The Blog

Going Postal

6:59 PM, Aug 11, 2009 • By STEPHEN F. HAYES
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Two weeks ago, the GAO added the postal service to its "high-risk" list of government agencies. The report noted that "broad restructuring is needed" in order to avoid catastrophe. The USPS is likely to have a $7 billion net loss this year. The report further noted that without cutting expenses drastically, the USPS may "run out of cash to pay its expenses." The postal service, the largest civilian federal agency with 633,000 career employees, recently asked Congress for flexibility on funding requirements. Without the changes, the postal service won't be able to make $5.4 billion in retiree health benefit payments.

Not sure this is the model President Obama wants for public competition in insurance.

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