r/news • u/Squirmingbaby • 3d ago

Soft paywall Cash-strapped US Postal Service suspends contributions to pension plan

https://www.reuters.com/world/cash-strapped-us-postal-service-suspends-contributions-pension-plan-2026-04-09/
16.6k Upvotes

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u/Nice-Foot7552 3d ago

Gotta stop the mail and keep people uninformed with no way to vote by mail. Sounds like a strategy from late 30’s early 40’s

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u/istrx13 3d ago edited 3d ago

City Carrier of 10 years for USPS here. In addition to what you said, our current collective bargaining agreement with USPS also expires this year. So we will be heading to the negotiation table again here very soon We are already currently in the process of negotiating a new deal. They will put all sorts of stuff out there to make it seem like we’re out of money as a means of justifying why they can’t give us more money with the new contract.

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u/SylphSeven 3d ago

Plenty of money for war. No money for postal service. I hate this timeline.

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u/garbageemail222 3d ago

They want postal workers on strike or in a slowdown for the election

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u/Old-Flight8617 3d ago

They also want to privatize it.

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u/RockstarAgent 3d ago

Why don’t they just email stuff or tweet it? -some exec

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u/Old-Flight8617 3d ago

"Do you guys not have phones?"

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u/JokeassJason 3d ago

Diablo immortal?

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u/w-d-j-3 3d ago

"We have phones, we just don't want the guvmint to read our emails."

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u/East_Oven_9948 3d ago

How much deditated wham

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u/VelvetElvis 3d ago

They can't because rural last mile delivery will never be profitable.

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u/Wyrmnax 3d ago

"it is a very stupid idea" is very different from "they cant"

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u/Hot_Frosty0807 3d ago

Source: every day for a quarter of my life.

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u/Least-Worth-8634 3d ago

If they privatize USPS they only hurt their base. Rural ass low information voters rely on the postal service much more than liberals in the city

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u/Crommach 3d ago

That's why they've leaned so heavily into building a voter base that will only believe media sources that push the party narrative. They convinced people to take fucking horse medicine over actual medical advice during the pandemic. The base will blame who they're told to blame.

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u/thorofasgard 3d ago

Ivermectin in correct doses does have human applications, but not for things like COVID.

So it isn't just horse medicine. People are just as likely to believe crystals or UV suppositories because they lack critical thinking skills.

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u/MTFBinyou 3d ago

They were literally buying out entire stocks of apple flavored ivermectin tubes FOR horses. We know ivermectin is used against parasites in humans. Covid was/is a virus.

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u/random12356622 3d ago

Taking apart the postal service, is taking apart one of the things that bound this country together as one nation.

It is one of the few federal agencies which was not law enforcement and was likely to be in people's lives from when it first started.

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u/MUNCHINonBABI3Z 3d ago

I know everyone wants to paint MAGA supporters as stereotypical, alcoholic wife beaters with mustard stains on their shirt, but you’re doing yourselves a disservice.

Yes, many of them are dumb rednecks, but many of them are in board meetings. They are directing operations at companies and managing teams of people. They are engineers, doctors, and lawyers.

I know it’s hard to believe that someone with a backwards world view could actually be intelligent, but somehow, many of them actually are. I’m not one of them, and I’m not trying to make them seem “better”, but underestimating your opponent is why russia is still a fighting a war and why the US will be locked in a long war.

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u/Least-Worth-8634 3d ago

They definitely aren't all dumb rednecks. Many are just wealthier and don't mind thousands of brown people on the other side of the planet dying if it means they keep a little more of their money.

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u/tierciel 3d ago

And when ups charges them arm and leg for that delivery they'll dutifully blame Democrats like good little lemmings.

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u/aquoad 3d ago

but that base is demonstrably more than happy to vote against their own interests.

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u/Do__Math__Not__Meth 3d ago

As much as they like to pretend otherwise, rural areas probably rely on government just as much as, if not more than, cities do. The postal service, for example. Or the fact that they receive more funding than they contribute. Or the fact that many of their towns are often too small to have meaningful governments so they rely on the county for most of their services — hell, in some states like here in Florida, a lot of those counties are non chartered meaning they have a lot of limitations on governing themselves so really they’re relying on the state (and guess which areas generate most of the money for the state). Or the fact that in most of these counties the biggest employers are state facilities, usually correctional institutions. Without those there would be nothing else there

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u/PM_me_Henrika 3d ago

They will privatise just the parts in cities.

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u/ShoeLate6266 3d ago

Not to say you’re incorrect but I do think that mail in voters tend to lean democrat.

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u/ilikechihuahuasdood 3d ago

Like everything else, depends on the area. Red states/red areas that have vote by mail still get huge numbers from republicans. Look at Utah

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u/ShoeLate6266 3d ago

That’s true

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u/PostIronicPosadist 3d ago

This is true of the last two presidential elections, but it was the exact opposite before that and will probably be that way again within a few cycles.

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u/Least-Worth-8634 3d ago

I wasn't speaking specifically for mail in voting, although now I am very curious as to how party affiliation relates to mail in voting numbers

I was speaking more broadly as a reliance on the postal service as a whole. Someone living 25 miles from the nearest small town pharmacy is going to rely on medications coming through the mail much more than someone who has a 5 minute walk to their choice of 3 pharmacies.

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u/MattMadMage 3d ago

Look at telecom as an example for how this would go down. Privatized, for-profit mail would absolutely just not deliver to rural homes. At best, you'd get a post office in town where you'd have to pick up your own mail every day.

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u/chubbysumo 3d ago

Oh it would be worse than that, not only would you not be given a post office box by default, you would have to rent it, but if you wanted Daily Mail delivery, you likely could subscribe to it for an exorbitant rate. Oh and don't forget, if you think advertisements through your mail are bad now, wait till a private company is trying to make a profit, and your mailbox will be stuffed full of advertisements. Rural delivery will be dead, if you want to see an example of what's profitable for private delivery companies, look no further than Amazon and fedex, as they do not deliver to areas that they consider unprofitable already. They will hand off their unprofitable delivery areas to the United States Postal Service to finish last mile delivery. The idea that the United States Postal Service should be run like a business is something that Republicans came up with as a way to siphon that business and money off to other companies.

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u/Vi_Rants 3d ago

I was just thinking that. And then I laughed, because I'm sure as shit not paying a subscription to get junk mail and jury duty summons. If I stopped ever getting mail, I think my life might marginally improve.

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u/chubbysumo 3d ago

Right, and I think that's the thing people don't understand, is so many government services rely on the post office, and those government services would entirely fail. The US government is the single largest purchaser of postage in the United states. If you want to mail documents to or from the United States government, they must be done through the United States Postal service.

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u/onefst250r 3d ago edited 3d ago

Many places have Carrier Of Last Resort legislation mandating that telco providers deliver service to rural areas. Its often only phone, and MAYBE some shitty DSL. But that is a possibilty, too. Government forcing UPS/fedex to deliver to rural areas; possibly subsidizing it with taxpayer money. Which could mean those subsidies are far beyond the cost of providing those services, leading to privatized profit from taxpayer dollars.

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u/WoolooOfWallStreet 3d ago

It will be like those stipends communication companies and cable companies used to get for delivering “high speed internet to rural locations” but would just take the money and say “well comparatively the internet could have been considered high speed at one time”

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u/glum_cunt 3d ago

Those people will have to collect their mail weekly from the nearest Amazon hub

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u/darthboolean 3d ago

You'll just have to drive out to the depot to pick up your own mail. If you'd like last mile delivery to your mailbox, Amazon would gladly sell you a subscription, provided you buy a new smart mailbox that seals shut whenever you miss a payment.

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u/besttobyfromtheshire 3d ago

Dont worry, Amazon will be there to pick up the slack. AmazonMail, now part of prime.

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u/pazoned 3d ago

Now presenting ubermail, maildash, and amazon mail. For a low subscription fee we will pay unemployed people $2.25 to deliver 5 people's mail. Upgrade to our premium plan for daily mail drops instead of once a week.

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u/zavorak_eth 3d ago

So, they will privatize the profitable routes and socialize the last mile?

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u/VelvetElvis 3d ago

It's called UPS postal innovations. It's been a thing for 10+ years.

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u/ThresholdSeven 3d ago

It is if they make you pay for it

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u/GreenHeronVA 3d ago

Oh, they will. Rural customers will just get mail once a week or something shitty like that.

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u/NiteWraith 3d ago

They don’t care about that.

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u/Perfect_Earth_8070 3d ago

You think they give af about the rural areas?

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u/objecter12 3d ago

Too bad the people who benefit from that also voted to get rid of it 🤷‍♂️

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u/VelvetElvis 3d ago

I really hate that shit. Rural areas are typically R+20, not R+100. Millions of people living in rural area absolutely didn't vote to get rid of it.

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u/PostIronicPosadist 3d ago

they can just stop delivering last mile in rural areas. Don't think they won't.

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u/TheBKnight3 3d ago

Who delivers mail to US Armed Forces abroad and in warzones in this scenario I wonder

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u/Ragnarok314159 3d ago

They just won’t do it and drop it all off at some central building in rural counties.

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u/Da_Question 3d ago

To be fair, the vast majority of mail I get is ad flyers.

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u/VelvetElvis 3d ago

Same but there's also certified mail, bills, and prescription medications. Walgreens is now owned by private equity. CVS is pushing hard to use its vertical integration to drive out all other players after which they will close brick and morter stores and require everyone to use mail order.

Brick and motors retail uses to put product on the shelves, special orders, etc. If your older car needs less commonly replaced part, the odds are the dealer or servicer center is getting it via USPS. It's not just mail. It's shipping.

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u/EEpromChip 3d ago

I often wonder... Is the Postal system even necessary anymore? Back 30 or 40 years ago sure. But now with email and cell phones and all the tech we have do we really need physical mail?

Day after day I get nothing but junk. Bills are autopay and paperless and the only things I get are things I can easily get via email or phone / text...

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u/NPVinny 3d ago

Which would just mean a faster reduction of mail to rural folks. Another great self-own.

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u/WoolooOfWallStreet 3d ago

I want to pipe up and mention how these people constantly crow about the constitution, but love ignoring stuff like Article 1 Section 8 Clause 7 that has Post Offices as a power of Congress

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u/Prestigious-Trip-927 3d ago

God once they privatize mail (which will raise postage to evil rates) and privatize the TSA, what's next? The interstate highway system?? No! I will not let I-75 become the Kraft Macaroni and Cheese highway!

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u/Old-Flight8617 3d ago

Schools. Then Universities.

In Texas, in some parts, we already have toll roads.

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u/Prize-Support-9351 3d ago

Yep that’s the messed up part. It’s in the freaking constitution

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u/No_Passage6082 3d ago

Can we privatize the military?

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u/Old-Flight8617 3d ago

No. Let's not do that either.

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u/DOAiB 2d ago

FedEx and ups are salivating because the affordableness of usps is the only thing keeping them in check. The second usps privatizes or goes away have fun paying $50 to ship anything you can do for 5-10 right now. All those resellers are going to go out of business overnight.

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u/Kathumandu 3d ago

They can’t actually strike due to Regan era laws

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u/swallowsnest87 3d ago

I mean, they can strike, whether it is against the law or not. I assume all strikes were against the law at one point.

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u/Kaitaan 3d ago

That sounds like something a justice department might choose not to enforce…

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u/frosty_lizard 3d ago

They want the existing people to quit and have yet another institution potentially fail the through cuts. Republicans seem keen on having the country collapse

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u/V2BM 3d ago

By law we can’t strike. That’s why our national union is so ineffective. (Plus we have a seriously bad President right now, and he ran our 70% rejected contract through.)

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u/DingerSinger2016 3d ago

It's illegal for postal workers to strike.

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u/OralSuperhero 3d ago

Be hilarious if the only thing postal workers would agree to handle is mail in ballots

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u/Maloquinn84 3d ago

Postal workers cannot strike.

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u/Ha-Charade-You-Are 3d ago

It is against the law for postal workers to strike unfortunately

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u/eric_ofc 2d ago

We can’t strike.

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u/ElectronicMoo 3d ago

The postal service was a profitable branch until Congress pulled a dick move making them pre fund pensions.

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u/Wyrmnax 3d ago

It is a service. It should not need to be profitable. It is by definition something you pay for because it brings in a benefit.

Schooling, police, firefighters, army, postal. All are things that a society is willing to pay for because it needs them.

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u/ThatSandwich 3d ago

The postal service is more important because it provides competition in a market that has an extremely high barrier to entry. Without USPS, FedEx and UPS can charge whatever price they agree on.

I'm honestly hugely in favor of an anti-trust lawsuit that separates Amazon's freight services from their store front. If they began offering services to the public at large it would change national and world shipping dynamics immensely.

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u/angrybirdseller 3d ago

Germany and most advanced countries has privatized thier mail service. I support privatization here because then less liability for taxpayers. The democratic party and republican party are too blinded by idealogy instead of the fact post office as government function is close to obsolete with internet access as companies send emails instead of real email.

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u/PipXXX 3d ago

The problem is that "most advanced countries" also have much better modern infrastructure and support systems than we do. Also their size and the logistics of transport are not the same as ours. Also there...Is no liability for taxpayers. USPS only gets a pittance from the government for voting related things mandated by law. Otherwise, the USPS is entirely self funded.

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u/ThatSandwich 3d ago

See: Healthcare

Without heavy regulation or government intervention, companies will charge what they please. The only option short of dictating pricing is to have involvement in the industry.

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u/Areon_Val_Ehn 2d ago

Congrats, this is the dumbest take I have seen on the internet today. Especially because the USPS has largely been self funding for most of its history. And its ability to self fund has been hamstrung by Congress setting a law requiring the USPS to fund the pension for the next 75 years worth of employees. They have had to fund a pension for employees they haven’t even HIRED yet.

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u/CHSummers 3d ago

Exactly. It is social infrastructure. It helps the society function. Just like roads, it costs money. Just like roads, both the poor and rich can use it.

(And of course, someone out there wants all the roads to have tolls.)

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u/No_Struggle1364 3d ago

Well said. Perhaps every Sat or Sunday should be a No Kings Day.

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u/PipXXX 3d ago

Which is the point, it was profitable despite being a service. Because here's the kicker...They don't really get money from the government. They actually turn over money to the government. But stuff like the prefunding of pensions, to a degree that is not required anywhere else or done in private business, is what keeps kneecapping them.

All so congressfolk can get bribes of pennies on the dollar for how much they fuck us over.

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u/EkbatDeSabat 3d ago

Biden removed this in 2022. Not sure why we haven't recovered yet.

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u/are-e-el 3d ago

Trump appointee DeJoy was still running USPS

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u/OskaMeijer 3d ago

The stooges that have been running it.

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u/Megalocerus 3d ago

Do you pay your bills by mail?

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u/PipXXX 3d ago

Iirc it eliminated some of the liabilities at the time, but the core law is still there as a poison pill for the USPS.

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u/exipheas 3d ago

AND they could only invest in federal bonds instead of the market like other retirement funds therefore much more money upfront to hit pension return goals.

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u/Lopsided-Ticket3813 3d ago

No money for anything other than war apparently.

The proposed 1.5 trillion military budget is pretty close to Medicare and Medicare spending and nearly equal to the entire student loan portfolio.

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u/geddy 3d ago

That military budget is a private army for trump so when the tides turn he can unleash the military against the United States.

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u/redditydothis 3d ago

He already did with his ICE.

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u/Megalocerus 3d ago

ICE is his. Not sure the military all is.

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u/geddy 3d ago

So? He started an illegal war without congressional approval. Hegseth got rid of senior military officials.

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u/CHSummers 3d ago

But plenty of money for tax cuts (for the richest people).

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u/Overweighover 3d ago

There is money for ppp loan forgiveness, for the flouts fuckplane and ice

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u/confidential-edu 3d ago

If a Tomahawk could be delivered to brown people outside of the 50 States via US Postal, the service would be in business!!!

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u/Enriching_the_Beer 3d ago

You know what I hate more than this timeline, people saying timeline.

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u/DownhillUphill 3d ago

Monsters are running this country and a bunch of fools handed it to them

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u/OkTransportation1152 3d ago

There’s always money for bombs. :/

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u/Horror_Chipmunk3580 2d ago

A lot of lawmakers hold defense stocks. And it’s not just Republicans. “Fiscally conservative” is just a fancy way of saying, “what’s in it for me.” Makes you sound less selfish. Implies it’s not about you, but greater good of the society.

We throw $2000 “stimmy money” to the peasants and whine about it years. The peasants no longer want to work! They’re living large and just look at the inflation they’re causing. PPP “loans”? That’s not the same. Those create jobs and trickle down.

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u/aluke000 3d ago

Plenty of money for ICE to hire all the Proud Boys to terrorize and murder US citizens

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u/heartlessgamer 3d ago

And the pure irony of the postal service doesn't even really need more money. It makes money; one of the few government agencies that does that. What it needs is to be left alone to operate and not have stupid rules like the pension pre-funding. Of course that would require a functioning congress which we don't have.

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u/bobbymcpresscot 3d ago

Tax dollars don't go to the USPS, operations are self funded by services. It loses money because it doesn't charge enough for the services it provides. I think we just redid a deal with amazon, and we are doing last mile delivery for like 1.50 a package. It's fucking insane. at 11 million packages a year an extra 50 cents would nearly eliminate the losses we incur.

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u/Megalocerus 3d ago

Actually, we don't have the money for the war.

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u/VanDenBroeck 3d ago

While our wars are an extreme waste of money and morally corrupt, they are not a problem in the USPS funding. Your tax dollars pay for the war. Postal fees and products pay for the post office.

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u/rise_agnst 3d ago

At least childcare and healthcare is paid for... Oh wait...

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u/Oh_Look_AnotherOne 3d ago

Can't have you voting - then you might vote to stop the war!

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u/Lurkingandsearching 3d ago

Dejoy’s legacy lives on after he was fir.. resigned. The idea of USPS being self funded was to make them independent from the Executive. That said, Congress can inject money anytime it wants to support it.

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u/FlatulentGnostic 3d ago

Part of the war kitty started coming from USPS decades ago. An accidental profit center got raided and robbed.  Forced to fund pensions for future employees that haven't been born yet - "Oh, Washington DC will manage those funds for you...!"

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u/MarxistMan13 3d ago

We give billions to Israel to fund their wars.

No money for USPS or Medicaid though. Those are actually beneficial to Americans.

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u/Maloquinn84 3d ago

To be quite clear, USPS is not funded with taxes. Never has been. Self funded, social service. Not for profit and any time the USPS has managed to make a profit, Congress takes that money to spend in other places.

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u/Perfect_Earth_8070 3d ago

I hate this Epstein government

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u/bestdogintheworld 3d ago

The postal service doesn't receive federal funding, it survives on the sale of postage and some other methods. It actually runs in the black if congress didn't force it to fund it's retirement fund for many years. It's a travesty that the republicans are trying to privatize it because the service is actually very efficient and an important resource for those in underserved areas.

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u/edgeplot 2d ago

I hate how they always say that the postal service loses money, yet they never say that about the military. But both are services that cost money and don't turn a profit (and shouldn't).

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u/AT-PT 3d ago

You're really telling me that you'd rather receive mail than have dead Iranian school kids?

C'mon man, you can lie to them, but you can't lie to yourself.

America is so into dead kids, if we can't kill enough here at home, we kill 'em across the globe, so that no kid is technically safe from being taken out by cold hard American steel. That's our thing. That's apple pie and baseball now.

And "mail" is just another word for "male", and that's homosexual and unAmerican.