postal services do in many countries ( in addition to top notch postal service) ...

they have so many branches ... they will beat the crap out of many other commercial banks.

DON'T SHADE YOUR EYES PRIVATIZE

the first thing I would think is that the 'company' running the postal service would absolutely jack postage rates...and continue raising them to their heart's content.
...much like cable providers continually jacking cable rates ( OT; this is why we just have an off-air HDTV antenna, now, btw)

a phone booth to call for help and it was "enter your credit card number" (in a Romney world).

Of COURSE the prices would be jacked up. They wouldn't do a "better job" -- that's not their intent. Their intent is profit. So I'm thinking higher prices, sub-standard service. What could we do? We'd be over a barrel. The almighty dollar.

making them set aside enough money to pay almost all retiree health benefits for the next 75 years.

The USPS is the second largest employer in the country after.. you guessed it.. Wal-Mart. Are there Congress members so stupid that they don't understand the consequences of letting the second largest employer in the country go under?

http://namebrandketchup.wordpress.com/2012/11/28/let-us-now-praise-the-united-states-postal-service/

no just some of them are, the ones that want to address the "deficit" by attacking things that did not add to the deficit.

I think they knew exactly what they were doing, and exactly what sort of effect it would have. They just have different motivations. A lot of them really don't give a damn about the deficit.

How the American Constitutional System Collided with the New Politics of Extremism" by Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein, I think you'd find it interesting. Well, frightening really. It discusses the motivations of the "party of no" and how they are impacting the US even as we "speak". And let me tell you - it ain't in a good way either.

No ,its just their obsession to make anything fail , so they can blame it on the president . Ideological troglodytes !

Voters and preachers may have ideological problems with Obama, but the people with real power just want more power (money, same thing).

I don't think they give a rat's ass who hands them that additional power.

Why should they?

(like it didn't when the initial bill was passed) I think the citizenry would rise to the occasion and let their representatives know.

As always, we'd need to message it right -- and why have we been mum, by the way????

There was a piece here couple days ago that talked about how a Congressperson spends their day, and over half of it was in fundraising, every single day, for re-election. Being on the phone to big money and fund raising to perpetuate themselves in office.
They only spent less than 2 hours a day on legislation and congressional stuff.

And within five days the American people will be screaming to start it right back up.

The reactionary Repuglicans/Tea Party types like to say that the Post Office is obsolete ... but, of course, they are the ones who have prevented it from fully engaging in 21st century technology.

And there are some non-conservatives, too, who buy into the notion that we don't need a Post Office anymore because of email, electronic files, FedEx, etc. (The same people who think libraries are obsolete, no doubt.)

But tell that to still millions of folks who get bills and checks in the mail --- wherever they live -- in New York City or some two-bit village in Idaho.

Who is going to deliver your mail ballot in those progressive states with a mail ballot system? How will Amazon and other such companies still give you 'free' shipping? Do you think grandma is going to pay UPS five dollars to send a birthday card with $10 in it for her ten year old granddaughter?

We need the Post Office and we will find out how much we still rely on this 'obsolete' institution once it is gone.

We should pressure Congress and Pres. Obama to let the Post Office get out from this ridiculous pre-paid pension and medical care requirement that the troglodyte Repuglicans have saddled it with; and we need to let the Post Office fully compete with services for the digital age.

They inserted a poison pill to kill the PO:

"The health of the Postal Service lies largely in the hands of Congress, which has made a tremendous accounting strategy error. In 2006, President George W. Bush signed the Postal Accountability Act that requires the agency for 10 years to pre-pay retiree pensions 75 years in advance. As a consequence, the agency has added a whopping $5.5 billion annually to its balance sheet and will continue to do so until 2017."

They are required to pay pensions for workers not even born yet.

More here:

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/issa-blocks-fix-of-post-office-pension-prepay-time-bomb-says-robert-weiner-former-spokesman-for-us-house-govt-reform-comm-bipartisan-bill-has-229-sponsors-but-chairman-issa-pushes-privatization-159224595.html

Such complete and total BS! Another attempt to kill the largest number of union jobs in the nation!

to make a public sector entity look like it is incapable of functioning without continued government assistance and bailouts.

The sad part is that the main stream media is playing along and is seemingly complicit in feeding the American people a false narrative in regards to why the USPS is having the problems it is having. This furthers the cause of Republican sleazy tactics to close down public services and privatize them for their corporate overlords.

I hope Sanders, Warren, Grayson, and Obama? will call the Pugs out on this. At this point many Dems also seem to be quietly and tacitly allowing this fiasco to continue.

Dems NEED TO CALL BULLSHIT OUT WHEN THEY SEE IT!

I have heard Bernie Sanders talk about it on Thom Hartmann a lot, and can only hope that Mr Grayson joins in, as I'm sure he will. Not counting on Obama, unfortunately.

like you I am not counting on it.

because the rethug snakes who want to give their buddies big contracts after privatization made the USPS fund, immediately, their retirement fund for the next 75 years. No other agency, business ect has ever had to do something like this. They haven't fooled me with their lies about postal service inefficiency. I worked there and we got/get the mail out everyday with a 93percent on time efficiency. They are "troubled" only because of the forced prepayment funding of the retirement fund for the next 75 years now. Billions right there. It's a rethug scam. There was an op about corruption on here recently and all the american pie eaters were saying how we are not that corrupt This is corruption of the highest, with rethugs at the helm. They have always been envious of the pay and benefits offered to a postal worker under CRS, which is being phased out and FERS. The rethugs would like all postal workers with walmart salaries and no benefits. The USPS is not perfect but has done a wonderful job delivering mail to the american people for generations. The privatization clowns want this system to be able to give large contracts to their buddies, pure and simple corruption.

They can't never not honor my "forever" stamps!

heading out the door?

I never hear or read about PBO saying it is a problem either.

Seems to me a whole bunch of Dems are for destroying the USPS too.

Bills go before committees before anyone gets to see them or even hear about them. If the committee wants to get rid of the bills they just table them, never to be seen or heard about again. There were many Democratic amendments added to the bill to reverse the problems that could easily be forseen. Those amendments were dropped along partisan lines and the bill passed the house in a lame duck session with ONLY Republican votes......As long as Republicans hold a majority inthe House they can stop any Democratic bill from seeing daylight....

yet nothing.............................

Dems also have the Bully Pulpit too......and ......nothing

Congress critters could speak up anytime they want to. Yet crickets.........

a democrat.

Why don't they include all the facts

John Delaney, MD 6th District.