Mother Jones - Comments for "Postal Service Says Killing Small Periodicals Is a "Win-Win""

The Postal service was nevered owned so therefore it has never been privatized. It is part of the Govt. the only difference between the USPS and lets say Dept of Defense is the DOD gets it's money from taxpayers and the USPS gets it's money from stamps and postage it gets no money from taxpayers. Been this way since the 70's.

köszönöm.....anyaa

I too am confused by the PURPOSE of the postal service. I understood that it was sold (privatized) some years back and I can't who OWNS it. Am I looking in the wrong places?

This is very bad, I may not like what conservative papers are pushing, but sometimes I do, most of us have a mixed set of beliefs and priorities, we are not ALL left or right - but I do believe the whole point of democracy is that we can discuss all ideas, and we cant do that if there are no publications playing the other tune - watch out Internet they are probably dying to get their hands on
you next !!!
"Less government" ?? - that only means less of whatever controls the opposition is trying to levy.
Less controls in general always means the 'heavies' get control - eg Big Oil
stay alert - the 'should' brigade are
alive and well.

What about the internet? Actually mailing publications cannot be as important today as it was 200 years ago. If a person wants a paper copy of a small (or large) publication, they must either put up with more ads or pay more in subscription. If a person merely supports the free flow of ideas, they should stop by the website.

The Bush regime threatening the independent press? How shocking!! Let's see, we are supposed to be surprised that the incompetent boobs that the Emperor and Darth Vader appoint have no concern about the free press, particularly the independent, non-Murdoch press, in fact want to silence it? Really now! I suppose you want me to believe that Bush v. Gore was not a case decided on law, not political leanings and that there were no weapons of mass destruction, too, right? Come on January 20, 2009!!!

The USPS is huge machine, (the third largest employer in the United States) requiring massive amounts of money to run it. The problem is as rates for the average joe go up, more joes decide to email and pay their bills on the internet. As more joes use the internet, the USPS receives less income and must increase its rates some more. This rate increase encourages more joes to use the internet, and even less income for the USPS and so on. The only way for the USPS to get out of this vicious cycle is to get income from other sources, such as small periodicals. Now I know this is going to make some people mad (so don't go postal on me, haha) but when I hear people say the solution is for the government to subsidize it, it reminds me of the dumb blond who was told she was overdrawn and her reply was "That can't be, I still have plenty of blank checks".

"Every American letter writer pays 200 percent of the cost of shipping his or her letter because small magazines and periodicals don't pay their fair share."

Great news!

That means the price of a first class letter will be dropped back to a "fair share" price of 21 cents!

Right?

How about we raise the rates on junk mail? About $100 per item whould suit me fine.

There should never be favoratism in rates for periodicals. Publications with all views should be allowed to be mailed at a fair and equal rate. A larger publication should not get any special rites.

Did the advertisers also have a rate hike? I am so sick of the daily delivery of advertising. Every day three or four catalogues that I just toss. What a waste of resources. I somehow suspect that catalogues aren't chared the same as the small publications such as The Nation.

Privatization of public services is a major goal of neo-Nazi fascist corporations. They have succeeded in many respects. Schools are expected to be profitable. Hospitals must turn profits. Libraries barely survive now. Museums are increasingly expected to be profitable. Capitalism has turned into a religion of profits. The only problem is that a profit comes at someone or something's expense. In this facet, capitalism expectantly leads to elitist rule because those receiving the profits don't want to share, so they consolidate power amongst one another and try to assert some form of governmental control and propaganda machine. I would say that we are nearing the end of the democratic republic of the United States of America and are half a century closer to the nationalized "socialism" of Nazi Germany. We need some real smaller government socialists to begin speaking up. Corporations must be held accountable. If it gets the rights of a citizen, then it should be held liable for all the things a citizen can be held liable for: abuse, homicide, negligence, gross misconduct, etc. And ultimately, the death sentence for corporations for the worst crimes should be revocation of the charter and public dissolution/absorption of said assets. This plan alone would take the steam out of the American "aristocracy".

"Common Sense" (not) -- I sure like Ben Franklin's Brain's idea better than yours. His language, too. Who are you to tell people to "deal with" anything? Sorry, Bud. I'm not dealin'. (Hey, I did say "sorry"). We really do need to try to be civil with each other; we're all in this mess together.

I couldn't have said it better than ATX. Just in case all the rest of you are under 30 years of age, I am 59 and anglo at that. However, recently I started really looking at the Democratic Presidential candidates and really like Barack Obama. He MIGHT change things back if he gets elected. Y'all (yes, I'm a southerner) take a look at his website. If you haven't already. By the way, I love each and every one of you. Grandma

This rate hike seems to me to be a threat to the most interesting and bipartisan publications. I find it obscene that political influence can destroy the freedom of speech that so many have died for.

Mother Jones - Comments for "Postal Service Says Killing Small Periodicals Is a &quot;Win-Win&quot;"

Mother Jones - Comments for "Postal Service Says Killing Small Periodicals Is a "Win-Win""