Ladies: He’s Going Galt — and it’s all your fault

@KathleenB: No I didn’t. For one, the USPS charges money for their services. Hence they get most of their revenue from that. The amount of money the government contributes is pretty small.

The FY2010 lists revenue, expenses and contributions from the govt as (in millions):

$67,052, $75,426, $3,132

With an operating loss as (in millions):

$(8,374)

So the amount isn’t large, but making the claim that the USPS isn’t funded in anyway by the government is wrong.

Brandon you’re still fucking stupider than pudding,

Section 8.

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;

To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;

To establish Post Offices and post Roads;

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;

To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;

To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

To provide and maintain a Navy;

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of Particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards and other needful Buildings;–And

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

The US Postal Service is constitutionally MANDATED.
What does the USPS handing mail to lawfully established mail carriers of other countries have fuck all to do with anything?

Also, on the idea that people don’t need credit cards or even bank accounts – sometimes I have to travel for work. In order to get good rates on flights, hotels, etc, I need to book well in advance, take advantage of special offers, etc. Have you ever tried to use Expedia or book a hotel room without a credit card? I guess in theory the no credit card or bank account thing is possible, but only if you’re willing to limit your life in a lot of ways that are very inconvenient.

Also you’re still a complete dipshit who doesn’t bother to read the articles you quote.

control, could reduce our projected gap by $123 billion. By
themselves, these changes are not enough. The remaining $115
billion gap can be closed only through legislative, regulatory, and
labor changes that would afford the Postal Service suffi cient
fl exibility to continue to fulfi ll its mission to the American people
without additional cost to taxpayers.
This second critically important category of changes includes:
(1) Restructuring the Postal Service’s unique obligation to
prefund retiree health, particularly given overfunding of CSRS
and FERS pensions;

*THIS* is where the fundamental profit loss is. Regardless of the fact the the USPS is a NON-PROFIT entity!

So to review for people who read for comprehension;
1) the post office is constitutionally mandated to deliver all letters, flyers, packages and post cards to all residence in the US or US held territories.
2) Commercial carriers push the most expensive aspect of their business (i.e. the delivery part) on to the USPS
3) The USPS is Congressionally Mandated to pay a full 75 years worth of pension and benefits in just ten years.

Mass unemployment and poverty is a very strange definition of “solved.”

@ Rutee – When you say none of this shit happens to you with a credit union, what do you mean? I’m not thrilled with the way my bank keeps jacking up fees (and now I don’t even feel like I can say which bank that is, with our friend Hengist hanging around being all creepy). The major disadvantage of credit unions is how few locations there are, right? But you can use the ATMs of some of the major banks if you’re willing to pay a fee?

I can’t speak to overdraft fees, but I don’t pay a red cent to use my money in general. My bank isn’t actually in my state anymore, and although that has caused a couple problems, it’s generally worked out fine between direct deposit and the like. I don’t handle cash, and use debit or credit for everything, and they gave me a card that functions as both. If you need a lot of cash, this is probably not an ideal solution. There are other disadvantages as well; the amount earned in savings is smaller, because credit unions predominantly deal with low risk and low return income. There are some services that they simply do not offer, such as international wire transfers (I don’t think that’s a problem for most people). I’m sure there are others, but they haven’t come up for me.

Note that having a debit card (Which I am, again, not charged a single red cent to use) does allow some handling of cash without an ATM, from cashback. I suspect that some of this is just mine, but I really am treated much better at my credit union than I ever was at a bank. It’s really nice to not pay money to use money. (I was charged for checks. Like, the printing of the checkbook, not the usage of the checks inside. That’s about it).

Hmm. I didn’t know that much about credit unions. Now I’m intrigued. May have to look into it.

re credit unions: Many belong to a Co-op, and co-op ATMS are free. Some belong in such a way that co-op member branches can be used as if they were a branch of your CU for everyday banking.

@Pecunium: Your comparison is comparing two different things: a companies service record and it’s finances. Again, apples and oranges. Which is also two different arguments.

Again, the USPS and the ARMY are two different things which serve two completely different functions. It’s like comparing UPS to Blackwater…it makes no sense.

1) The Army doesn’t provide any chargeable services. They are completely supported by tax dollars.

2) The USPS makes most of it’s money via paid postage and other fees charged per person. It only takes a miniscule amount of tax dollars.

As I have stated above, I am fine with government services that charge for their services to not make a profit. But they should at least break even for multiple reasons:

1) They can budget their money efficiently and appropriately
2) They don’t have to keep going to congress to get more tax dollars
3) They don’t take tax dollars that can be used elsewhere.

The better government services manage money, the more services we can have without raising taxes.

@Bagelsan: Ya, if you want to make a sweeping broad generalization. What next? Are you going to say apples and oranges are the same thing…fruit.

From that standpoint, all we can do is talk about govt services in the abstract because one could argue every single government services “serves the interests of the American people (by doing X)”

So do you actually have something specific or do you just want to argue in the abstract?

@Cynickal: Problem solved:

http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-08-11/politics/30042108_1_federal-worker-union-contracts-pension-plan

Unconstitutional.

Actual solution: http://baucus.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=702
*Which addresses the actual problems within the Postal Service, not some shitty anarchist idea of closing down government so they can pretend to be Mel Gibson In Beyond Thunderdome*

Holy crap, you even have to pay service charges at credit unions? People complain that there’s too much government in Canada, but jeez. I use a for-profit bank, and I pay NO FEES at all, unless I go into overdraft. They make their money by using my money. I get free cheques, no limit on transactions, no charge for transactions. They pay me pretty good interest on my savings. I was looking into using a credit union, but they charge fees and have transaction limits. How do United Statesers do anything anymore? It’s like you’re being bled to death by a kijillion blood-sucking insects.

I’d really like to see these “regulation of industry is ruining the economy” people trot out some citations, because the opposite is true. Actually, I’d like to see them locked into padded rooms or put into retirement colonies without access to the media, so that they could inflict less damage on the US (and thus the global) economy.