3 ms·

Then why not nationalize it?

LadyCailin 2y ago
Exactly. Industries that are too big to fail shouldn’t be allowed to exist in general (anti trust regulation should see to that), but if that must happen for some reason, then it must be nationalized, or at least very tightly regulated, like utilities are.
treis 2y ago
It's not like the nationalized companies do that great. The USPS is in perpetual crisis and eventually the Federal Government is going to be on the hook for 10s of billions in pensions.
- ctoth 2y ago
  > ON the hook Weird to see this framing for something that was promised as a condition of employment. The USPS gets me my mail regularly. Not sure what else it should be doing. And yes, paying people pensions you promised them is a good thing to do and has nothing to do with mismanagement. Taking the money you had already promised for pensions to instead pay shareholders or executives seems to be mismanagement to me.
- sgarland 2y ago
  The USPS is only in perpetual crisis because people who are deeply against public goods passed a law requiring them to pre-fund retirement benefits 75 years in advance [0] which is utterly ridiculous. [0]: https://apwu.org/usps-fairness-act https://apwu.org/usps-fairness-act
- t-3 2y ago
  Nationalized industries are nationalized because they shouldn't have to care about profits and losses beyond a basic duty to use resources efficiently. The existence of the nationalized service is deemed to be so important that it must be run by the state to prevent any possible instability or interruptions. With that being said, the situation of the USPS is not simple - it's been suffering political interference from elected officials for literally centuries. A very good example of why giving too much oversight power to elected officials and having too many political appointees is very dangerous.
- dahart 2y ago
  Do you have any other examples? The USPS isn’t a nationalized company, it was always a branch of the government. It seems like the USPS is only in crisis because it has long been a political target with especially conservatives trying to sabotage it in order to demonstrate the downsides of public services. But the requirement to pre-fund retiree benefits was eliminated in 2022, is that what you’re referring to with the 10s of billions in pensions? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postal_Service_Reform_Act_of_2022 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postal_Service_Reform_Act_of_2...

Exactly. Industries that are too big to fail shouldn’t be allowed to exist in general (anti trust regulation should see to that), but if that must happen for some reason, then it must be nationalized, or at least very tightly regulated, like utilities are.

treis 2y ago

It's not like the nationalized companies do that great. The USPS is in perpetual crisis and eventually the Federal Government is going to be on the hook for 10s of billions in pensions.

ctoth 2y ago
> ON the hook Weird to see this framing for something that was promised as a condition of employment. The USPS gets me my mail regularly. Not sure what else it should be doing. And yes, paying people pensions you promised them is a good thing to do and has nothing to do with mismanagement. Taking the money you had already promised for pensions to instead pay shareholders or executives seems to be mismanagement to me.
sgarland 2y ago
The USPS is only in perpetual crisis because people who are deeply against public goods passed a law requiring them to pre-fund retirement benefits 75 years in advance [0] which is utterly ridiculous. [0]: https://apwu.org/usps-fairness-act https://apwu.org/usps-fairness-act
t-3 2y ago
Nationalized industries are nationalized because they shouldn't have to care about profits and losses beyond a basic duty to use resources efficiently. The existence of the nationalized service is deemed to be so important that it must be run by the state to prevent any possible instability or interruptions. With that being said, the situation of the USPS is not simple - it's been suffering political interference from elected officials for literally centuries. A very good example of why giving too much oversight power to elected officials and having too many political appointees is very dangerous.
dahart 2y ago
Do you have any other examples? The USPS isn’t a nationalized company, it was always a branch of the government. It seems like the USPS is only in crisis because it has long been a political target with especially conservatives trying to sabotage it in order to demonstrate the downsides of public services. But the requirement to pre-fund retiree benefits was eliminated in 2022, is that what you’re referring to with the 10s of billions in pensions? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postal_Service_Reform_Act_of_2022 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postal_Service_Reform_Act_of_2...