Discussing the U.S. Post Office’s insolvency and refusal to reorganize, banks admitting to unethical conduct in predatory lending practices which may hold them accountable for the wave of foreclosures, and the appointment of the new consumer watchdog, with Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA); Rep. Jason Chaffetz, (R-UT); Rep. John Tierny (D-MA) and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD).
The U.S. Postal Service needs to slash 260,000 jobs and end weekend delivery if it is to climb out of its “financially insolvent” condition, Rep. Darrell Issa said.
Despite a mandate to avoid deficits, the post office loses up to $15 billion a year, Issa told CNBC during an informal gathering of senior House Oversight and Government Reform Committee members.
“It’s not a debate about whether we need to get to that number. It’s about how we get there,” Issa said. “Do we get there by inducing retirements and finding ways to trim that workforce? Or do we wait for people to retire from an organization that has three fulltime employees that are 98 years old, literally.”
full story from CNBC
Too all our represetives in congress your only intrest in post office is to squeeze out what profits post office is making. Post office only branch goverment thats actually making money for its service . Congress all way down to the local goverment is living off taxs collected from tax payers. Not anoth averga person making 50000 year is paying 79 percent taxs rate if you do math correctly count taxs rolled into everything we buy by manufactors. Reality check here congress offer these postal service people early out an make it good anoth to reward them for hard work. Alot good people who served our country now came back from arm services need jobs an postal sevice will reward them with senority from serving our country. I cant beleive congress so blind so greedy only thinking of profits.
Unhappy with APWU? Unhappy with the contract? Unhappy with the level of representation you’re getting? Unhappy with loss of 40 hour jobs?
OCCUPY APWU at the 2012 Convention in Los Angeles (August 20-24) at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel (404 S Figueroa St, Los Angeles, CA)
OTHERWISE:
Shut up and keeping paying dem dues! And, by the way…stay in line all you lemmings!
Didn’t the APWU spend their members COPA money in support of Issa’s 09/10 re-election campaign? Haven’t heard anyone dispute this.
98 year old! that is amazing, I think Issa is jealous.. that is how I see that, there needs to be concrete plans though made or cut out by the right people though!
If Issa really wanted to investigate something he should go after inside trading by congress —- What the HELL am I thinging .. Issa would then be investagating himself !!!!x
@Bert:
Wow.
Robots VS The Human Race ??
Communication by “thought process” ??
Stop the whining, concentrate on the early retirements/ buyouts, the fight is over, USPS will remain as skeleton, no no meat, all bones, Congress and the Fat Head /Boy PMG have crippled and will kill it dead, bail out, or book a cruise on Costa Concordia, it is still afloat, sideways that is.
Hey ISSA!!! Take care of your own backyard first!!! San Diego County has more drugs and ill- legal aliens crossing that border then anywhere else.. You have no clue what we do at the U.S. Postal Service… You’re suppose to protect and promote jobs!!! Not destroy them… Geez.. You have 2 military bases in your congressional district and you and that cocksucker ROSS want to lay- off veterans?? Are you out of your FUCKIN mind????!!!!! I’m sure if this happens.. That mysterious package that was left at your office may show up again… Fuck you ISSA/ROSS/MCCAIN….
Wage Slave: Every generation ceases to exist: : by the time the baby boomers are
extinct technology will have advanced to the point that robots may attack the human race and computers, internet, smart phones will be outdated; New technology will be advanced and whatever technology has advanced to communicate will be common place in daily living. Children are computer savvy by 5 years of age now and imagine 20 yrs. from now. Thought process maybe means of communication.
Jedidiah you have some valid points in today technological stem cell advancing world..
So Mr Issa you believe in age discrimination? By bringing up 98 years old you are using age as a determining factor and you are in violation of those individuals civil rights.
If they obtained their jobs legitimately which I am sure they have or they would already have been gone
If they are able to perform their jobs which if management could show just cause no union can prevent management from terminating those employees if their employment rules are being followed.
People like you and your poor use of your position is why this nation is in the state it currently is in. Why dont you resign Mr Issa and save the people of this country your salary and the unknown damage you and your ilk are doing do this nation and its people, and even possibly the people who inhabit this entire world.
Dittio,ditto,ditto; Issa is an idiotttt! He and his cronies do not care anything about working Americans unless they are in the 1% class! He don’t have a clue about how regular working americans make it on a daily basis with the economy the way it is now! Why don’t he try making it on a minimum wage salary every freaking month! I am glad for congressmen, men and women like Susan Collins, Rep. Lynch, Barnie Sanders, Carper just to name a few who seem to want to keep the Postal Service open and people working, not in the unemployment lines! We definiely have enough americans in it! I hope the citizens in California vote him (ISSA) out of office also! Why did he ever run for office; definitely not because he wanted to make this country better!!
@Jedidah:
Most of your statements are not supported by facts….though some would follow a natural flow of logic, others are wild ideas about “savings” that cannot be substantiated….and you infer that the USPS permanently change it’s structure on the premise that EVERYONE is switching to “electronic mail diversion” which is absurd.
Here’s NEWS: the majority of America have NOT GIVEN UP THE USPS for “electronic mail diversion”. The USPS is as relevant as it ever was. There are millions and millions of regular folks out there WHO DON’T OWN A COMPUTER, HAVE NO INTERNET SERVICE OR CELL PHONE SERVICE…and as far as I can see, YOU CAN’T DELIVER A PACKAGE, PARCEL OR A NEWSPAPER/MAGAZINE THROUGH AN “INTERNET CONNECTION”.
Volume is down in FIRST CLASS but it will disappear….and THIRD CLASS/PARCEL POST volume is up 13%. Your comments about the DEATH OF THE USPS are quite premature.
Rorer714, you don’t know what you’re talking about
The prefunding mandate was nothing but a poison pill inserted into the legislation in 2006 in order to set the PO up for potential privatization. As for saying it’s not a cash cow, you are also not informed. The government uses all this prefunding money to fund general fund items just as they do with social security. They “borrow” from both and then never pay it back. The PO being broke is as much a lie as all the talk about social security being “insolvent”. Both would be doing just fine if they were paid back and the government would not be allowed to borrow from either of them anymore. Of course that would mean they would have to actually raise their own revenue sources to fund the budget. In other words raise taxes instead of using the smoke and mirrors approach that they’ve become so accustomed to.
6 Bday mail delivery is a wasted cost in the 21st century as advances in communication technology has made the need for 6 day street delivery history.Sat. street delivery to a physical address is obsolete. Business and INDIVIDUALS COMMUNICATE via ELECTRONIC MAIL DIVERSION. This means was not available in the 18th, 19th, or 20th century creating a need for the USPS to connect individuals and business and first class mail volume increased creating revenue to meet financials needs. The need for the USPS to be the connector for Americans and businesses has decreased resulting in massive decline of first class mail creating massive revenue decline. USPS started 2012 at 139 million dollars in debt with no means introduced to generate revenue. Cost effective operations must be taken; eliminating Sat. delivery 52 days a year would reduce massive increasing fuel cost; eliminating delivery workhour cost 52 days a year would be a signifigant cost reduction USPS labor force must decrease as demand for services and products will continue to decline. Headquarters staph must be reduced as it suffers from being out of balance diagnoised as being TOP HEAVY.
Tiers at all management levels must be reduced to meet a balance in service-product cost. PMS should be reduced as community offices that no longer need to exist as changing demographics has created alternate means of providing service demands. POLITICANS, PARTIES AND LOBBY PRESSURE GROUPS Must be controlled to meet USPS demise. Congress and PRC need to do their job or answer for their failure to create a business plan.
Actually the pre-fund mandate was included in a 2006 bill and it was not for use as a cash cow, but rather someone with foresight knew the USPS would flame out due to email etc. and did not want the tax payers stuck with paying for postal workers pension. Of note while the Bill was proposed all postal unions urged their members to write their elected officials in support of it. Now the same unions are whining that it is unfair. Shutter the Postal Service, sell the real estate, use the money to fund the pensions, then offer delivery up for competitive bidding.
Veto
issa is right 5 day delivery
Issa is a joke.
How did he get so rich while he is in office?
He just wants to lay off people so Obama won’t get re-elected and a Republican wins the White House.
Issa don’t care about the post office at all.
Me thinks his concern is not the post office but making sure Obama does not win re-election.
Me thinks.
Issa hasn’t been able to help bring a balanced U. S. budget thru Congress, and he is suddenly an expert at what the post offices problems are? He only knows he helped financially break the post office by taking 5.5 billion a year to prefund the post office retirement plans for people who won’t be born for years to come! Currently bulk mail or standard mail is subsidized by first class mail. With the proposed cut backs in service,offices and personnal, volume of first class mail will all but disappear in a year or two. Even if employees are paid half of what they get now, prices will have to rise for bulk mail for the service to break even. Incompetent management at the highest levels of the P.O. have no idea how much of junk mail has to be rehandled for one reason or another. It is unlikely that Issa’s bill will pass, as thousands of companies and millions of American’s still need a functioning post office. The plans to break the union might only benifit a couple of large mailers for a short time. Most people realize that 45 cents is a great deal to send a letter any where in the country. Some bulk mailers pay half that price and are to cheap to know what a great deal they have.
This guy is a money grabbing republican whore! He could give a lick weather the PO is solvent or not, he’s just looking at all the property the PO has around the country. You know the PO is a cash cow when it comes down to what the properties it owns is worth. Billions, don’t think this guy and his rich friends would love to take that property away from the people of the United States.
The rich could care less about the middle class worker.
Issa could care less how many jobs would be lost mot only in the post office, but all the jobs the post office supports. If the post office survives, it will be filled with low wage workers. The solution to the problem is right in front of there faces, and they refuse to fix it. Stop pre-funding the retiree health care benefits. Management better get on board, because there jobs will be gone too.
I hope and pray that the people in California vote Issa out of office. He is EXACTLY what’s wrong with the government. More greed, power and money at the expense of the working people. It will never be enough for them until all of us are penniless peasants.
It is truly sad to listen to the likes of Issa and Ross talk about what is needed for the post office to prosper and survive. It almost seems like these type of politicians have their eye on potential profit making schemes at the expense of the service and the American people. Today I waited in line at my PO to mail a package. The windows were staffed with only two (out of four) stations and I as an employee listened to the talk at the back of the line and heard nothing but frustration and anger at the wait times. Postmaster General Donahoe just doesn’t get it. The customers are there and they want to use the service. How as a so-called leader of this great organization can you call for reduction in standards and services? Maybe it is time that real leaders who have vision and determination step up and lead us into the future. The problem is not the Service it’s the meddlers and union-busting profiteers that are bringing this great essential Sevice down. Ben Franklin is rolling over in his grave.
Issa has no interest in fixing the USPS. He wants to close it down so private companies can take all the profittable mail business. He does not care what it will cost the consumers in small towns and rural areas as long as his corporate buddies can make money.
One little problem S Daniel’s, Issa is the richest member of Congress. He’s worth around $450 million dollars so taking away his $171,000 Congressional salary would mean nothing to him.
I think ISSA’s needs to retire is old ass and stop being a hypocrite!!! Take his pay and retirement away from him and see if he can “man up” and get a real job! He is nothing but a vindictive PRICK!!!
Cut, Cut ,Cut. Start with all the old Congressman And “represenatives.” You my friend are a 1%er.You and Mitt Romney are as…… .
If Issa and his buddies have their way union representation will be gone. It will be so much more tidy that way. And then who will the USPS “management” blame? Surely not themselves!
I agree with the Devil Dog’s comment and add that total mismanagement at all levels and daily violations of Collective Bargaining Agreements which end up costing the postal service tons of money after settlements between the postal service and the unions is another cause. I also believe that the USPS could start charging a nominal fee/rate/cost for the materials they give away now for mailing purposes. My suggestion is to charge $.50 or a $1.00 for our products. I’m sure that people who know the trouble the USPS is in no matter who or what is at fault would be willing to pay a small cost for these products. The USPS gives huge discounts to bulk or mass mailers so why not slash those discounts in half. Stop contracting out work that we can do cheaper.
Representative Issa really needs to get a realistic clue about what the problem really is and stop manufacturing incorrect problems and situations to get what he wants. The last I knew we were a democracy but yet he won’t allow a vote on a bill that the majority (bipartisan I might add) of the house want that will definitely go a long way to fixing the problame the USPS is facing and living with everyday. Instead he wants his and Representative Ross’ bill which is full of bad ideas to pass so they can effectively start dismantling the postal service and break the unions. Congress’ mandate for the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) in 2006 to pay 10 years worth of future retirement benefits and health care is a very big reason for this mess. Without this mandate the postal service would have made money over the last 4 years.
Thank you for allowing me to make these comments.
Wow…Rep Issa only talks cuts..cuts…cuts….people…post offices…service…never mentions the overpayment of future health cost for the postal service…..Rep Tierney states the importance of going there first for solutions….wonder why Issa never mentioned that in all he said??? WHAT A SURPRISE>>tsk..tsk…
Congress’s inability to act quickly and without vested interest is going to be the downfall of the United States of America. They are the main reason of the mess the Post Office is in. What other corporation is mandated to pre-fund retirement for employees that are not even hired yet. They passed this law in 1996 because they needed a cash cow.