NYC Letter: The Accidental Truth III Redux

Day 247 of CHOPE

Remember this?

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? ... 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,
comparing competitive government-subsidized
health insurance with the government-subsidized
United States Post Office
HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM TOWN HALL
PORTSMOUTH, New Hampshire
August 11, 2009 (White House)

Turns out Mr. Obama hit on the perfect exemplification.

A $4 BILLION BAILOUT FOR THE POSTAL SERVICE?

WASHINGTON September 23, 2009 (Politico) - The House voted Thursday to freeze Medicare Part B premiums for most elderly next year, even as Democrats moved to exempt the Postal Service from having to make $4 billion in payments due next week to cover retirement health benefits for its employees.

... Democrats hope the Medicare premium freeze, which sailed through on a 406-18 vote, will defuse what would otherwise be an October surprise for health care reform — threatened cuts in Social Security checks for millions of elderly.

... At a meeting of House and Senate Appropriations Committee negotiators Thursday morning, the Postal Service language was incorporated into a stop-gap continuing resolution, or CR, that Congress must enact in the next week to keep the full government operations.

The normal vehicle for government funding is an appropriations bill. A continuing resolution authorizes government to fund agencies at their current levels until either the resolution expires or an appropriations bill is passed and signed into law. The Democrats control the White House, the Senate (where appropriations are not subject to filibuster), and the House. Yet they can't manage to do the basic work of appropriating the funds in their own budget.

This is gross incompetence.

In the private sector incompetent management is fired.

As adopted, the postal agency, which now faces a liability of $5.4 billion due Sept. 30, would have to pay only $1.4 billion and would be allowed to effectively defer the remaining $4 billion until after 2017.

This is the sort of government business practice that is ruinous -- ludicrous -- in the private sector. Imagine banks giving homeowners an eight-year pass on mortgage payments. Happens all the time.

“That’s good news” said a Postal Service spokesman, who argued the arrangement posed no risk for the taxpayer since the retirement fund holds $32 billion at this time. Nonetheless, critics argued the $4 billion will now be added as a potential cost on the government’s books given the fragile state of the Postal Service, and the whole handling of the issue is seen by many as a parliamentary sleight-of-hand.

"A potential cost" is a very pretty way of saying debt. The government carries and services this debt till the USPO makes good. [Pause.] If a fiscally banjaxed USPO ever makes good. We, perhaps like you, can't wait for some of Mr. Obama's USPO-quality health insurance.

CHOPE.

It's just money.