The United States Postal Service is being set up to fail as a public institution so an excuse can be found to privatize it.
If we had politicians working for the good of the people U.S. Postal Services should have been expanded to include a publicly owned Internet Service Provider and a publicly owned National Banking System. And the U.S. Postal Service should have expanded into the larger parcel delivery like Fed Ex and UPS. Had the U.S. Postal Service been enabled to expand small profits large enough to finance something like a National Public Child Care System could have come from this while saving the American people a lot of money, pain and misery. The pensions for U.S. Postal employees should have been consolidated with Social Security with everyone on Social Security receiving the same good pensions postal employees receive--- the additional funds required should have come from an increase in the payroll tax which would be insignificant compared to the benefits with the increase falling heaviest on employers.
If we had politicians working for the good of the people U.S. Postal Services should have been expanded to include a publicly owned Internet Service Provider and a publicly owned National Banking System. And the U.S. Postal Service should have expanded into the larger parcel delivery like Fed Ex and UPS. Had the U.S. Postal Service been enabled to expand small profits large enough to finance something like a National Public Child Care System could have come from this while saving the American people a lot of money, pain and misery. The pensions for U.S. Postal employees should have been consolidated with Social Security with everyone on Social Security receiving the same good pensions postal employees receive--- the additional funds required should have come from an increase in the payroll tax which would be insignificant compared to the benefits with the increase falling heaviest on employers.
Instead of looking to do what is good for society as a whole, these Wall Street bribed politicians we have sitting in Congress whose only constituents are the parasitical Wall Street crowd, they have enabled the wholesale robbery and gutting of the U.S. Postal Service choosing to allow their corporate friends who are bribing them to profit from the very services the U.S. Postal Service should have expanded into.
In addition, instead of lowering the price of postage for first class mail they lowered the price of postage on corporate junk mail and advertising which should be subjected to higher rates than first class postage--- again, everything is done backwards to serve corporate interests instead of the people.
The American people are being ripped off left and right so corporations can profit while our public institutions are driven into the ground and replaced with private for-profit businesses.
Once again we have seen where the unions have failed to promote policies in line with what society needs and have tried to defend the interests of postal workers in a very narrow and short-sighted way and once again we see this very backwards thinking on the part of labor leaders who refuse to place all options on the table for their members to consider has left the very workers they claimed they were defending without jobs.
When are union leaders in this country going to learn they can't win anything by sucking up to management?
If unions are going to win they have to ally their members with what is good for the entire working class.
We have seen what the results are of this "sucking up to management" trade union policy very clearly with what is going on with the long, painful demise of the U.S. Postal Service; which, if it continues without massive intervention by the people the result will be a complete end to one of our oldest and most important public institutions--- and when these crooked and corrupt shysters sitting in the White House and in the halls of Congress are done we will be paying $5.00 to mail a letter instead of 50 cents.
Obviously, the Congressional Progressive Caucus has been out dining on a corporate paid lunch while all this has been going on since no progressive alternative has been advanced.
When are union leaders in this country going to learn they can't win anything by sucking up to management?
If unions are going to win they have to ally their members with what is good for the entire working class.
We have seen what the results are of this "sucking up to management" trade union policy very clearly with what is going on with the long, painful demise of the U.S. Postal Service; which, if it continues without massive intervention by the people the result will be a complete end to one of our oldest and most important public institutions--- and when these crooked and corrupt shysters sitting in the White House and in the halls of Congress are done we will be paying $5.00 to mail a letter instead of 50 cents.
Obviously, the Congressional Progressive Caucus has been out dining on a corporate paid lunch while all this has been going on since no progressive alternative has been advanced.
Contrary to what all these political hacks, Wall Street bribed politicians, the over-paid pundits and muddle-headed well-heeled middle class "economists" and fuzzy-headed professors are saying--- there is nothing the private for-profit sectors can do that publicly owned enterprises can't do better.
Strengthening and expanding and developing new public institutions and enterprises is the only way we are going to be able to extract ourselves from the social and economic crisis we find ourselves mired in which is not of our making.
We are confronted with a failing U.S. Postal Service; less service, higher rates--- when the solution to saving the U.S. Postal Service is expanded and new services with lower rates.
I do find it interesting that the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party has not added its voice to the public dialog on this most important issue concerning the future of the U.S. Postal Service (and thousands of jobs here in Minnesota) which, if allowed to go through as Obama and Congress plan will result in a lower quality of life for Minnesotans. Rural Minnesotans and people living on Indian Reservations are likely to suffer the most.
For the Wall Street crowd the United States Postal Service is too public to save.
I do find it interesting there is never a war too expensive to fund; but, when it comes to the U.S. Postal Service the politicians decide they need to be miserly and penny-pinching.
Women and people of color--- last hired, first fired--- are likely to suffer the most from losing these real living wage jobs with the United States Postal Service.
For the Wall Street crowd the United States Postal Service is too public to save.
I do find it interesting there is never a war too expensive to fund; but, when it comes to the U.S. Postal Service the politicians decide they need to be miserly and penny-pinching.
Alan L. Maki
Director of Organizing,
Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council
58891 County Road 13
Warroad, Minnesota 56763
Phone: 218-386-2432
Cell: 651-587-5541
Primary E-mail: amaki000@centurytel.net
E-mail: alan.maki1951mn@gmail.com
