ALEC/Koch Cabal Pursuing Privatization of the US Postal Service for UPS and FedEx…

[Galraedia]

An event occurred in front of my home on Wednesday of this week that provided an incentive for me to go ahead and publish an article I’d written about the United States Postal Service (USPS). The event was a strong-arm robbery of a mailman at a house on our block. I witnessed this event and was asked to give statements to agents of the Postal Inspector’s Office and local detectives.

Ruminating over the past two days I realized that for hundreds of thousands of USPS letter carriers the possibility of robbery of packages, mail and their personal safety are everyday worries. Many letter carriers have routes that take them into neighborhoods where their safety is in jeopardy – yet as representatives of our government they willingly return day after day to deliver the mail. Virtually every citizen in the U.S. comes in contact with USPS employees on a daily basis as they pick up or deliver our mail.

For years the GOP – led by alumni of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) in the U.S. Congress – have urged cutting back the wages of USPS workers. They claim they are paid too much, pensions and retirement provisions too costly to taxpayers and their collective bargaining gives them unfair advantages over private sector workers. At the core of this argument is that the USPS has a “monopoly” on first class mail and rail parcel package delivery systems. UPS and FedEx want to take over those services and contracts.

ALEC has pushed for privatizing the USPS and has used the services of RW think tanks such as Reason Foundation, CATO, Econ Journal Watch and National Taxpayers Union to contribute their support for this privatization agenda against the USPS.

Read more: http://www.vltp.net/alec/aleckoch-cabal-pursuing-privatization-of-the-us-postal-service-for-ups-and-fedex

[upi402]

1. Destroy America, it's the American way! n/t

[JDPriestly]

2. Benjamin Franklin was a appointed by the British government to be

the postmaster of the U.S. He would turn over in his grave if that great institution were privatized.

Can't these rich guys think of something original to do with their money. Are they capable of anything other than buying up the work of others and pretending thereby to be doing something useful?

[Art_from_Ark]

3. Of course, we weren't the US when the British appointed him postmaster

When we did become the US, though, Franklin was appointed the new country's first Postmaster General, and as such his portrait commonly appeared in US definitive stamp series, from the first issue of 1847 to the Americana series of 1954-65.

[Galraedia]

5. Actually Benjamin Franklin was appointed by the Continental Congress

The Continental Congress was a convention of delegates called together from the Thirteen Colonies that became the governing body of the United States during the American Revolution.

[JDPriestly]

9. That was later. Before that, way back when, Franklin was appointed by

the British government.

[aquart]

4. Wouldn't we have to amend the constitution to dump the post office?

[Boabab]

6. Oh, joy. This will really work. n/t

[cyclezealot]

7. Darrell Issa is not our congressmen.

Actually , he is .. But , he does not represent us..
He represents Alec and friends. Issa Chair of Govt. Operations has been the henchmen for his privateer buddies ever since he was elected. A real slime ball.

[limpyhobbler]

8. We should never let private special interests take over the mail system to operate for their own

personal profit. That's nothing but theft. One thing is for sure: they don't care about us, they are just in it for the money. Mail delivery is to important to turn over to people of such low moral character.

[Snarkoleptic]

10. Take action against ALEC here...

http://act.colorofchange.org/sign/alec/?source=coc_website

[Baitball Blogger]

11. I'm not looking forward to this at all.

At the peak of the Iraq War, after the mailings of anthrax, all the post offices went postal with their suspicious scrutiny. But the private ma and pa's were the worst. They didn't hide their Republican allegiances and it felt like they were abusing the power they were given to second guess everybody.

Not to mention that I stopped using them because they're too expensive.

[lonestarnot]

12. Wonder who they hired in Oklahoma?

[Samantha]

13. One of the top ten donors to the 2008 Obama presidential run was the unions

Breaking the back of the unions is one of the keys to helping to defeat President Obama, so Republican strategists think. The USPO has one if not the largest unionized work force in the United States. Break them and consequently, the right-wing has one more victory in attempting to achieve its number one goal -- defeating Barack Obama in 2012.

And then, of course, there are also all of the other salient benefits (to them) of privatizing the PO. More U.S. dollars funneled to the corporate world is one of them. Chiseling away at the size of the Federal Government is another. There are others of course.

Sam

[AzDar]

14. K & R

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

15. After everything in this country is privatized

and after government and all its functions are drowned in a bathtub, what will be left of America if these assholes have their way? Will there even be a separate and distinct nation or will it just be a collective of corporations indistinguishable from any other corporate-owned places on Earth?

[WillyT]

16. K & R !!!

[BiggJawn]

17. Why does Fed Ex and UPS want 1st class mail?

They already contract with the USPS in some areas to take care of "last mile" delivery.

If they wanted the USPS' business, they'd be driving those routes already, because if they take over mail, they'll have to drive it. I realize it'll cost $3.50 to mail a letter via Fed-Ex Postal, but still.

Is this a case of the Kochs deciding to "do something" for one of their corporate pals without checking first to see if they wanted the market share?

[Initech]

18. And less pay for government workers - improves the economy how?

Fuck ALEC and the Heritage Foundation. Seriously.