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View Full Version : The Next Bailout: The U.S. Postal Service (USPS)?




FrankRep
05-18-2011, 05:10 PM
http://www.tcdelivers.com/images/icon-usps.png


Next up on the bailout list: The mailman? (http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2011/05/18/next-up-on-the-bailout-list-the-mailman/)
CNN - May 18, 2011


USPS warns of default on retiree benefits (http://www.federalnewsradio.com/index.php?nid=35&sid=2387275)

Federal News Radio
May 18, 2011


The U.S. Postal Service will begin to default on its financial obligations just over four months from now unless Congress takes action to relieve it of its obligation to pre-fund retiree health care accounts, its leader told lawmakers Tuesday.

USPS expects to post a net loss of $8.3 billion for this fiscal year, nearly as much as it lost last year. And with its $15 billion debt limit due to be reached this year, more borrowing is not an option, Postmaster General Pat Donahoe said in testimony before a subcommittee of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs committee.

"Despite our aggressive cost cutting and revenue generating efforts, we are in serious financial predicaments today," he said. "As things stand, we do not have the cash to make the $5.5 billion prepayment for future retiree health benefits due on September 30. And we may be forced to default on other payments. This could extend to operational expenses."
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Related Articles:

2011 - U.S. Postal Service Faces Shortfall (http://www.thenewamerican.com/economy/sectors-mainmenu-46/6574-postal-service-faces-shortfall)

Even though the federal postal service is relatively efficient compared to other government work, government, by its very nature, can never be as efficient as the private sector.

2011 - USPS to Close Thousands of Post Offices (http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/economy/sectors-mainmenu-46/6112-usps-to-close-thousands-of-post-offices)

With billions of dollars in losses and tens of thousands of under-performing branches, the United States Postal Service is undertaking a severe cost-cutting campaign that will eliminate thousands of post offices around the nation.

2010 - U.S. Postal Service: Time to Free the Mail (http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/usnews/constitution/3066-us-postal-service-time-to-free-the-mail)

When U.S. Postmaster General John Potter recommended eliminating Saturday delivery service in order to save money, he was merely responding to the postal service’s continuing inability to make money, or even cover its costs, delivering the mail.

tpreitzel
05-18-2011, 05:20 PM
Don't the taxpayers already bail out the USPS? "Keep those buckets comin', boys! Hopefully, you won't run out of water, err cash."

FrankRep
05-18-2011, 05:23 PM
Don't the taxpayers already bail out the USPS? "Keep those buckets comin', boys! Hopefully, you won't run out of water, err cash."

The Postal Service need the BIG Bucks now.

tpreitzel
05-18-2011, 05:27 PM
The Postal Service need the BIG Bucks now.

Yeah, my question was more of a rhetorical one... The drunken sailor can't find his way back to the ship with all the felled trees lying in the road. It's probably past time we cut of his supply of liquor completely while simultaneously removing the trees.