8 Nov 2011 4:03 pm
Darrell Issa Goes PostalAPWU (American Postal Workers Union) President Says Issa Bill Would Destroy USPS As We Know IGood, it's a mess and quietly lobbying for yet another massive bailout of Other People's Money.It's not lobbying for a bailout you jackhole.In 2006 the lame duck Republican Congress passed a law (The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006) that forced the USPS to fund 75 years worth of retirees benefits over a 10-year span. That's like a bank telling you, you have to pay your thirty year mortgage in 5 years. If not for that law, the USPS would not have a deficit now.All they want is for Congress to allow the Postal Service to reallocate the excess funds they paid in, and stop forcing them to overfund their pension plan.Once again.....they are not asking for a bailout. USPS Isn't Seeking 'Taxpayer Bailout'In 2006, Congress mandated through Public Law 109-435 that the U.S. Postal Service pre-fund retirement and health benefits for future retirees for the next 75 years. That includes employees to be hired in the future. An average of $5.5 billion has been paid into this fund each year since 2007. Beginning next year, this amount will increase by $100 million every two years until it reaches $5.8 billion in 2016 and 2017, continuing to increase each succeeding year. The Segal Co. and the Hay Group have each conducted studies of this fund and report that it is $50 billion to $75 billion overfunded at this point. When Congress created this mandate, the Postal Service was operating in the black without any taxpayer funding. For 30 years, the Postal Service has used not a penny of taxpayer funds. All monies used by the Postal Service were earned through retail sales of products and services. The Postal Service is the only government agency required to fund such a program and I know of no business required to provide such guarantees for retirement and health plans for their employees. In addition, this money is inaccessible to the Postal Service without congressional approval. Since 2007, the Postal Service has paid $21 billion into the fund. This is responsible for the entire $20 billion in losses the Postal Service has incurred, not mismanagement or inefficiency and certainly not the employees or their union. Since 2008, more than 110,000 jobs have been eliminated from the Postal Service in an effort to mitigate these losses. Some in Congress are claiming the Postal Service wants a "taxpayer bailout" and our own congressman, Kevin McCarthy, is not saying otherwise, leading the public to believe this patently false claim. Perhaps he doesn't know the truth, but I doubt that. The Postal Service is only asking for enough of its own money, not taxpayer money, to bring it out of the red.Could I be any more stupid if I tried?I don't know Puss. Could you? Edited by MistyBlue, 08 November 2011 - 05:22 PM.