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Congress Brings 'Atlas Shrugged' To America With This New Bill

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Submitted by Simon Black via Sovereign Man blog,

It was known as Directive 10-289, and it was the government’s last-ditch, desperate effort to control the collapsing economy.

The President, along with some of his senior advisors at the Bureau of Economic Planning and National Resources, all widely agreed that the only way out of the crisis was expand government power.

The directive was passed quickly, and among its key provisions:

“Point One. All workers, wage earners and employees of any kind whatsoever shall henceforth be attached to their jobs and shall not leave nor be dismissed nor change employment. . ."

 

“Point Two. All industrial, commercial, manufacturing and business establishments of any nature whatsoever shall henceforth remain in operation, and the owners of such establishments shall not quit nor leave nor retire, nor close, sell or transfer their business. . .”

If you’re searching through your favorite news feed right now wondering why you haven’t heard of Directive 10-289, it’s because the law is fictitious. It’s part of the story from Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged.

At that part in the book, the economy was in a full blown crisis.

The government had engineered one emergency after another, and their only idea to ‘fix’ things was to award themsleves even more power and control over the economy… specifically to freeze everything in place.

No one could be fired or quit his/her job. And no business could stop working. It didn’t matter how much money they were losing.

Crazy idea, right? This could never happen in reality… at least not in the West. It sounds like something straight out of the Soviet Union– forcing unprofitable companies to stay in business.

*  *  *

Enter H.R. 5445, the “Postal Jobs Protection Act of 2014″.

I was utterly stunned when I read this. The meat of the bill consists of just 26 words:

“Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no mail processing facility operating as of September 1, 2014, may be closed or consolidated prior to December 31, 2015.”

Let that sink in a minute: they want to pass a law to ensure that NO US postal center can be shut down through the end of next year.

For the sake of context, let’s walk through the numbers.

In its most recent quarter, the US Postal Service lost a massive $1.9 BILLION. That’s far worse than the $699 million loss they rack up over the same quarter last year.

And so far this fiscal year, USPS has lost over $4 billion.

What’s more– the post office has maxed out its $15 billion credit line. They have almost no liquidity left to continue financing operations, they’re not profitable, and they have no capacity left to borrow more money in order to plug the shortfall.

Perhaps most alarming is that, according to the US Postal Service’s own financial statements, its NET worth (i.e. assets minus liabilities) is NEGATIVE $44 billion.

This doesn’t happen by accident. And it’s not the result of some temporary downturn. It takes years… decades of mismanagement and structural issues to reach this point.

Just for kicks, I compared 2-day shipping rates among major carriers in the US for a simple envelope package.

FedEx: $25.12
UPS: $24.16

And the US Postal Service? $5.05 if I order online.

Duh. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see the problem here.

Bear in mind that FedEx and UPS are, you know, profitable, earning $3.3 billion and $6.7 billion in pretax income, respectively. (And they each paid an effective tax rate of more than 35%.)

Curiously, when I was in Ethiopia a few weeks ago, there was an article in the local paper there about how profitable the Ethiopian postal service had become.

I mean– postal services around the world have the same problems. A place like Ethiopia has a massive rural population, and it costs a lot to maintain those small offices. Everyone face rising fuel costs and declining volume.

Yet even in Ethiopia they’ve figured it out. They know they can’t continuously run an unprofitable operation, so they reinvent the business model. That’s life.

In fairness, the Postal Service knows what to do. They’re at the end of their rope. And if they’re going to survive, they need to raise revenue and cut costs dramatically.

This includes the uncomfortable prospect of laying off employees and closing down unprofitable processing centers.

But Congress doesn’t want that. And they’re lifting legislation directly from the pages of Atlas Shrugged to ensure the post office keeps operating at a loss.

This is yet another example of incredibly dangerous central planning being planned, proposed, or in progress in the Land of the Free.

Can you see where this trend is going?

*  *  *

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Fri, 09/19/2014 - 22:29 | 5236771 Serenity Now
Serenity Now's picture

My post probably won't be popular, but it is important to note that the post office is one of the VERY few enumerated powers.  I don't have a problem with the post office.  I'm not going to argue that a $1.9 billion loss in a quarter is a good thing, BUT:

With all the hundreds of billions / trillions being wasted EVERY YEAR by the government on unconstitutional crap, WHY does the post office get picked on so much? 

Open up a federal directory one day and look how many agencies and departments there are.  You've probably never heard of 99% of them.  And I'm sure almost that many are not enumerated in the Constitution.  

All that being said, the point of the article was the bill to keep all the post offices open, which is ridiculous.  They should be closed down as needed.  

Fri, 09/19/2014 - 23:08 | 5236873 AdvancingTime
AdvancingTime's picture

 Congress traditionally has included a provision in legislation to fund the federal government each year that has prevented the Postal Service from reducing delivery service. The Postal Service had asked Congress not to include the provision but despite the request current legislation maintains the provision.

So again, as America sits mired in debt with a growing deficit, our government has failed to take a simple commonsense step to correct the problem. This also The President has also failed to step up to the plate and provide leadership. More on this subject in the article below.

http://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2013/04/post-office-fails-again-how-pathe...

Sat, 09/20/2014 - 08:04 | 5237425 redd_green
redd_green's picture

THe "correction" to the problem would be to allow the very competent people who run the USPS to raise prices to the break even point.   Why does Fed Ex charge 25.00 for a service that the USPS is FORCED BY LAW to charge 5.00 for?   The USPS is being driven out of business and made to look like the bad guy, by the very greasy lobbyists who want to steal the USPS business.

Sat, 09/20/2014 - 10:22 | 5237559 headhunt
headhunt's picture

It prohibits reduction in delivery service because the unions blow the liberals on a daily basis - and the tax payer pays the prostitutes to do it.

Fri, 09/19/2014 - 23:12 | 5236887 AdvancingTime
AdvancingTime's picture

 Why has the money losing USPS made a special deal with Amazon to do Sunday deliveries in two cities? This is wrong on several counts. The first and biggest reason is that the USPS is an extension of the US Government and a money losing one at that. Another problem is this hurts all the smaller mom and pop businesses and brick and mortar stores in a community.

This makes government an alliance to a company built on exploiting those who provide jobs to us on the most basic level. Before government decides to embark on such a mission a debate should occur as to the values we hold dear. More on this subject in the article below.

 http://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2013/11/usps-and-amazon-another-unholy-al...

Sat, 09/20/2014 - 08:02 | 5237422 redd_green
redd_green's picture

The only reason the USPS loses money is because they have to GO TO CONGRESS AND GET A LAW PASSED TO RAISE THE PRICE OF STAMPS.  That is complete idiocy.  Fed Ex and UPS and all other private carriers raise prices to make profit.   At LEAST the USPS should be allowed to raise prices to the break even point.   USPS is US infrastructure, and some group of crooked politicians have stacked the cards to make it look like the bad guy. It isn't  The bad guys are the ones who want to destroy it so that YOU have to pay some private carrier 25.00 to mail a damn letter.

Sat, 09/20/2014 - 10:20 | 5237555 headhunt
headhunt's picture

RG - I agree with some aspects of your comment but the first thing that needs to be done is to cut all the fat from the USPS, then they should be able to set their prices as needed. Otherwise the fat will pile on and a 1st class letter would need a cost of $15.00 to deliver, the tax payer would continue to subsidize the bloated beast.

Sat, 09/20/2014 - 10:28 | 5237568 falconflight
falconflight's picture

Yes, complete idiocy.  The Dept of Homeland Security didn't need (apparently) Congressional approval to puchase 1.2 billion hollow point rounds.

Sat, 09/20/2014 - 00:18 | 5236998 tvdog
tvdog's picture

Maybe they ought to do mail nationwide like they do in New Mexico. No rural free delivery there - if you want to get mail, you have to rent a box in town and pick it up.

And yes, as someone pointed out, Priority Mail is a steal at the price. Sending small packages via FedEx or UPS is far more.

Sat, 09/20/2014 - 03:13 | 5237229 Peter Pan
Peter Pan's picture

Joke:

Obama calls in the manager of the USPS and tells him that he has been hearing of complaints to the effect that stamps with his image are not sticking to the envelope.

He asks the manager whether they are forgettting to put gum on the stamps.

The manager replies: Mr President, the stamps do have gum but the people are spitting on the wrong side of the stamp.

Sat, 09/20/2014 - 04:03 | 5237267 sky wing 2010
sky wing 2010's picture
'Atlas Shrugged', great movies, thought-provoking. I watched all of them, can not wait to see the next one.
Sat, 09/20/2014 - 06:03 | 5237327 Thom_333
Thom_333's picture

But the U.S. Postal service is not a normal company. It belong to the Googleplex. It is more and more a part of the ubiquitous security apparatus.The security apparatus designed to keep the population in check and under control.It became very apparent when I lived there. It was easy to poke some fun at the fat lady in her golf cart.Your friendly post delivery public servant. But then I am European and maybe we are a bit more cynical about these things.Anyway - the most important thing I did when moving back to Europe was to give a fwd address to another country at the U.S. Post office to ensure giving notice I wasn´t a terrist or something like that. That´s why Uncle Sugar will have to step in and fill up the coffers with fiat. How this end only God knows. But for now - in fiat we trust.

Sat, 09/20/2014 - 06:28 | 5237340 withglee
withglee's picture

A comment from a friend whom I sent this link:

It doesn't help that the USPS has its hands tied with the unions.

As a kid, in my 20's, I got tired of working the wickets and a manager asked if I could help unload a truck.  I liked the physical work load change, but boy did the mail handler union have a cow. Because every employee is so protected they have no motivation to work hard. Did it for 8 years, it was like a mental ward, then I went postal and had to leave.
Sat, 09/20/2014 - 06:32 | 5237346 barroter
barroter's picture

FedEx (not overnight) a simple letter from NYC to LA: $4.00

US Postal, still under a buck.

You choose.

Not once have I seen privatization improve anything.

Sat, 09/20/2014 - 07:59 | 5237419 redd_green
redd_green's picture

Oh yeah, privatization of the US mail is theft, it is corruption, it is destroying US infrastructure, and it doesn't benefit anyone except the exec's at Fed Ex and UPS. 

Sat, 09/20/2014 - 07:59 | 5237416 redd_green
redd_green's picture

This article is Horse crap.  Fed Ex paid an effective tax rate of 4.2% over 5 years. 

 

http://ctj.org/ctjreports/2013/09/fedex_paid_42_federal_tax_rate_over_5_...

 

All large corporations in the USA pay almost no taxes. 

 

Sat, 09/20/2014 - 08:13 | 5237430 Hobbleknee
Hobbleknee's picture

Imagine how much cheaper Fedex and UPS would be if they were allowed to use your mail box.

Sat, 09/20/2014 - 09:17 | 5237480 Cautiously Pess...
Cautiously Pessimistic's picture

Or... what if the postal service started their own brand of UBER??

 

Charge per mile, per pound, dimensional proportions, whatever....

 

Edit:  of course, much like the mail to be delivered, many passengers would be dropped off at the wrong address, or lost in a postal blackhole forever. 

Sat, 09/20/2014 - 10:15 | 5237547 Jameson18
Jameson18's picture

Simon your story left out the fact that the USPS was profitable in 2006. 4 Billion dollars worth and their pension plans were fully funded. The US congress fucked the postal service and made them fund the pension plans 75 years ahead. So when you say they lost money they actually paid for everything except the bill 75 years in the future.

The question everyone should ask is WHY AND WHO is trying to take over the USPS. And what happens when they do. The USPS is the only way to ship valuables.

Sat, 09/20/2014 - 11:02 | 5237647 ednraleigh
ednraleigh's picture

"...WHY AND WHO is trying to take over the USPS..."  I think it may have something to do with fraud.  If you fraud people using the USPS the punishment, today, is very harsh.  Without the USPS, scammers can fraud with impunity, using mail. 

Sat, 09/20/2014 - 13:00 | 5238047 morongobill
morongobill's picture

Pretty amazing how Congress has such a hardon for the USPS that they required the pension funding scheme in their case, and let the big corporations and businesses slough theirs off on the taxpayers and the pension guaranty fund. Which has cost more in the grand scheme of things?

Sat, 09/20/2014 - 10:22 | 5237561 himaroid
himaroid's picture

If you gave me half the money that it costs my local post office to operate, I could do a much better job and still make a fat profit. 

Sat, 09/20/2014 - 10:23 | 5237562 rejected
rejected's picture

Would everyone prefer the money go to the banks like the last 40 trillion? Or maybe a nice little war or two? How about increased welfare for all these people?

Do I like this..... NO,,,  But if it goes to people for a change instead of the damn banksters or corporations like GM I'll take it.

The Congress shall have Power To

Disclaimer, I DO NOT work for USPS. The USPS is the most discriminating business I know in the u.s. If your not retired military or family chances are above 90% you will not get a job. My wife tried for many years. Done very well on the test but was actually told this. All I done was fight in one of their little empire wars.  So I am not partial to the USPS in any way.

Also for all the constitutionalists ...

Article 1 Section 8:

"Congress shall have the power [to] establish Post Offices and Post Roads" 

So, in this instance, if they want,,, they have the constitutional authority to run the whole shebang.

 

The Congress shall have Power The Congress shall have Power To The Congress shall have Power To
Sat, 09/20/2014 - 10:37 | 5237585 esum
esum's picture

AMERICA TOOK A ROUND THROUGH THE SKULL IN DEALEY PLAZA........ IT WAS AMERIKA FROM THAT POINT FORWARD


"As democracy is perfected, the office of the President represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people.  On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be occupied by a downright fool and complete narcissistic moron." - H.L. Mencken, the Baltimore Evening Sun...

A 98 year-old prophecy is fulfilled. H.L. Mencken (born 1880 - died 1956) was a journalist, satirist, critic and registered Democrat. Mencken wrote the editorial ABOVE while working for the Baltimore Evening Sun, which appeared in the July 26,1920 edition

Sat, 09/20/2014 - 11:31 | 5237755 Frankly Speaking
Frankly Speaking's picture

You americans are the dumbest and greediest fucks in history. Can't you do just one thing intelligent and honest.  Fuck, you're giving the whole human race a bad name.

Sat, 09/20/2014 - 15:57 | 5238564 pupdog1
pupdog1's picture

One of our ballistic nuclear missile submarines has just changed coarse. Toward your house.

Sat, 09/20/2014 - 11:53 | 5237824 Czar of Defenes...
Czar of Defenestration's picture

What PARANOIA!

The only thing this Bill is intended to do is to shore up votes from that sector for the November cycle.

Laws like that get voted on and repealed all the time.

 

Sat, 09/20/2014 - 12:12 | 5237884 shuckster
shuckster's picture

A lively political debate about the very irrelevant Postal Service

Sat, 09/20/2014 - 14:52 | 5238260 WarPony
WarPony's picture

12/31/15 is likely a parallel to the coincidental day of 9/11/01 & Securacom.

Point 1: Postal turf is State property ceded to FEDERAL jurisdiction; 2: A postal agent is at your address almost daily; 3: All non-electronic communications can be monitored; 4: During the 90's many small in-town POs were - for no apparent need - moved to the outskirts and had the new buildings' property fenced with the three-strand barbed wire topping facing inward.

Conclusion, the Fed's need to keep POs viable for the inevitable meltdown & ensuing public chaos & National declaration of Martial law which will necessitate a DHS-controlled cattle yard for the processing of detainees either on their way to FEMA camps or the incinerators like the one at (Google Map "Half Penny, Antrim, Ohio 43773" and follow the road East).  The oven complex sits on the south side and there are tar-lined rail cars and natural gas supply on site.  It was built by engineers from the National Guard and the Guernsey County Engineers' office top official told me he was unaware!

Keep your powder dry.

Sat, 09/20/2014 - 15:44 | 5238494 WarPony
WarPony's picture

Update on the incinerators: appears construction is back on again. A 2014 Google map pic shows the pre-fab rail line is back (removed shortly after discovery in 1992) and sits in a rusted pile west of a New  "barracks" under construction - closer to Cadiz road.  In the SW corner of the oven facilities there is a new roof over one of the pens next the ten ovens.  Incidentally, you can see the size of the oven doors by observing the light passing through them and by the oven's shadows.  The million dollar construction crane between the ovens has been there since at least 1992-3 and is there for among other things to raise the foot-thick steel oven doors.

It also appears that another smaller "barracks(?)" is under construction just East of the nearly-roofed over other.  The green PVC pipe is for high pressure gas lines.

The reception building NW of the oven complex was built in approximately 1995.  There is an underground tunnel/road which two semis could park side by side on the N side of the building above which is an opening for a dozen tractor trailers to off-load simultaneously.  Inside the building the trailers could dump into the rail cars as there is enough roof height and the floor beneath where the dock stops is sufficiently low enough to allow for the rail cars to catch the incoming "debris."  BTW, there are large doorways on all sides of the building plus approximately 4, 1"X2" ground-floor level openings (theory being for easy cleaning/washdown) on the W, 2 on the S & E sides.

Call the Guernsey County Engineers office @ (740) 432-2234 and see if he/she doesn't tell you it's a bird seed processing center.

Then ask who owns the oven complex - doubt they'll admit it's the feds. 

Sat, 09/20/2014 - 15:02 | 5238398 indio007
indio007's picture

The Post Office is the first institution created by the Constitution. It can't be closed without closing everything else first.

Sat, 09/20/2014 - 15:40 | 5238500 Bumbu Sauce
Bumbu Sauce's picture

Then, WTF ar ewe waiting for?

Sat, 09/20/2014 - 15:30 | 5238469 Dingleberry
Dingleberry's picture

Who uses stamps or mails letters anymore? Almot none of you. Which is why the post office is going under.

The postal service has met the same technological change that the old pony exress did.

It's over. They're done.

You can keep tying to have hundreds of thousands of workers on the payroll, who do notihng but deliver junk mail like they do nowadays.

Or you can let the market (i.e. reality) run its course.

 

Sat, 09/20/2014 - 19:23 | 5239069 californiagirl
californiagirl's picture

And who wants to keep the USPS mailing rates so cheap? All those companies that mail you the exact same catalog every week or two (just changing the cover to trick you into thinking I tight be different) credit card companies that spam your mailbox with pre-approved offers of high - interest - rate credit cards, and businesses like Comcast sending me a letter about how they would like to discuss improving my service (code for trying to fleece more money from me). Imagine how many trees and money would be saved if companies were not allowed to spam you with a catalog more than 4 times per year or make credit card offers to the same person more that twice a year. Coupon companies could just make the expiration date further out rather than stuffing you mail box several times per week. Who in the hell has time to look at all that mail everyday anyway? If I got something only a couple of times per year I might actually look at it. So, in other words, Madison Avenue. What a waste! When I am overwhelmed by crap, I don't look at any of it. It goes straight into the recycle bin.

Sat, 09/20/2014 - 23:19 | 5239502 Promethus
Promethus's picture

Atlas Shrugged Dystopia = the USPS in 2015? Too big a stretch.

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