Some days it is painful to be registered as a non-partisan voter. It began in my seminary bound days and stuck. Even though Dante said, “the hottest places in hell are reserved for the neutral,” I have managed to keep some form of equanimity and objectivity by not caving in to crude, dumbed down, disassociated from reality party politics.
The food fights amongst the duopoly are worse then ever, and they are not cleaning the kitchen afterward.
Sometimes you just got to call it the way you see it, and I see this Postal Service reform bill for what it is; a clan of shills preparing the way for a private sector hostile take over, completely contrary to their free market economy mantra. If McCain and Issa do not have someone in the wings preparing to be gifted the USPS, then call me paranoid. But wait two years before leveling your opinion. The new Capitalism is gimmick capitalism. Few are making money the old fashion way by earning it, ergo, Wall Street.
The United Postal Service has been one the most reliable employers of veterans for 50 years. They currently have many reservists in their employ. What happens to these men and women when they return from war to a reformulated organization that now has an underemployed and part time staff? What happens to their families? What happens to their health care? What level of enforcement is there for the Federal law that mandates that these veterans must be restored to their old positions and pay grade prior to be called to duty? The ripple effect will be so immense when added to the Occupy Wall Street movement, that it may well be the tipping point that leads to outright revolution. Wrong time Issa. And, now we know for sure that Senator McCain is a veteran Uncle Tom.
What happens to the risk pool when you remove this number of employees from their current health care. It literally alters the entire economies of scale, making health care more expensive. Oh crap, now I get it.. they can blame the increase in unemployment and rising health care costs on the President. Nifty huh?
See what I mean by gimmick capitalism? Quite the paradox, getting rich off unemployment. Because if you loose your health care and have to start over, it costs more.
What happens to all the leases and fee title real estate the USPS has obligations to for 30-50 years out? What happens to the already struggling landlords of these properties?
Years ago they sold a massive amount of their obsolete equipment to China. Are we now looking at a postage stamp that will read, made in China?
Us Vietnam veterans are not real enamored with this China thing. Remember, they supplied the North Vietnamese with the weapons and supplies that put 58,000 men on the Wall. This duplicity has a bit more gravity than the actions of Jane Fonda. Grudge? No, just an accurate memory.
What happens to our rural areas that are already on the edge? How will they and the small businesses, that the GOP proclaims are the backbone of America, be served?
Is this some sinister plot to get our citizens to move into metropolitan areas so as to be the perfect consumers? China would like that. If we no longer need rural America for food, textiles, forests and fuel, we can just start importing all of our essentials. I see the envelopes and boxes for delivery coming from China.
In the literal sense a shill is a charade acting as an innocent bystander. These Senators are shills squared, as they will never be at the effect of what they are causing. You just have to ask yourselves for whom they are doing the bidding?
Is this the sovereign America our men and women in uniform are defending? Or is sovereignty now an antiquated concept?
All veterans who took an oath to uphold the Constitution, hopefully inherent of protecting our sovereign nation, should help block this legislation. It is part of the selling off of America that began in 2001.
Here here. Before cutting the USPS, let’s see Congress take less of a pension and healthplan in their retirement. These guys live like Kings and remember, it just wasn’t that long ago that they removed the exemption that they themselves had from having to live under the same laws they put on all of us!
No kidding. Senator McCain, being a mufti-millionaire, collects $22,ooo.oo a year in Social Security benefits. He is indeed entitled to them, but you might think a fine patriot of his caliber, might help out Uncle Sam by passing on those “Entitlements.”
Mike, what are your solutions for keeping the US Postal Service solvent?
For starters, stop raiding their retirement fund and slipping it into the General Fund, and then telling them they are broke. They do not get Social Security you know? And eliminating Saturday delivery is probably necessary.
Shucking junk mail would help too. No more free postage for non-profits, many of whom are political PAC’s,
Well said!
All of those ideas sound good to me. If we have to do without Saturday delivery, I’m sure we’ll manage.
The USPS retirement plan falls under the Federal Employee Retirement System since 1/1/1984. Anyone hired after that date does indeed receive Social Security.
Those hired prior to that date do not, however, they have the option of paying back SS to receive both CSRS retirement benefits as well as SS.
Postal employees also pay far less for their health insurance than any other Federal employee.
And the irony is that their health insurance is “Mandated!” Both political parties were part of this arrangement that the know nothings now call “Socialism.” Socialism is the NFL, MLB, NBA and Tucson Electric park, that runs on monies out of the General Fund.