NYC Letter: The Accidental Truth III

Day 205 of CHOPE

Now, the only thing that I have said is that having a public option in that menu would provide competition for insurance companies to keep them honest.

Now, I recognize, though, you make a legitimate -- you raise a legitimate concern. People say, well, how can a private company compete against the government? And my answer is that if the private insurance companies are providing a good bargain, and if the public option has to be self-sustaining -- meaning taxpayers aren't subsidizing it, but it has to run on charging premiums and providing good services and a good network of doctors, just like any other private insurer would do -- then I think private insurers should be able to compete. They do it all the time. (Applause.)

I mean, if you think about -- if you think about it, UPS and FedEx are doing just fine, right? No, they are. It's the Post Office that's always having problems. (Laughter.)

Mr. Obama,
letting slip the bright prospects
of government-run health
HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM TOWN HALL
PORTSMOUTH, New Hampshire
August 11, 2009 (White House)

Mr. Obama makes a telling but hardly reassuring comparison. The government oversees, bankrolls, and regulates the U.S. Postal Service. [Painful long pause.] The USPS is on the verge of bankruptcy.

U.S. POSTAL SERVICE’S STICKY SITUATION
To Privatize Or Not?

WASHINGTON August 12, 2009 (Epoch Times) - The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently announced that the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is at risk of financial insolvency.

The post office made GAO’s list of government operations that are considered costly and "high risk."

... The last year USPS reported income from its operations was in 2006. Beginning in 2007, its fortunes soured and it began to report significant losses: $5 billion at the end of fiscal year (FY) 2007 and $3 billion in FY 2008, according to its annual financial report. On June 30, 2009, the third quarter of its fiscal year, the USPS reported a staggering $4.7 billion net loss.

... The culprit is a combination of economic realities, increased reliance on e-mail, and the USPS’s inability to address problems effectively and efficiently, according to the GAO. GAO High Risk Series release:

USPS urgently needs to restructure to address its current and long-term financial viability. USPS has not been able to cut costs fast enough to offset the accelerated decline in mail volume and revenue—particularly costs related to its workforce, retail and processing networks, and delivery services.

... Experts have called for privatization and point to Japan, whose parliament privatized Japan’s postal services in 2005. In 1995, Germany’s Deutsche Bundespost privatized its postal service and is often cited by privatization proponents as a major success story.

The USPS pleads the government that oversees and funds it also meddles, overregulates, and inflates costs.

“We are subject to Congressional oversight, regulation by other government agencies, and also oversight by various other organizations and the public," USPS said in their annual report. “If we cannot successfully address their various, and sometimes competing, concerns, we may be subject to greater regulation, which could increase our costs or otherwise place additional burdens on our operations,” USPS warned regulators in the annual report.

[Hat tip: Hot Air]

We would also point out that the government oversaw, bankrolled, and regulated Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, both bankrupts. It also bankrolled the bailout of GM, which went bankrupt. It also authorized $787B in spending to stimulate the economy and create or "save"* 3-4 million jobs, but there was no stimulation and a net three million jobs lost.

Obamacare will be this good.

CHOPE.

As good as the Post Office.

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* There is no metric for "saved" jobs (and this).