Donald Trump is "looking at" privatizing USPS as a means of enriching his billionaire buddies at the expense of harming his base, gutting necessary services, and selling America to the highest bidder.
I would also ask why, given multiple opportunities, Biden refused to replace the Board of Governors with appointees who would fire DeJoy.
I also wonder, given the importance of the Post Office to Amazon (and other delivery services), to what extent privatizing the Post Office will be a priority for Trump.
In the end, decisions won't be made by oligarchs, but by who offers the better bribe to Trump.
It's a big one but I'd say trying to start a nuclear war with Russia is worse. And then there's destroying Lebanon and Syria. And let's not forget that little ole genocide in Gaza. The biggest mistake was the broligarchs shoving Biden down our throats. And Hillary would have been even worse with her penchant for blood, lynching, and sodomizing other leaders with bayonets. Hard to choose the top of the list.
Privatization is a scam. Underfunding services people want & rely on has been a sleazy, but effective strategy employed by Republicans to move money upwards. When you take decent, livable waged jobs out of government & move them to low wage (serf labor) jobs, the contract/ corporate winners take the lion share of the $. Republicans continually underfund services until the public loses confidence in government services, then privatize so that they & their cronies can jack up prices to profit themselves.
Yes, the book was excellent. I read his Uplift series, brilliant writing. I thought the movie was OK, it did have Tom Petty as a character who "used to be famous".
My client's checks used to take 3-5 days to get from California to the Midwest. Now they take three weeks. The local postmen tell me it's because DeJoy won't hire the necessary employees to sort the mail in a timely manner so the state's main city is a hub where everything languishes in boxes for weeks on end. The last book I ordered took one MONTH to move approximately 300 miles from the adjacent state. It went to one main city, twiddled its toes for a couple days there, then traveled 150 miles the wrong direction and twiddled its thumbs there for a couple days. Then it went back 150 miles to the original hub and finally back again to the one 150 miles in the wrong direction before it finally headed down to my neck of the woods. I paid my last electric bill electronically because I do not want my electricity shut off due to being late as I'm self-employed and cannot afford three weeks of no work. Actually, the USPS isn't fully a governmental entity, which is a problem. It's already half-privatized. And DeJoy wants it fully privatized. Apparently he stopped out-sourcing the trucking and is using USPS trucks only. It's not working. One of my checks went to Orlando, Florida before coming north to where it belonged so I was without any money at all for three weeks. This is not unusual, in my experience. It isn't because people no longer have a work ethic; it's because the bosses make it impossible for the average employee to do a decent job.
My son is a letter carrier, and for the first time in his work history he has paid time off and a pension plan. That would all change with a private equity firm, via "privatizing", in charge, decimating the work force, and purposely leading it to financial ruin. All to have greedy corporate heads reap profits before spitting out the workers and the service. Billionaires running our country now don't care about people other than other billionaires. They will ruin our lives just so they can make more $$$$. This is a fact.
I think the problem with the USPS budget isn't just paying of current pensions, but an accounting thing they have to do to count as "losses" pensions they WILL have to pay to current workers. Can't remember the details. Without that, I don't think it is actually losing much money.
My political principles lean in favor of a robust post-office, largely because: (i) money should not be the price of entry to every aspect of society (thus, good libraries, parks and public schools are good things); and (ii) the Post Office is a source of dignified jobs for people that probably wouldn't have one in the market economy. However, there are also respectable arguments (i.e., a decent human being could believe them) for significantly changing or even eliminating the Post Office. Working through the questions and arguments has little or nothing to do with the (assumed) fact that: (i) a governmental Post Office was a great idea 240 years ago;
(ii) there is likely money, maybe big money, to be made if governmental services are replaced by private ones; or (iii) the Post Office (using disputable accounting methods)"loses money." Our best strategy is not to limit ourselves to soundbites.
I would also ask why, given multiple opportunities, Biden refused to replace the Board of Governors with appointees who would fire DeJoy.
I also wonder, given the importance of the Post Office to Amazon (and other delivery services), to what extent privatizing the Post Office will be a priority for Trump.
In the end, decisions won't be made by oligarchs, but by who offers the better bribe to Trump.
One of the biggest mistakes of the Biden Administration was not getting rid of DeJoy.
It's a big one but I'd say trying to start a nuclear war with Russia is worse. And then there's destroying Lebanon and Syria. And let's not forget that little ole genocide in Gaza. The biggest mistake was the broligarchs shoving Biden down our throats. And Hillary would have been even worse with her penchant for blood, lynching, and sodomizing other leaders with bayonets. Hard to choose the top of the list.
Privatization is a scam. Underfunding services people want & rely on has been a sleazy, but effective strategy employed by Republicans to move money upwards. When you take decent, livable waged jobs out of government & move them to low wage (serf labor) jobs, the contract/ corporate winners take the lion share of the $. Republicans continually underfund services until the public loses confidence in government services, then privatize so that they & their cronies can jack up prices to profit themselves.
"The Postman" was a far better book than movie. By David Brin, a brilliant and funny sci-fi writer.
Time to line up to the trough, but remember the stock market adage: "bulls make money, bears make money, pigs get slaughtered."
Yes, the book was excellent. I read his Uplift series, brilliant writing. I thought the movie was OK, it did have Tom Petty as a character who "used to be famous".
Have you read "The Practice Effect"? Lots of fun.
Not yet. I need to do another dive into sci fi. It would be fun to view other alternate universes.
My client's checks used to take 3-5 days to get from California to the Midwest. Now they take three weeks. The local postmen tell me it's because DeJoy won't hire the necessary employees to sort the mail in a timely manner so the state's main city is a hub where everything languishes in boxes for weeks on end. The last book I ordered took one MONTH to move approximately 300 miles from the adjacent state. It went to one main city, twiddled its toes for a couple days there, then traveled 150 miles the wrong direction and twiddled its thumbs there for a couple days. Then it went back 150 miles to the original hub and finally back again to the one 150 miles in the wrong direction before it finally headed down to my neck of the woods. I paid my last electric bill electronically because I do not want my electricity shut off due to being late as I'm self-employed and cannot afford three weeks of no work. Actually, the USPS isn't fully a governmental entity, which is a problem. It's already half-privatized. And DeJoy wants it fully privatized. Apparently he stopped out-sourcing the trucking and is using USPS trucks only. It's not working. One of my checks went to Orlando, Florida before coming north to where it belonged so I was without any money at all for three weeks. This is not unusual, in my experience. It isn't because people no longer have a work ethic; it's because the bosses make it impossible for the average employee to do a decent job.
Thank You,Waj, for sharing this important story today, and will reStack ASAP 🙏💯👍
My son is a letter carrier, and for the first time in his work history he has paid time off and a pension plan. That would all change with a private equity firm, via "privatizing", in charge, decimating the work force, and purposely leading it to financial ruin. All to have greedy corporate heads reap profits before spitting out the workers and the service. Billionaires running our country now don't care about people other than other billionaires. They will ruin our lives just so they can make more $$$$. This is a fact.
I think the problem with the USPS budget isn't just paying of current pensions, but an accounting thing they have to do to count as "losses" pensions they WILL have to pay to current workers. Can't remember the details. Without that, I don't think it is actually losing much money.
My political principles lean in favor of a robust post-office, largely because: (i) money should not be the price of entry to every aspect of society (thus, good libraries, parks and public schools are good things); and (ii) the Post Office is a source of dignified jobs for people that probably wouldn't have one in the market economy. However, there are also respectable arguments (i.e., a decent human being could believe them) for significantly changing or even eliminating the Post Office. Working through the questions and arguments has little or nothing to do with the (assumed) fact that: (i) a governmental Post Office was a great idea 240 years ago;
(ii) there is likely money, maybe big money, to be made if governmental services are replaced by private ones; or (iii) the Post Office (using disputable accounting methods)"loses money." Our best strategy is not to limit ourselves to soundbites.