[bozodog]

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The U.S. Postal Service was established in 1775 - you've had 234 years to get it right; it's broke. Social Security was established in 1935 - you've had 74 years to get it right; it's broke. Fannie Mae was established in 1938 - you've had 71 years to get it right; it's broke. The "War on Poverty" started in 1964 - you've had 45 years to get it right; $1 trillion of our money is confiscated each year and transferred to "the poor"; it hasn't worked and our entire country is broke. Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965 - you've had 44 years to get it right; they're both broke. Freddie Mac was established in 1970 - you've had 39 years to get it right; it's broke. Trillions of dollars were spent in the massive political payoffs called TARP, the "Stimulus", the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009.... none show any signs of working, although ACORN appears to have found a new source: the American taxpayer. And finally, to set a new record: "Cash for Clunkers" was established in 2009 and went broke in 2009! It took cars (that were the best some people could afford) and replaced them with high-priced and less-affordable cars, mostly Japanese. A good percentage of the profits went out of the country. And the American taxpayers take the hit for Congress' generosity in burning three billion more of our dollars on failed experiments. So with a perfect 100% failure rate and a record that proves that "services" you shove down our throats are failing faster and faster, you want Americans to believe you can be trusted with a government-run health care system? 20% of our entire economy? With all due respect, Are you crazy?

Author unknown...

[JDoors]

Well, I'd take issue with the Post Office being broken. The butt of jokes, sure, but all my letters get delivered and I receive all my mail, and at a reasonable cost.

The takeover of the health care industry is a done deal as far as I can tell, might as well get used to it.

[jcl]

JDoors, on 19 November 2009 - 11:23 AM, said:

Well, I'd take issue with the Post Office being broken. The butt of jokes, sure, but all my letters get delivered and I receive all my mail, and at a reasonable cost.

The USPS is fantastic.

The bits about the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009 and Cash for Clunkers are hilarious.

[bozodog]

JDoors, on 19 November 2009 - 11:23 AM, said:

Well, I'd take issue with the Post Office being broken. The butt of jokes, sure, but all my letters get delivered and I receive all my mail, and at a reasonable cost.

The takeover of the health care industry is a done deal as far as I can tell, might as well get used to it.

Sure the USPS is good... for us. They still lost over a billion this year. I'd call that broken... This article also failed to mention Amtrak.

No problem, the taxpayer will continue to prop up all of Washington's failures. Think about it, the bigger gub'ment gets the smaller your paycheck gets... But not to worry, Auntie Pelosi, and Uncles Franks and Reid will take care of you.

[jcl]

bozodog, on 20 November 2009 - 07:38 AM, said:

Sure the USPS is good... for us. They still lost over a billion this year. I'd call that broken...

The USPS is not a for-profit business.

[JDoors]

bozodog, on 20 November 2009 - 07:38 AM, said:

Sure the USPS is good... for us. They still lost over a billion this year. I'd call that broken... This article also failed to mention Amtrak.

No problem, the taxpayer will continue to prop up all of Washington's failures. Think about it, the bigger gub'ment gets the smaller your paycheck gets... But not to worry, Auntie Pelosi, and Uncles Franks and Reid will take care of you.

One thing that'd help is if the people who MAKE the laws, had to abide by them. Guess who has their own post office, with their own postage meters, pricing, special handling, etc. And guess who won't have to use the health care system being foisted upon us. Or social security. Or, well, practically any laws whatsoever.

If they HAD to abide by the laws they pass, things'd be very, very different.

[sethook]

JDoors, on 20 November 2009 - 10:59 AM, said:

bozodog, on 20 November 2009 - 07:38 AM, said:

Sure the USPS is good... for us. They still lost over a billion this year. I'd call that broken... This article also failed to mention Amtrak.

No problem, the taxpayer will continue to prop up all of Washington's failures. Think about it, the bigger gub'ment gets the smaller your paycheck gets... But not to worry, Auntie Pelosi, and Uncles Franks and Reid will take care of you.

One thing that'd help is if the people who MAKE the laws, had to abide by them. Guess who has their own post office, with their own postage meters, pricing, special handling, etc. And guess who won't have to use the health care system being foisted upon us. Or social security. Or, well, practically any laws whatsoever.

If they HAD to abide by the laws they pass, things'd be very, very different.

Health care is a prime example. Why can't the rest of us get the same package the law makers get? My aches and pains are no different then theirs.

[bozodog]

You bet they don't care what they foist on us... I've never seen a gub'ment program that didn't blow the budget and be full of fraud and misuse. The "DC Nannies" cannot do anything right.

These sort of things prove it:

Quote

It's been an ugly few years for the United States Postal Service.

The quasi-government agency announced this week that it lost $3.8 billion in the most recent fiscal year, which ended September 30th. It also delivered less mail - 26 billion fewer pieces less, a nearly 13 percent drop from the previous year. The bad news follows losses totaling $7.8 billion in 2007 and 2008.

The Postal Service, as it is quick to point out, is legally prohibited from taking tax dollars. But in order to stay afloat, the agency has been actively borrowing from the U.S. Treasury: At last count, according to Postal Service spokeswoman Yvonne Yoerger, it owes the government $10.2 billion.

Federal law dictates that the Postal Service can borrow up to $3 billion per year - but the debt cannot grow beyond $15 billion. That means that while the agency, which had revenues of $68.1 billion last year, could potentially borrow another $3 billion in 2010, it will soon no longer be able to legally borrow billions from the government.

Meanwhile, the Postal Service is estimating that without significant changes, it will lose another $7.8 billion in the coming year - and deliver another 11 billion fewer pieces of mail.

Which raises the question: Could the Postal Service be doomed?

Not for profit? You bet! But in the red at the taxpayers expense? Shouldn't happen.

[TheTerrorist_75]

The U.S. Postal Service is not broke. It is underfunded plus hampered by the Internet. There is no where in the rest of the world you can mail a first class letter, have it delivered in three days for the low price of $ .44. People have forgotten how to communicate with a well written letter. They have chosen to send short emails.

There would be no problems with Social Security if the previous administrations had not robbed he funds to shore up the general fund. The cap should have been raised quite some time ago.

Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac created their own demise due to manipulation of politicians on both sides of the aisle. They bribed, cajoled and even threaten to sue every politician that attempted to place new regulations on them. Wall Street greed aided the both of them in their endeavors.

$1 trillion per year for the War on Poverty? In 45 years $15.9 trillion has been spent for this program. I believe that comes out to a little over $353 billion per year, a tad short of $1 trillion. This is still a lot of money, but I wonder the cost to the country if these people were left homeless. I could foresee a much higher crime rate and medical costs. Many hospitals would have gone bankrupt due to providing health care without reimbursement for these people. The costs of crime would have required a much larger police force which would necessitate higher property taxes for their payroll, pension and medical insurance.

Medicaid & Medicare? Same as Social Security. The fund was robbed. Plus they were damaged further by companies moving their manufacturing overseas where slave wages are paid. Without jobs there are not enough workers to pay in to keep the funds solvent.

TARP funds are being paid back with interest. This right wing diatribe must have been written some time ago.

Cash for Clunkers? Those Japanese cars were manufactured here by American workers who otherwise would have been laid off. It was required that the vehicles sold got better mileage than the ones traded in. I say it's a good deal not sending as much money to OPEC.

The right is not right when it is wrong in so many ways.

[jcl]

bozodog, on 20 November 2009 - 12:43 PM, said:

Not for profit? You bet! But in the red at the taxpayers expense? Shouldn't happen.

*headdesk*

The USPS is part of the government. The government is funded by taxes.

[sultan_emerr]

cbsnews.com = "The quasi-government agency announced this week that it lost $3.8 billion in the most recent fiscal year, which ended September 30th. It also delivered less mail - 26 billion fewer pieces less, a nearly 13 percent drop from the previous year. The bad news follows losses totaling $7.8 billion in 2007 and 2008."

[JDoors]

Well, at least the P.O. has taken some kind of action, it's now allowed to raise rates annually, which you know not only will they do, but they need to do (no, I don't like paying more, but even a dollar to send a letter across the country is still a deal compared to elsewhere). That their volume has decreased by over ten percent when everything else is at that level of disfunction or worse is less indictment of their business than an indication of the level of decline in the economy as a whole.

All the talk about "robbing" funds from one source to use elsewhere is B.S. Those programs aren't set up as "funds," there are no "funds" to rob, they use financial accounting trickery that allows the money to be used elsewhere, and you can bet it has been used elsewhere, for a long, long time, like decades.

The war on poverty wasn't designated a "homeless" program. There are far fewer people living in abject squallor than then, though much of that can be attributed to growth in general. There may be even more homeless now than then, but that's what you get when you close down facilities that provided mental health treatment and kick criminals out onto the street due to a lack of funding and space.

The debate over TARP isn't solely about how much it cost or whether or not it will be repaid or when. And correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't TARP a Bush program that Obama extended? How it's a right-wing vs left-wing issue I'm not sure ... except that for some people EVERYTHING is a right-wing vs left-wing issue.

SOME Japanese autos are made here (however, many of the most expensive assemblies, like engines, are sourced elsewhere), but Toyota, for example, the company that benefited the most from CFC, imports around half of their cars. Honda imports around thirty percent, others import most or even all of their cars. Not that that really matters any more as many American models are not made within the borders of the United States anyway.

[jcl]

JDoors, on 21 November 2009 - 10:50 AM, said:

All the talk about "robbing" funds from one source to use elsewhere is B.S. Those programs aren't set up as "funds," there are no "funds" to rob, they use financial accounting trickery that allows the money to be used elsewhere, and you can bet it has been used elsewhere, for a long, long time, like decades.

Social Security is supported by several dedicated trust funds. I don't know about Medicare and Medicaid.

Quote

Not that that really matters any more as many American models are not made within the borders of the United States anyway.

It hasn't mattered since people realized that you can't win economics by hoarding money.

[JDoors]

Do you know what's IN those "funds?" Government bonds.

[sultan_emerr]

JDoors, on 22 November 2009 - 10:39 AM, said:

Do you know what's IN those "funds?" Government bonds.

OMG!!!