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Wednesday, January 15, 2020

The USPS - the mail must go through. Cut services, contract out to undercut labor, McKinsey advised, Buttigeig working for that consultancy on postal service advisory issues.

HuffPo, from the ending paragraphs of last month's item: "Pete Buttigieg Was Part of McKinsey Team That Pushed Postal Service Privatization -- Buttigieg's campaign insists he had nothing to do with the McKinsey report's cost-cutting recommendations." By Tara Golshan

Republicans have long called for severe cost-cutting measures and for the system to be turned over completely to private companies. Democrats point out, however, that much of the financial turmoil is attributable to a 2006 law requiring the Postal Service to pre-fund retirement benefits, unlike any other government pension system. USPS is currently $150 billion in debt, in large part because of the mandate to pre-fund retirement payments.

There are two schools of thought on how to get out of this debt. The Trump administration has called for major cost-cutting, which the union warns will hurt workers and put consumers — particularly seniors who rely on the Postal Service for timely access to prescription drugs — at risk of worse service. The McKinsey report, which acknowledges the detrimental pension system, strongly errs on the side of privatization and cost-cutting; their proposals amounted to reducing hours, consolidating processing facilities, offering kiosks and potentially charging more to send mail and packages to difficult-to-reach locations.

On the other end of the spectrum, politicians like Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) have been strong supporters of expanding postal services far past greeting cards — into financial services like banking. The Postal Service already does some of this, issuing money orders and cashing some checks.

Buttigieg’s campaign has said the candidate is considering a form of postal banking that would expand access to financial services and credit, and work against predatory lending practices. Those policies would be a departure from the McKinsey recommendations his former employer supported, and would get likely serious pushback from corporate banking interests.

“It gets to the role of government,” said Donald Cohen, the executive director of In the Public Interest, a think tank that promotes democratic control of public services. “What do we think we should be doing together?”

Should the post office expand its services in the community? Should it become a bank? Provide more census services? Notary?

“Folks that McKinsey work with would say that’s not the role of government,” Cohen said.

Mayor Pete's problem is that McKinsey has a bias against expanding public sector services, toward privatization and profits chasing - and he worked in that environment for a few years. That is fine for Apple selling phones. It is not okay for public goods, such as postal services, roads, bridges,sewers, electricity and water. It seems the post office could be expanded into services where it would shut down payday lenders, by being more honest, less greedy, and less costly in servicing the poor, not like an exploitative Republican-laced private sector scronger. The Post Office can do more, and should. Nobody likes payday lenders except the sleazy politicians [e.g., Debbie Wasserman Schultz] who play ball with Payder Lending industry lobbyists and donors. When the private sector evolves yet another way to fuck the poor, Democrats, at least, should not show blind enthusiasm, lest they be mistaken for Republicans. So, Pete disclaims, but McKinsey was paying his rent and putting food on the table, in exchange for Postal Service consulting, which ended as it did, but after Pete had jumped ship. Again, this key link.