So about a week ago I saw the UPS guy was pulling up and I went out on my front porch to greet him.  I ship a lot of stuff so we have had a decent amount of exchanges.  I asked him how things were going, he said pretty good and then the discussion went this route:

UPS Guy: How about this bailout?

Me: Yup, it’s certainly a hot topic

UPS Guy: Do realize how much debt us citizens could pay off if we had that dough?

Me: A lot.  I’d probably own my house, depending on how you divvy it up.

UPS Guy: Doesn’t matter.  This whole economy runs on debt.

Me: How so?

UPS Guy: Well money is really backed by “faith” nowadays.  Faith in other peoples ability to pay off their debt.  You see banks only have to keep a certain percentage of actual money available.  It’s called a reserve.  Then they…

What followed was about five minutes of stuff I already new.  I just stood there in shocked silence.  At the end he asked me, “Did you know that?”  I responded “Yes, yes I did!  I’m very happy that you know it.”  He asked me what my own economic views were and I said they’re best saved for another day, but kudo’s to you for having your facts straight.

http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/…

The U.S. Postal Service has far less mail to carry, but they’re still not quite ready to cut their massive workforce.

Never before has the U.S. Postal Service laid off workers. Now, it’s a real possibility.

“For the first time in history, that is being considered,” said Gerald McKiernan, a USPS spokesman.

Already, the Postal Service is not hiring because it simply doesn’t move as much mail as it once did. E-mail has taken an increasing amount of its business. McKiernan says mail volume dropped 11 percent in fiscal 2008, which ended Tuesday. That resulted in the service spending $2.3 billion more than it took in.

The workload is down 11 percent, but they’re not yet ready to lay anybody off? That’s government at work. Or non-work.

Is it really any surprise? I’ve argued with a relative who works for the USPS regarding it’s monopoly’s constitutionality, subsidies, etc. He adamantly defended the monopoly as necessary and claimed they no longer recieved subsidies. How is it than that they could continue operating with a $2.3 deficit? Are they getting subsidies or federal loans? Either way the situtation is unacceptiable. Turn the postoffices over to the local employees and let them compete against UPS, FedEx and others. The government doesn’t nationalize telephone and Internet access in order to provide the service to everyone so why then should snail mail?