If America can't even reform its post office we're all in tr

[TrueBlueTerrier]

If America can't even reform its post office we're all in trouble http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comm ... ouble.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Doomsday clocks. Don't you just love them? It's hard to remember life without them because they've become so ubiquitous since the financial crisis. You can't fault their versatility: they can count both up and down while always managing to point firmly in the direction of economic Armageddon.

The US has had plenty to choose from. There's the national debt clock in Manhattan that manages to tick relentlessly higher whatever the weather. Then last month's debt ceiling debacle saw a fresh line in these clocks break out on newspaper websites like a rash – all competing to count down to an unprecedented and ugly default by the US government.

Now September has handed Americans yet another. It sits on a website called postal.oversight.house.gov that was established by Darrell Issa, a Republican Congressman from California. At the time of writing, it tells readers that there are 23 days, 11 hours, nine minutes and 20 seconds until the US Postal Service defaults. So what, you might ask. As apocalypses go, a financial headache at America's post office doesn't have much on, say, the collapse of the euro or a second meltdown on Wall Street.

While that's true, the latest addition to the doomsday catalogue is worth exploring because the postal service and the wider US economy suffer from some of the same ailments. And how America's politicians try to resolve them at the former will offer clues to US consumers, businesses and international investors on whether those on Capitol Hill will step up to the bigger economic challenges facing the country over the next year.

First, then, a quick explanation of the malaise at the Postal Service, which though government-owned is supposed to be run with the intention of turning a profit. If you thought the Royal Mail had problems, take a deep breath now. Patrick Donahue, the Postmaster General – a position first filled by Benjamin Franklin – told a Senate committee this week that the service could lose $10bn (£6.3bn) this year.

The problem isn't hard to diagnose: costs are rising while revenues are falling. The service – America's biggest civilian employer after Wal-Mart – spends about 80pc of its revenue on wages and staff benefits. In a report last year, the Postal Service forecast that the amount it shells out on its more than 500,000 postmen, letter sorters and other staff will rise from $56.5bn in 2009 to $77.2bn in 2020. Meanwhile, the decline in its revenues will be familar to anyone who has, or perhaps more likely hasn't, posted a letter recently. The volume of mail sent has tumbled 22pc since 2006, with the more profitable first-class mail falling most sharply. Even the less lucrative junk mail, whose volume exploded during the housing boom as sub-prime lenders sent out millions of mortgage applications, is declining.

All of which brings us back to Congressman Issa's clock and its countdown to September 30. That's when the Postal Service is required to make a $5.5bn contribution to a fund to pay for the healthcare benefits of future retirees. It doesn't, of course, have the cash. In fairness to Donahue and the top brass at the Postal Service, they've made a proposal to put the organisation on a diet. They want to cut 120,000 jobs, close 2,000 of the country's 31,871 post offices and eliminate its Saturday service. All of which needs the support of Congress and explains the plea Donahue made on Tuesday. "We are at a critical junture," he said. "Action from Congress is sorely needed by the close of this fiscal year."

The initial prognosis does not look great. A bill from Issa and fellow Republican Congressman Dennis Ross supports the closing of post offices and goes futher. They want to establish an independent body with the authority to keep cutting costs at the Postal Service should it fall more than 30 days behind on any payment it's required to make. The plan has provoked sharp opposition from Democrats, many of whom don't want the organisation to retreat from the six-day week service it provides.

Should the Postal Service fail to cough up the cash on September 30, Americans will still get their post the next day. No administration will pull the plug on a service that opinion polls suggest is still popular. But Congress and the White House do need to agree on a plan that delivers a leaner service that has a chance of making money again in a radically changed market. "We can either let the postal service try to adapt to the market or we turn off the lights," explains Jim Campbell, an expert on postal reform. If political divisions stand in the way of reform, Americans, as well as the rest of us, can hold out little hope for progress on the much bigger question of cutting the deficit.

[clashcityrocker]

Have they considered introducing Park and Loop?

[Lounge Lizard]

Listen to Jonathan Sacks and his comments about the West being in terminal decline, such as his article in the Times last Thursday, and you might realise that the failings of the USPS are all just part of a bigger picture.

[NWpostie]

The Republicans don't have clue about how to run a Postal service their Idea of closing Post Offices and no federal funding, they make the Tories seem Liberal !!

[DGP1]

The Republicans don't have clue about how to run a Postal service their Idea of closing Post Offices and no federal funding, they make the Tories seem Liberal !!

You can see what they're like if you've lots of American friends on FB...............some of them are so right wing that they're coming round to meet themselves from the left again

[NWpostie]

The Republicans don't have clue about how to run a Postal service their Idea of closing Post Offices and no federal funding, they make the Tories seem Liberal !!

You can see what they're like if you've lots of American friends on FB...............some of them are so right wing that they're coming round to meet themselves from the left again

I have been to USA many times over the years I think you will find that the ordinary Americans are one of the warmest, polite, helpful, generous people I have met, maybe the British accent helps a bit :), its the system that fcuks over these people, there extreme right wing (Republicans) and slight right wing (Democrats), having chatted to some US Postie, their problems are the same problems we have, the higher ups don't care, its even worse under Social Darwinism that is America, the whole system is geared toward the top 10% who are living the American dream, the rest are trying to get by, no American dream for them, just go into google street view to see some of the housing many of them had to live in, its mostly wooden houses that is just basically a big shed, as that is all they can afford, if you are paying the mortgage for a super shed, sometimes it leaves little for Health Insurance that don't always pay out looking for a cop out, even when they pay out its usually up to a capped limit which you still have to pay toward (co-pay) it can easily be 20% of the total cost, unemployed ? you get benefits for 1 year, if you don't another job by then, you're on your own, al new jobs are now hourly based, you get a basic 15- 20 hour job which can be increased or reduced as required, pay is a third less of ours, gas (petrol)is no longer cheap its hitting $3 in places, the Political system is set from 1785, there are socialist parties they are few and far between, the Americans have been brainwashed as the don't know any better, they were told they live in the best country in the world, the flag is sacred, everybody wants to come into the Land of Opportunity, many of them could not afford to travel to other Countries so they really couldn't compare, I do feel sorry for them in some ways, I blame the system and the hype that goes with it.

Having been to some Countries other than America including Canada which is like America but with Healthcare and no Guns (better than USA), I can truly say in spite of its faults the United Kingdom is a much better country than some give it credit for, that is said from experience as many haven't been that far outside of the UK apart from 18-30 holidays.

We must fight to prevent the extreme right wing Tories/Liberals from making the UK "USA lite" this include privatised healthcare, no public funding or support of essential services, this is the road we are going down if we are not careful, i.e. Privatisation of Royal Mail, it is done for ideological reasons, one thing in our favour unlike our American Cousins, we are more cynical and politically aware than we are given credit for...................


Sorry to go on a lot, I suppose its to give some background.....

[BELIAL]

51st State simple ; France ;Italy ;Germany =52nd;53rd etc. (Actually 52nd cos no one mentions Japan being occupied , even the Americans forgot to "officially hand back " Okinawa until 1972 )

[NWpostie]

The UK will never be the 51st State, that will be Puerto Rico once they get themselves sorted ! we would only end up being a US territory like Puerto Rice is now, in effect a junior partner.

Our Political system and culture is too different to make integration possible, what will we do all these unemployed MPs and Lords ? it would be hugely ironic if the Queen were to become Queen of America, if the US decides to keep the Monarchy, got be better than some of the Presidents they got, that's why Canada and USA haven't united, it has been mooted a few times, but the political, culture, lifestyle, financial would make integration difficult and Canadians think they are superior to the Americans


Okinawa was retained by the Americans as a massive air carrier which became useful for the Korean war and Vietnamese war, the whole island drove on the right until hand back, the Japanese government changed it back to driving on the left, the Japanese were the aggressors in WW2 and a particularly nasty one at that, they were responsible for some of the most nastiest evil atrocities of modern times, the retention of the Island was an insurance to make sure the Japs don't get up to their old tricks again, once democracy was firmly established and the Japs proved their worth was the then Island handed back.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

The united states of total paranoia - Jeremy Clarkson http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/commen ... 681768.ece" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[NWpostie]

American Immigration Officers are an experience in itself, I have never anywhere in the world ever experienced such a rigorous procedure as the USA, Canada wasn't so bad, depending where you go, the funny thing is the 9/11 terrorist attack racked up the paranoia to a higher level, all attacks was from within the USA by legal Residents and US Muslim citizens, not outside, most ordinary Americans also get a good grilling worse than us when coming back into the US, the system is all wrong, it hadn't made the US any safer, the same system is equally willing to allow the USPS to fail without regard to the consequences of doing so, "let the market forces fill the gap" is naive, the Republicans have blind faith on the power of the market.

The American "dream" was actually more by luck than judgement, they had all the intact factories after WW2 and money to spare, so they "loaned" us money under the Marshall plan, we used that same money to pay for US goods and paying for the loan with interest at the same time, the American golden age was the 1950/60/70s it started going downhill in the 80s, as loan money get paid up, manufacturing rises in Europe, now its the Chinese.............