“One of the things the government can’t do is run anything. The only things our government runs are the post office and the railroads, and both of them are bankrupt.” – Lee Iaccoca
You may have heard that the U.S. Post Office lost $16 BILLION last year. You may also have heard that Congress snuck a requirement into a bill that had nothing to do with the Post Office, mandating that they must deliver on Saturdays, even though eliminating Saturday delivery would save the Post Office $2 BILLION per year. Congress evidently can’t read a financial statement or interpret a chart. I’m sure the trends detailed on this chart will reverse themselves shortly.
While reading an editorial today supporting the Post Office in its efforts to save money by eliminating Saturday delivery I saw another MASSIVE LIE perpetuated by the MSM and the government.
Here is the Orwellian statement:
“The U.S. Postal Service is an independent governmental agency that doesn’t take taxpayer funds.”
This is complete and utter bullshit. This statement also described Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac until 2008. They were just little old independent government agencies helping out the housing market – until the shit hit the fan!!! Then they became albatrosses around the necks of the American taxpayer. You own them now. They have lost $200 billion of your tax dollars, and will lose billions more before all is said and done.
You can access the U.S. Post Office financial statements online. Here is their December 2012 report:
http://about.usps.com/who-we-are/financials/financial-conditions-results-reports/fy2013-q1.pdf
The honesty of the people writing this report is refreshing. They essentially admit they are BANKRUPT and unable to meet their financial obligations. In other words, a truly INDEPENDENT entity admitting they can no longer operate. How is this for honesty:
“The Postal Service continues to suffer from a severe lack of liquidity. The Postal Service held total cash of $2.9 billion and $2.3 billion as of December 31, and September 30, 2012, respectively, and had no remaining borrowing capacity on its $15 billion debt facility (See Note 3, Debt, for additional information). The increase in cash balances for the quarter is largely attributable to the seasonal impact of holiday mailings, along with additional revenue resulting from this year’s political campaign and elections. Cash balances generally decline during the remainder of the fiscal year, as revenue is not as strong in the remaining quarters. By the end of this fiscal year, the Postal Service projects it will have a liquidity balance that will be less than its average weekly expenses of $1.3 billion. This low level of available cash means that the Postal Service will be unable to make the $5.6 billion legally-mandated prefunding of retiree health benefits due by September 30, 2013. Further, this level of cash could be insufficient to support operations in the event of another significant downturn in the U.S. economy.
Through the three months ended December 31, 2012, the Postal Service has suffered 5 quarters of consecutive net losses and net losses in 14 of the last 16 quarters. The net loss of $1.3 billion for the first quarter of the year included $1.4 billion of expense accrued for the legally-mandated prefunding payment for retiree health benefits. The requirement of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, Public Law 109-435 (P.L. 109-435) to prefund its retiree health benefit obligations, a requirement not shared by other federal agencies or private sector businesses, plus the precipitous drop in mail volume caused by changes in consumers’ uses of mail, have been the two major factors contributing to Postal Service losses since the recession ended in 2009. Without structural change to the Postal Service’s business model, it will continue to be negatively impacted by these factors and, absent legislative change, it anticipates continuing quarterly losses for the remainder of 2013.”
The politicians that are mismanaging this country use governmental accounting fraud to cover-up the fact that the obligations of this bloated pig of an operation are going to be paid by YOU, the taxpayers of the United States. Today, none of the past, current, or future liabilities of this INDEPENDENT GOVERNMENT AGENCY are reflected in the Federal budget projections or the National Debt calculation.
Do YOU want to know how much YOU really owe? Brace yourself.
- In the past six years they have lost $41 BILLION and they have a cumulative deficit of $36 billion. How many INDEPENDENT organizations can run up deficits of $36 billion without going out of business? YOU are on the hook for these accumulated deficits, just like you were on the hook for all of the Fannie and Freddie backed toxic mortgages.
- The Post Office will lose another $10 to $15 billion this fiscal year. You will be on the hook for that too.
- They have $15 billion of debt on their balance sheet, with $9.5 billion payable in the next 9 months. How will this INDEPENDENT government agency that is losing $16 billion per year pay off $9.5 billion? They won’t. The government drones will pass a bill in the middle of the night extending the terms with no cash flow requirements or expectation of repayment. I wonder if I can get a loan like that?
- The really interesting stuff is buried on page 42 of their report. I wonder why it is all the way back there? In addition to their $15 billion of debt, they have another $70.5 BILLION of unfunded future obligations. The two biggest are:
- $33.9 Billion of payments for pension and health benefits for retirees, all due within the next 5 years. It’s not cheap providing gold plated benefits to government workers.
- $25 billion for workers compensation and sick leave payments. Yikes!!! It must be all that stress, because the mail never stops. It keeps coming and coming. It’s almost enough to make someone go postal, or at least file a stress related workers comp claim.
This really sounds like a promising story. Mail volumes continue to plummet. Someone should tell Congress the internet age has arrived. The Post Office has thousands of money losing, unneeded outlets. It has 637,000 employees when it only needs 300,000. Over 70% of Americans favor ending Saturday delivery, so Congress passes a law making that impossible to implement, ensuring $2 billion more losses per year. That’s par for the course. Over 70% of Americans were against passing TARP too. And according to your leaders in Washington, and parroted by the MSM, you are not on the hook for their losses.
It’s beyond laughable, but so is most of what is going on in this tragedy of a country, disguised as a comedy. The truth is that you are on the hook for the $36 billion of accumulated deficits, the $85 billion of debt and contractual obligations, and the annual $16 billion losses they continue to pile up. But what’s $120 to $150 billion among friends? Bennie can print that out of thin air in a few days. Why run an operation efficiently at a surplus, when you can keep hundreds of thousands of union government drones employed (until they go on workers comp) by sticking it to the working American taxpayer. I sure hope I don’t get a visit from the Postmaster General because of this article.
http://youtu.be/6nKlzQo3Wqo
republicans fault for forcing the USPS to fully fund their pensions and healthcare for the next 75 years….theyre paying for employees that havent even been born yet.
yet another move by the republicans to fuck everything up and then blame it someone else. bunch of idiots.
PatD
Thank you for that peek into the mind of a dumbass math challenged delusional Democrat.
That might the dumbest fucking comment ever made on TBP, and that is really saying something. You don’t even understand the definition of a pension obligation. You must have graduated at the top of your class from Dumbass University.
You idiots think that fully funding known pension obligations is crazy. You MUST be a government worker to believe that not funding your obligations is the path to fiscal prosperity.
Jesus Christ there are some really fucking dumb people in this country.
Soon they’ll be running your health care so there should be no surprise when its a complete fiasco. Maybe a little pain and suffering will awake those still asleep.
The writer of this article also needs to know that congress has screwed the Postal service retirement in the past to. They made the Post Service pay for the retirements of the employees when they were online budget (payed by taxes) before 1971. And made them pay interest on that money!!! Do some research!!! Congress has STOLEN $60 BILLION from the USPS!!!!!
“there are some really fucking dumb people in this country”
Like, people who don’t know that ALL gov obligations are fully covered NOW, today, by EXTANT gov wealth running into trillions. That income taxes and budgets are con-jobs to keep the feudal proles scared, landless, and broke. That what you should be reading are actual financials, not media scares.
CAFR1.com
Then again, what does one expect from an Internet potty mouth. Grow up, learn something, and put your mindless bathroom wall graffiti on bathroom walls, not the net.
Government workers may be dumb – cops get hired for low IQ! – but are smart enough to hold an image, keep bathroom banter where it belongs, and not piss on Internet walls. Even a dog has more dignity than you when it pisses.
Wow. We’ve got an easily offended anonymous idiot who actually thinks ALL government obligations are covered.
Just when I thought PatD made the dumbest fucking comment in history, you topped him.
If the US government applied GAAP accounting it would reveal that the US taxpayer is on the hook for $222 trillion of unfunded obligations.
I wouldn’t expect an anonymous douchebag like yourself to actually post a comment with any facts or substance. Idiots like yourself just post links to worthless websites and spew their gibberish.
You clearly have no clue about financial statements, cash flows, accrued liabilities, or unfunded obligations. That would require an IQ above 85, which you clearly do not have. You must be a government employee.
First-class mail volume has fallen 19 percent since 2001, and it is projected to fall another 37 percent by 2020. From 2006 to 2009 total mail volume dropped from 213 billion to 177 billion items, a 17 percent decrease. By 2020 the USPS estimates further volume declines of about 15 percent, to 150 billion pieces, which would be the lowest level since 1986.
A key driver of mail delivery costs is the congressionally mandated obligation to serve virtually every mailing address, regardless of volume, six days a week. Fulfilling this “universal service” obligation results in the USPS having large fixed costs, including the costs of more than 36,000 postal outlets, 215,000 vehicles, and 600 processing facilities.
However, even given the universal service obligation, the Government Accountability Office and USPS officials believe that more than half of these processing facilities aren’t needed. Why aren’t they closed down to save money? The GAO notes that the USPS faces “formidable resistance” from members of Congress and postal unions when attempting to close or consolidate facilities.
The thing with government workers is, you can’t be smarter than your boss. And considering the big boss is Obama, with an IQ of 90, that doesn’t bode well for the other 30 million government employees. Government workers are the bottom 50th percentile in any given category. The worst of the worst, the dumbest of the dumbest.
Maybe Herr StuckenStats can determine the racial make-up of the USPS for us.
Calling commentors on his site “douchebags”, “idiots”…etc? LOL Very professional. This Jim Quinn guy has some anger-management issues. It must really suck to be so miserable all the time.
ROFLMAO
You are so fucking stupid you can’t even get your alias right. It’s ROTFLMAO.
If you want liberal bullshit and mental masturbation go to Naked Capitalism or Barry Ritholtz’ blog.
If you want facts and the truth come to TBP.
Thanks for contributing nothing with your waste of a comment.
Excessive labor costs are another major problem. While the USPS has been able to eliminate a substantial number of employees through attrition, the USPS’s predominantly unionized workforce continues to account for 80 percent of the agency’s costs despite increased automation. The USPS estimates that, in the absence of changes, its total workforce costs will soar from $53 billion in 2009 to $77 billion in 2020.
As of 2009 the USPS had financial liabilities and unfunded obligations of $88 billion.24 Unfunded obligations for retiree health benefits accounted for $52 billion of the total. The 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act addressed this unfunded liability by requiring the USPS to make a special payment of more than $5 billion annually from 2007 through 2016 to build up a retirement fund. This was a good idea to reduce possible liabilities on future taxpayers.
However, USPS revenues began plummeting shortly after the PAEA’s enactment. In 2009 Congress relieved the USPS by allowing it to defer $4 billion of its scheduled $5.4 billion retirement payment for the year. Facing the same situation this year, Congress adjourned without providing the USPS with similar relief. As a result, the USPS could soon run out of operating funds.
Critics argue that the pre-funding payment schedule is too aggressive, particularly in light of the USPS’s current financial struggles. However, the USPS faces a bleak future regardless of the payments. As the GAO notes, allowing the USPS to continue deferring the payments will “increase the risk that in the future USPS will not be able to pay these obligations as its core business continues to decline and if sufficient actions are not taken to restructure operations and reduce costs.”
Opponents of pre-funding USPS retiree health benefits argue that private companies and the rest of the federal government are not legally required to do so. That is largely irrelevant. Retiree health care coverage is an increasingly rare perk in the private sector, and the federal government’s financial management is nothing to emulate. In 2008, only 17 percent of private sector workers were employed at a business that offered health benefits to Medicare-eligible retirees, down from 28 percent in 1997.
In 2009 the average postal employee received about $79,000 in total compensation.30 This compares to $61,000 in wages and benefits received by the average private sector worker that year.31 A recent study by labor economist James Sherk found that postal workers earn 15 to 20 percent more per hour than comparable workers in the private sector.
If I were a “government worker” (I realize it’s an oxymoron), but I knew something about economics and finance (most clearly don’t), I’d be extremely nervous about the future of my pension.
It should be obvious by now that we can’t even pay off the funded debt at this point. Hell, a small spike in interest rates will mean we’ll struggle to pay the interest, let alone the principal. You can forget about fulfilling entitlements and government pensions.
The best they can hope for is a negotiated re-structuring, meaning they’ll get a certain percentage of what politicians promised them. The alternative is getting a hundred cents on the dollar, but the dollar won’t be worth anything. Either way, it’s a default.
It’s time for the bozos in Washington to come clean with the American people. The free shit has to stop, the money printing has to stop, the central planning has to stop.
The government is too big and spends too much. A lot of its employees need to be fired and forced to get gainful employment doing something productive, rather than sucking off the government teat.
Some of the postal employees at the counter wear dust masks. They mumble incoherently and show their blatant disdain for you, the disgusting public. Although terrified of germs from you, the disgusting public, they are not terrified enough to find another, healthier (harder) job.
The USPS has a Congressional-approved monopoly on First-Class mail. FedEx, UPS etc. are not allowed to touch the stuff. If the monopoly were to disappear, these companies would almost immediately pick up the slack in a much more efficient manner, turning a profit on necessary First Class Mail, and likely eliminating a lot of the unnecessary “We Buy Houses” and Chinese food menu garbage that the USPS pumps into the system in a sad attempt to break even. They would likely do it without allowing customer service employees to slap a thick piece of fabric over their mouths before they interact with you.
The Shit throwing monkeys must be asleep. This post has 15,000 reads and 230 comments on ZH. I’ve been thrashing a couple douchebags for hours. Then nutjob DP showed up with his usual cut and paste drivel. What a pathetic excuse for a human being.
Give me a thumbs down DP. We all know you can’t resist TBP.
The sheep are getting lonely. Back to the barn.
The USPS will lose $238 billion in the next 10 years.
http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/usps
Really and we’re supposed to trust US with our the security and welfare of our children?
damn WP!
Admin – good stuff on ZH. Those guys are fucking morons. Their basic position that that the PS would not be broke except for them needing to pay their bills – their pension money. They basically think all accrued liabilities should be passed on to future generations who will somehow magically be able to find that pot of gold under the rainbow.
Wish my business worked that way – promise my employees anything, but just not pay it and let it be some one else’s problem twenty years from now. Yep, I sure could make a lot of money if wages and such were optional and could be accrued indefinitely.
Fucking half-wits.
LLPOH
Usually the ZH commenters have a libertarian leaning. It is amazing how many faux libertarians turn into liberals when the subject matter changes to some bloated government union controlled organization that will cost taxpayers $100 billion to $150 billion that is not on the government books.
Sometimes I wonder if some of these people are paid plants to push a false agenda and spew misinformation to the ignorant masses.
The PO is just another arm of obese gubmint – all of which don’t have a clue how to downsize. But the writing is on the wall, and downsize will come, like it or not. How many federal ’employees’ are going to go to work in the morning after fiat becomes just paper, paychecks ain’t worth a damn, and the masses are running hungry and scared? I see no way to avoid dumping this currency in favor of one backed with metal, and I see no way to avoid severe disruptions during the interim, especially since there will be an adjustment of zeros to deal with this monstrous debt.
Gonna be all kinda fallout, best to get hunkered down and out of the mainstream. Prolly a good time to say it, coming up on April 15 and all, but why would you support this Postal BS with your tax dollas? Might as well step out of the system sooner than later, give you more time to get comfy. Better a day early than a minute late.
You know, I like the post office. Ben Franklin had it written into our ignored Constitution. But, maybe eliminating Saturday delivery is not enough. Why not just deliver 4 days a week or if needed, 3? Is anyone really going to suffer by waiting an extra day or two for something?
CONgress doesn’t seem to understand the depth of our financial problems. What is it of late: $212 trillion in unfunded liabilities? But, they will understand when there is no money for their pensions, their retirement healthcare, and no cash for the Secret Service (“SS”) to protect our former führers from those who seek justified vengeance.
Chill out. Congress has your back. They hate unions as much as you do (well almost). The Post Office is under siege and soon will be no more. Unlike say the Pentagon which always looks good in terms of cost/benefit. Of course even the military is well on its way to being privatized. Free Market Utopia here we come!
The comments show exactly why this nation is in the shape and deteriorating condition it is in. Everyone focused on deficits, and spending. Yet, not one knows WHY that is only the symptom and not the problem. The problem, cause, and reason these synptoms exist is because we “borrow” our currency into existence from a Privately Owned Corporation Central Bank, who profits from that borrowing and spending done by the government!
Yet, not one person commenting here addresses that! You have all been fooled for a century on how pieces of paper backed by nothing but edict (force) and legal tender laws making it illegal to use anything but those pieces of paper with ink on them backed by nothing to do business with.
Pieces of paper with ink on them are NOT MONEY! They are currency, NOT MONEY!
Want to fix every problem this nation has? Then, tear down the Federal Reserve Banks, and arrest every person associated with them, seize all their assets (for they stole all of them anyway from taxpayer dollars), and issue our own nations currenct interest free from foreign bank owners at the Federal Reserve!
What we, as a nation, are doing is no different than if I took control over your paycheck, wallet, and bank accounts, and when you wanted to spend money, you had to come to me, borrow your own money from me, and pay me interest for what you spent even though it was your own money in the first place!
Why can’t the zombie sheep understand that, this is the problem in our nation and why we are in debt for $17 Trillion dollars to the Federal Reserve Corporation Central Privately Owned for Profit Banking System?
The massive dollar printing is welcomed by most American fools; that will destroy US like the Wiemar Republic. The BRICS are preparing alternative economic and financial systems for when the dollar/euro/yen suddenly collapse (their supply is up 5X since 2008 and that means at least 500% inflation will hit workers and non-gov’t pensioners worse because the elite and welfare maggots are closer to the fiat spigots). The BRICS will require Americans to pay in Wan, Rubles, etc, or gold (or dollars at huge prices). The merchants shelves will go bare; even the free ride maggots will be impacted (back door austerity). The “free lunch” tab will come due soon and although the workers will pay the lions share, the welfare maggots will wish they had gotten a job even if it was farm work.
I may be either wrong or confused but I thought there was some requirement for a US citizen to be able to interact with the federal government for a minimal amount of money.
I suspect that a lot of private companies would throw much of rural America under a bus rather than guarantee universal coverage for the price of a stamp.
Olga – I do not see anyone calling for the end of the Postal Service. What is being called for is one that is, cost neutral or profitable. TheS is currently nothing but a giant suck hole, and the unions and politicians are thwarting every effort to manage its costs.
Please try not to be so stupid when you post.
Olga,
Well said. No, the USPS is not cost-effective. I wanted to thank you for your many insightful and comical comments over that past few months. Jim and several others have added levity also which is sorely needed and appreciated at this chat board. Have you ever noticed that people are the funniest when they are just being themselves? Cheers.
The problem isn’t our government. The problem is us “The people”. We’ve know our government and economic is corrupt from top to bottom. Yet we sit here and talk and complain endless as if our corrupt inept government is going to fix itself. Wake up people. You own the government and the government is accountable to you – Not the other way around. Corruption is running rampant our government and economic system because we allow it by sitting here commenting when in fact we should be doing something about it.
Well hear this! The revolution has started! It’s just waiting for you wake up.
“Be Smart!” –
FIGHT THE CAUSE – NOT THE SYMPTOM
U.S. Citizens
Read “Common Sense 3.1” at ( http://revolution2.osixs.org )
Non U.S. Citizens
Read “Common Sense 3.2” at ( http://SaveTheWorldNow.osixs.org )
How else can I say this? “We Are Free! U just have to open your eyes.
http://WeAreFree.osixs.org
“Spread the News”
“I may be either wrong or confused but I thought there was some requirement for a US citizen to be able to interact with the federal government for a minimal amount of money.”
You are wrong and confused, they don’t care about you in the least.
“I suspect that a lot of private companies would throw much of rural America under a bus rather than guarantee universal coverage for the price of a stamp.”
No, but they would charge them the market price for mail service. If you choose to live in Point Barrow, AK then the days of someone in Canton, OH subsidizing your .46 letter are over. People live in all sorts of obscure places in the U.S., and they pay market rates for their supplies, utilities, housing, etc. Yet their mail is sacred? Take your communism elsewhere.
“Olga – I do not see anyone calling for the end of the Postal Service. What is being called for is one that is, cost neutral or profitable”
Those terms do not exist in the governmental repertoire. How many more billions will be squandered until people figure that out.
Ranger
You’re not the first dumbfuck drive-by to skim one article and whine that we did not focus on something other than the topic. Yeah, Jim was remiss by not writing a 10,000 word footnote on your hobby horse du jour. And really, why stop there? What about Polk’s false–flag war of choice, or whatever happened to Judge Crater, where is Capone’s hidden treasure, why isn’t Wilson’s secret treaty with Great Britain in all the history books, or Morgan’s triggering the Panic of 1907 so he could save the nation, then there’s every commission that came up with insufficient truth, no penetrating analysis of why Paul Krugman and the Kenyesians are so dense, and more — and then you have something the size of the Encyclopedia Britannica.
And it’s still incomplete. Heh.
Or you could just get a life and spend much of it researching everything on this site.
We started out as a Nation of rural farmers so the onus of interaction with the Federal government was on the Federal government – if one wants to control then the vehicle of control must be one that one actually controls.
I am not for one minute stating the PO of being a well run, efficient organization but rather a utility that serves (served?) It’s purpose.
But apparently the rules have changed and the onus of interaction, the opportunity (duty, the vehicle?) to exchange information with the Feds is now the responsibility of the citizen at what ever cost the market can bare.
Hey, now!
Not all government workers are ungrateful lazy slugs who just absorb paychecks.
I’m one, and my beliefs fall in line with most of those on this site. I’ll get a pension, but I have little confidence that it will do much to support me. I plan on working until the day I shuffle off this mortal coil. Herr Geithner has already encumbered gov’t retirement money. I expect more of that in the future.
Not sure where the “Gov’t is fully funded” guy is coming from, given the hundreds of trillions of unfunded liabilities we have.
Any suggestions on how to hunker down and weather this storm? It looks and smells like it’s spinning toward us.
Until recently, I could not imagine the world economy in the toilet for every country on Earth.
@GTAMS, welcome.
Sorry you have been lied to, but rest assured, even those of us that actually have had to pay and self-fund our “retirements” have been lied to, too.
As for hunkering down and weathering it, whom the hell actually knows? Hard to guess how scarce things might me, how violent the world, how little cash might be worth, isn’t it?
So, I’ve decided to KISS (keep it simple stupid-I’m the stupid) and focus on necessities.
Something of value that more than likely can be used for trade and barter. Because I have very little to work with, I’ve concentrated on “junk” silver (mainly foreign coins of nearly pure silver bought from jewelers and coin dealers), cheap gold & silver jewelry, ammo, water purification, battlefield hospital supplies (non-pharma ways to kill infections, banish viruses, gauze, peroxide, alcohol, iodine, etc, etc.), gardening stuff – like a seed vault, the link comes up every so often here, food that will last, skills and the books/info to survive when electricity becomes sporadic and the stores are mainly empty. Oh yeah, feminine hygiene products too.
My guess is that these things will be worth their weight in gold – or fresh milk, as the case may be.
Welcome to reality, try not to let it get you too down, or too crazy, the truth is much scarier than the majority can even imagine.