According to Wikipedia Benjamin Franklin was appointed the first postmaster general. The cabinet-level Post Office Department was created in 1792 from Franklin's operation and transformed into its current form in 1971 under the Postal Reorganization Act.

The USPS employs over 574,000 workers and operates over 218,000 vehicles. The USPS is the operator of the largest vehicle fleet in the world. The USPS is legally obligated to serve all Americans, regardless of geography, at uniform price and quality. The USPS has exclusive access to letter boxes marked "U.S. Mail" and personal letterboxes in the United States, but still competes against private package delivery services, such as UPS and FedEx.

The USPS is an independent agent of the U.S Government.  The USPS has not directly received taxpayer-dollars since the early 1980s with the minor exception of subsidies for costs associated with the disabled and overseas voters. 

On April 26, 2012 Washington Post wrote an article titled “Bill Affecting, Federal Workers Begin Moving through Congress.”  The article was in reference to Post Master General Patrick Donahoe meeting with Congress on August 25, 2012.  The meeting was about postal reform to save the service of the post office.

With a steady decline in first class mail due to the internet and Congress required overpayment into the retirement system the post office has to restructure its service standards to ensure its survival.  What does the reform has to do with politics?  As mentioned above the post office does not directly receive taxpayer dollars.  Yes, the post office generates its own income.  Even with the decline in first class mail volume, majority of its financial woes come from an overpayment in Civil Service Retirement Fund and Federal Employment Retirement Fund.  The USPS cannot overcome the requirements to prepay retiree health benefits greatly in advance – an imposition unheard of in either the corporate world or by any other government agency.

Removing the devastating fiscal effect of these prepayments would take care of 80 percent of the postal service’s deficit. Moreover, the federal government already owes the postal service.   According to the U.S. Postal Service’s Inspector General the federal government owes over $80 billion dollars in overpayments that the USPS has made to the Civil Service Retirement System and the Federal Employees Retirement System.

Since the USPS does not receive tax dollars why does it not have more control of its organization?  Instead of closing post offices, cutting six day delivery, not providing a service that was established for all American people, and above all eliminating jobs, why not refund the $80 billion dollars back to the post office.  Even though Congress states they do not want to eliminate any of the post offices or services yet, they skip over the real issue of the $80 billion dollar overpayment.  They are contradicting themselves.  The government “takes” more money from a historical company and pays it back by forcing it to downsize.

Congress rarely speaks of the overpayment.  The post office needs to make changes now.  No decision can be made without the approval of the government, which is an ongoing slow process.  Benjamin Franklin is probably turning in his grave knowing that the biggest service provider in the world is faulting because of mismanagement and greed of the government and postal managers. 

Education Crisis in America

I have to agree with the EducationCrisis in America.  The high school and college dropout rate is on a steady increase.  School is not being taken as serious as it should be.  Lack of education also increases the incarceration rate.  There are many different things contributing to the lack of seriousness and the high number of school dropouts in America. 

            The American Post ran an article titled Education vs. Incarceration.  The article shows examples of different inner cities in America where the government spends more money on incarceration than education.  For example in the 2009-2010 academic years, state budget cuts forced the Houston Independent School District to manage a projected $10 million shortfall. However, in the preceding year, Texas spent over $175 million to imprison residents from just 10 neighborhoods in Houston. In Houston, of the six schools deemed lower-performing, five are in neighborhoods with the highest rates of incarceration. By contrast, of the 12 schools considered higher-performing, eight are in neighborhoods with the lowest incarceration rates. Education and incarceration work hand and hand, the same as education and voting.  75% of prison inmates are high school dropouts and only 33% of high school dropouts voted.

            With steady government cuts in educational spending we have increased stress with teaching community on equal or less pay.  Teaching is a job and with fewer incentives and as a result teachers may not go the extra mile to educate the students.  Also with the decline in workforce in other fields some people become a teacher just to survive.

            Education should also be a joint relationship between parents and teachers.  Parents have lost focus in educating their children and rely heavily on teachers to get the job done.  Parents with little to no education may not know how to educate their children.  There are other educational factors, such as preventive sex and teenage child birth.  Only 50% of teenage mothers graduate high school.  This appears to be a vicious cycle that repeats itself.  The center for disease control and prevention reported that teen pregnancy accounts for nearly $11 billion per year in costs to U.S. taxpayers for increased health care and foster care, increased incarceration rates among children of teen parents, and lost tax revenue because of lower educational attainment and income among teen mothers.

            Overall a lack of education cost the government causes poverty in America that attributes to government spending.  Statistics show that people without education tend to become incarcerated, may need a government assistance program, less likely to vote  and or may have teen pregnancies.  Lower poverty neighborhoods usually have the worse schools.  This is a major issue that the government and the citizens need to address for a brighter future in America.