I'm definitely not an expert on PAEA and I appreciate the link to provide a bit of context. After doing some reading about PAEA and the pre-funding requirements, I did come across a report published by the Government Accountability Office in 2012 discussing the financial status of the Post Office and alternative approaches to fund retiree health benefits. In the report, it states that the funding requirements cover a broader window of 50+ years, where set amounts were established for a 10 year period to cover the liability for current retirees and the projected liability for current employees (and required fixed payments larger than a 50 year amortization schedule would indicate), with a followup in 2017 to develop a 40-year amortization schedule. It also noted it did not consider future employee benefits who had not yet joined USPS.
Page 2 - Findings
Page 13 - Background
Status, Financial Outlook, and Alternative Approaches to Fund Retiree Health Benefits - Government Accountability Office
Still, NO business in America, or I daresay even the world, has been subjected to this, and it's a deliberate effort to destroy the USPS.
Additionally, the USPS was NEVER designed to make a profit like a business in the first place, it was designed to provide a taxpayer and fee based public service. If it breaks even, it's doing well. If it manages to post a tiny profit, which it occasionally did prior to the PAEA, it's a minor miracle.
The other thing which is clear is that taxes will NOT GO DOWN significantly if we sink the Post Office, not the point where Americans will suddenly see hundreds or thousands more in their checks.
Another thing which is clear is, if we do privatize postal service, mail rates will skyrocket, and service will be cut dramatically, to the point where something like a third of postal customers will no longer get their mail delivered to a mailbox. Nope, those people will have to TRAVEL to go get their mail, and if that's an everyday routine, add the fuel costs and travel time to the expense in addition to eight bucks per First Class letter*
*
(educated guess based on approximate FedEx rates to ship an envelope that size and weight)
And...FedEx will probably try to SUE states where mail delivery sinks to extremely low levels, to make up for lost profits, just as private corrections companies do when their prisons are too empty.
In other words, privatization GUARANTEES LESS SERVICE AT HIGHER COST.
It's the most incredibly stupid decision ever made with regard to maintaining the basic institutions that create civilized life in a modern industrial society.
And by the way, what DOES HAPPEN to all the billions the USPS was already forced to PAY since 2006?
Wanna bet that won't get refunded but will instead somehow wind up in someone's bank account?
Our postal service will quickly begin to resemble today's Sears & Roebuck, with Eddie Lampert at the helm.
The United States Post Office IS "civilization"...AMEN.
Oh, by the way, when all those veterans who get meds by mail find that they have to pay 15-20 bucks per delivery, I wonder how they will feel.
