You are just being told the tip of the iceberg about the Koch Brothers and their agenda to totally dismantle the government. Among other things, they would dismantle the Postal Service. Back in 1980, David Koch ran as vice-presidential candidate on the Libertarian Party ticket. You can read the entire platform here, but contained in the platform is the following howler:
12. Postal Service
We propose the abolition of the governmental Postal Service. The present system, in addition to being inefficient, encourages governmental surveillance of private correspondence. Pending abolition, we call for an end to the monopoly system and for allowing free competition in all aspects of postal service.
You read it right. So, the next time you hear a Republican politician talk about “reforming” the Postal Service by cutting back on its services, the reality is that they don’t just want to reform it — they want to abolish it and do the bidding of their lord and master, the Koch Brothers. There are certain people within the Postal Service who want to abolish it as well; recently, a plan was thwarted that would have closed all rural post offices that were not generating at least $25,000 in annual revenues and force folks to travel 10-15 miles to pick up their mail.
The Postal Service used to offer savings accounts until 1967. But in this day and age, there are millions of people who Corporate America has decided are not fit to hold a banking account. The American Postal Workers Union has come up with a concept that the Very Important People and the Chattering Classes say is not supposed to be talked about in polite society — postal banking. The way it would work is, anyone who is unable to obtain a bank account at a regular banking institution or who lives in a town without a bank could get a bank account at your friendly local Post Office. This is supported by the Office of Inspector General along with Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.
Soon after publication of the OIG paper, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who serves on the Senate Banking Committee, posted a blog supporting the idea. "If the Postal Service offered basic banking services - nothing fancy, just basic bill paying, check cashing and small dollar loans - then it could provide affordable financial services for underserved families, and, at the same time, shore up its own financial footing," she wrote. Postal services in many other countries that offer such services have seen their earnings increase dramatically, Sen. Warren pointed out. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) also supports the concept.
Where I live, all of the banks constitute small branch offices of larger corporate banks, which won’t offer loans of less than $3,000. This means that many people have a hard time:
--Paying off medical bills;
--Going to community college or taking online classes — which is what Corporate America says you’re supposed to do in order to earn a living wage;
--Making a down payment on a new car;
--Paying off funeral expenses;
--Paying off major car repairs.
The OIG notes that the Postal Service already has the legal authority to start banking services and doing so would wipe out the massive deficits they currently face.
The OIG asserts that the USPS already has legal authority to get started.
If the USPS captured just 10 percent of that business [of “unbankable” people], it could generate $8.9 billion per year in new revenue, the OIG writes.
And the Postal Service is one of the most respected institutions in the country:
The USPS is consistently rated one of the most trusted public institutions. As the OIG report points out, a 2012 market survey conducted by Aytm found that "68 percent of the respondents agree or strongly agree that the Postal Service is reliable and trustworthy." A 2012 Ponemon Institute survey concluded that, "When it comes to privacy, the Postal Service is consistently ranked as the most trusted federal entity, and was recently identified as the fourth most trusted company in the United States."
"The Postal Service would better serve the needs of potential customers - and the nation - because it won't victimize customers," Dimondstein said. "Non-profit postal banking could help struggling families - and the USPS - achieve financial stability.
"It would be a tremendous step forward for the country."
Things we take for granted in this country, like the Postal Service, seem like a totally foreign concept to other people. For instance, Zeynep Tufekci, a professor from Turkey who moved here, did not realize that we had a postal system that delivers our mail six days a week:
I noticed that Americans were a particularly patriotic bunch: So many of them had red flags on their mailboxes. Sometimes they would put those flags up. I presumed it was to celebrate national holidays I did not yet know about. But why did some people have their flags up while others did not? And why weren’t they American flags anyway? As in Istanbul, where I grew up, I assumed patriotism had different interpretations and expressions.
The mystery was solved when I noticed a letter carrier emptying a mailbox. I was slightly unnerved: Was the mail being stolen? He then went over to another mailbox with the flag up, and emptied that box, too. I got my hint when he skipped the mailbox with the flag down.
Yes, I was told, in the United States, mail gets picked up from your house, six days a week, free of charge.
I told my friends in Turkey about all this. They shook their heads in disbelief, wondering how easily I had been recruited as a C.I.A. agent, saying implausibly flattering things about my new country. The United States in the world’s imagination is a place of risk taking and ruthless competition, not one of reliable public services.
Institutions like the Postal Service — which the Koch Brothers would abolish — help our standing in the world among other nations.
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Shall the US Postal Service establish a banking system for people unable to access traditional banks?
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Shall the US Postal Service establish a banking system for people unable to access traditional banks?
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