nasty case of macular degeneration that I think is under control right now.
If you’re going to whine that some people are overpaid then at least have the grace to tell us exactly what you think their salaries and retirement benefits should be. What should my dad be paid after 35 years of working for the post office?
Conservatives whine that some CEO isn’t going to work hard unless we shower him with millions. Then they turn and around and tell us the mailman is a lazy, overpaid, useless millstone around our necks.
Wait! So how do I get my registration sticker online?
In my state they charge me extra if I show up at the DMV to renew my registration - by mail there is no fee.
Uhm…so you want to abolish a basically self-sustaining reliable entity to ADD more taxes and more government jobs to hand out registration stickers?
Huh…I’m confused now
Well, less, obviously. Whatever he’s getting, he should be getting less. Less is always the answer to this question. If he wanted more, he should have had the foresight to work at a job that didn’t have federal benefits and union membership. People who have government benefits and union membership are making too much. See also: teachers, police officers, and firemen.